The current Social Security “crisis” has been 22 years in the making. It is the handiwork of the presidents and members of Congress who served during that period, as well as the efforts to abolish Social Security by the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and many other individuals and organizations.” The actual solvency problem is not with the Social Security program. It is with the government's total budget. The 1983 Social Security Amendments raised payroll taxes by enough to fund both the retirement of the generation preceding the baby boomers and the baby boomers themselves. This tax increase generated $1.7 trillion in Social Security surplus between 1984 and 2005, and it will generate another $2 trillion between 2005 and 2017. This surplus money was supposed to be saved and invested to build up a large reserve for funding the retirement of the baby boomers. The problem is that the government did not save and invest the Social Security surplus as it was supposed to do. Instead, it “borrowed” and spent (embezzled) every dollar of the Social Security surplus, replacing the money with worthless non-marketable special issue government IOUs. In 1983, the same year that Social Security was “fixed,” members of the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation drew up a long-term plan for privatizing Social Security. They published their plan, entitled “Achieving A Leninist Strategy” in the Fall 1983 issue of Cato Journal. This plan served as the foundation upon which a powerful movement to destroy the current Social Security system and replace it with private accounts was built over the years. The goal was to have a privatization plan waiting in the wings when the next Social Security crisis came along. Apparently the libertarians became impatient waiting for a true crisis to come and convinced President Bush to create an artificial crisis in the minds of the American public. Bush has done a good job of casting doubts on the long-term solvency of Social Security as part of the plan to privatize the program. This plot to destroy Social Security, that was initially created by people at the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation, now includes the participation of the President of the United States, many members of Congress, and many other conservative organizations. Dr. Allen W. Smith, author of the explosive book, “The Looting of Social Security,” has written an even more explosive bombshell. This book exposes the Social Security accounting fraud, that makes Enron pale by comparison, and a plot to dismantle Social Security which was modeled after Lenin's struggle to overthrow capitalism. This is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of Social Security.

Everyone agrees that Social Security's future is in jeopardy--or is it? Long viewed as the "third rail" of American politics, Social Security is now the focus of national attention as President George W. Bush pushes for privatization. But too few of us, young and elderly alike, really understand the origins and workings of this popular program. Daniel Béland answers the call for objective information with a short history that provides context and clarity for the current debates. Covering six decades through the beginning of the current century, Béland chronicles how Social Security and the controversy surrounding its solvency have evolved, offering along the way new insights into its past, present, and future. His balanced perspective will help readers understand and evaluate partisan arguments on both sides of the issue. Béland reconstructs the political history of Social Security, describes the impact of subsequent amendments to the original act, and offers comparative insights from other countries that can improve our understanding of the debate. He focuses particularly on the relationship between ideas and institutions in policymaking to examine the impact of gender and race on Social Security politics; and he shows that gender has had a more direct impact on Social Security development--especially regarding spousal benefits--and is more important in understanding the politics of reform than has often been understood. In assessing how Social Security has been sold to the public, Béland reveals how the 1935 act resulted in part from its link with the traditional American belief in the values associated with hard work and self-reliance, while surreptitiously providing some economic security for the impoverished. Today's privatizers argue for changing from a guaranteed benefit to a defined contribution program, seeking to reclaim from liberals the rhetoric about American values in order to alter the very nature of Social Security--effectually turning discourse centered on personal and collective gain against the institutional legacy of the New Deal. Succinct and illuminating, Béland's work provides concerned citizens with a thoughtful exploration of how the politics of Social Security evolved, while offering scholars new theoretical insights about the welfare state and the role of ideas and institutions in policymaking. This book is part of the Studies in Government and Public Policy series.

Many of us suspect that Social Security faces eventual bankruptcy. But the government projects its future finances using long outdated methods. Employing a more up-to-date approach, Jagadeesh Gokhale here argues that the program faces insolvency far sooner than previously thought. To assess Social Security’s fate more accurately under current and alternative policies, Gokhale constructs a detailed simulation of the forces shaping American demographics and the economy to project their future evolution. He then uses this simulation to analyze six prominent Social Security reform packages—two liberal, two centrist, and two conservative—to demonstrate how far they would restore the program’s financial health and which population groups would be helped or hurt in the process. Arguments over Social Security have raged for decades, but they have taken place in a relative informational vacuum; Social Security provides the necessary bedrock of analysis that will prove vital for anyone with a stake in this important debate.

As baby boomers retire over the next three decades, some claim they will break the bank of the Social Security system. These fears of insolvency have generated a wide range of reform proposals, some of which would transform the current program drastically. Robert Eisner, however, argues that many of the proposed reforms would undermine Social Security's continuing success in dramatically alleviating poverty among the elderly. In this clearly written, provocative report, Eisner rejects the most alarmist views about the solvency of Social Security and provides a blueprint for keeping the system strong and fair. He makes the case that projections about the future of the program are overly pessimistic and that, even if borne out, minor adjustments in tax and benefit levels could keep the system functioning effectively. Eisner suggests that the system could be made more efficient and fair by paying benefits out of general income taxes instead of current payroll taxes. Because income taxes are relatively progressive, taxing earnings from sources other than wages, a greater share of Social Security's financing burden would thus be shifted to those who can better afford it. In addition, Eisner proposes supplementing the current system by offering workers the opportunity to make additional tax-deductible Social Security contributions, which would provide them with larger benefits upon retirement. Workers would have the option of directing their supplementary accounts toward an indexed, passively managed stock fund, or Treasury securities paying a somewhat higher rate than those held in the Social Security trust fund. The main purpose of the accounts would be to increase what are currently lowlevels of both national and household savings.

