Over at The Corner, George Mason University economics professor Veronique de Rugy links to a Christian Science Monitor story reporting that European governments (so far Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland, and France) have begun seizing private pension investments to cover insolvent public pensions.

De Rugy notes that the U.S. Social Security Trust Funds are due to run out of cash within four years. What will our government do, she asks: “increase taxes to pay for benefits, borrow money, print money, or seize private savings?”

Carolina Journal contributor Karen McMahan has reported on two occasions that Beltway Democrats have contemplated the final option ? creating a form of Guaranteed Retirement Account managed by the government that could replace private retirement savings.

We imagine the 112th Congress might take a dismissive view of such plans, but with public pension debt in our own country exploding, you never know …