The LA Times gives us a welcome break from personality politics with a survey of what candidates are saying about retirement savings — and their utter lack among the American electorate. I still think the most pluperfectly nuts idea offered so far is by, who else, Mike Huckabee. He’d give people a lump sum of their Social Security money to spend or invest rather than lifetime monthly payments. Bass Boats R Us. And a whole new burden for the government when the money is gone. Why in the world you’d want to tamper with the essence of the single most successful government program ever — a program that works because it’s universal and which has demonstrably lifted millions out of poverty — is beyond me.