While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nation's foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2004, the Social Security debate has moved to the center of the domestic policy agenda. In this updated edition of Saving Social Security, the authors analyze the Bush Administration's proposal for individual accounts and discuss the so-called "price indexing" proposal to restore long-term solvency through changing how initial benefits would be calculated. Saving Social Security is essential reading for policymakers involved in reform, analysts, students, and all those interested in the fate of this safeguard of American lives.

Everyone agrees that Social Security's future is in jeopardy-or is it? Long viewed as the "third rail" of American politics, Social Security is a major political issue, and many experts and politicians would like to restructure this program. But too few of us, young and elderly alike, really understand the origins and workings of this popular program. Daniel Béland answers the call for objective information with a short history that provides context and clarity for the current debates. Covering six decades through the beginning of the current century, Béland chronicles how Social Security and the controversy surrounding its solvency have evolved, offering along the way new insights into its past, present, and future. His balanced perspective will help readers understand and evaluate partisan arguments on both sides of the issue. Béland reconstructs the political history of Social Security, describes the impact of subsequent amendments to the original act, and offers comparative insights from other countries that can improve our understanding of the debate. He focuses particularly on the relationship between ideas and institutions in policymaking to examine the impact of gender and race on Social Security politics; and he shows that gender has had a more direct impact on Social Security development-especially regarding spousal benefits-and is more important in understanding the politics of reform than has often been understood. In assessing how Social Security has been sold to the public, Béland reveals how the 1935 act resulted in part from its link with the traditional American belief in the values associated with hard work and self-reliance, while surreptitiously providing some economic security for the impoverished. Today's privatizers argue for changing from a guaranteed benefit to a defined contribution program, seeking to reclaim from liberals the rhetoric about American values in order to alter the very nature of Social Security-effectually turning discourse centered on personal and collective gain against the institutional legacy of the New Deal. Succinct and illuminating, Béland's work provides concerned citizens with a thoughtful exploration of how the politics of Social Security evolved, while offering scholars new theoretical insights about the welfare state and the role of ideas and institutions in policymaking.

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Much could be gained from the privatization of social security--but can the gains actually be delivered? Dixon, Hyde, and their contributing authors take a balanced look at where we are now, and where we seem to be moving, on the issues of social security privatization and come up skeptical. There will be tradeoffs, but will the benefits outweigh the costs? Their volume examines a variety of settings in Latin America, Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, where the "marketization" of social security appears most hotly contested. As a contribution to this new, energetic global policy discourse, the book will be of special interest to policymakers in the public and private sectors, and particularly in organizations where concerns about the growing cost of employee benefits have become critical.

One of today's most important national concerns is the projected bankruptcy of Social Security some time in the next few decades and the resultant inability to pay full benefits on time. It has been said that Social Security is the third rail of American politics--touch it and you die. Consequently, it took over two decades of warnings before it was established as a major domestic concern. In Social Security, now in paperback, John Attarian argues that the major cause of this impasse has been the misleading manner in which the program has been depicted to the public, and the beliefs about Social Security that prevail as a result. Most Americans see Social Security as retirement insurance under which taxpayers pay premiums to buy benefits for old age, with their contributions being held in a trust fund that will pay guaranteed benefits as an earned right. Attarian demonstrates that this false picture was deliberately cultivated by Social Security officials to ensure the program's constitutionality, while downplaying the power of Congress to eliminate, cut, delay, or tax benefits or deny them to certain classes of people. It was also presented in this manner to the public so as to make it popular and politically invulnerable. The resultant false consciousness about Social Security has decisively shaped the responses to the program's financial crises over the last two decades and helped preclude corrective action.

Social security has proven to be one of the most successful programs in the United States. No other program has done more to transform old age or to protect family incomes against economic risks arising from the disability or death of a working family member. Polls consistently show strong support for Social Security, but these same polls also show that the public, especially the young, is skeptical about whether Social Security will be able to meet its obligations. The program's harshest opponents call it a "Ponzi scheme." Arguing that the young will be left "holding the bag," they call for a shift towards greater personal savings or means-testing. Experts agree that the aging of the baby boom, longer life expectancies, and a changing economy will impose new challenges. But seeing no impending disaster, they point to reforms that leave intact basic Social Security commitments and structure. Not surprisingly, the public is confused and has many unanswered questions.Social Security in the 21st Century offers an introduction to the basic economic, demographic, and political aspects of social security, and addresses the questions most often asked regarding this subject. Featuring nationally recognized experts, the book presents clear, authoritative, and balanced discussions of contemporary Social Security issues, offering the historical background, concepts, statistics, and options necessary to make informed judgments about the program. These issues include the program's financial viability, its effects on the economy and the federal deficit, its consonance with American values, the adequacy of benefits for today's and tomorrow's old, its fairness to women and the young, disability reform and generational equity. It explains both the social insurance principles and political history related to the development of Social Security in the United States. The book avoids using technical jargon, making it ideal for a wide ranging audience including policymakers, teachers, journalists, students, and the general public. Special attention is given to the future and how Social Security can be changed to respond to the needs of generations to come.

While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nation's foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2004, the Social Security debate has moved to the center of the domestic policy agenda. In this updated edition of Saving Social Security, the authors analyze the Bush Administration's proposal for individual accounts and discuss the so-called "price indexing" proposal to restore long-term solvency through changing how initial benefits would be calculated. Saving Social Security is essential reading for policymakers involved in reform, analysts, students, and all those interested in the fate of this safeguard of American lives.

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Many of us suspect that Social Security faces eventual bankruptcy. But the government projects its future finances using long outdated methods. Employing a more up-to-date approach, Jagadeesh Gokhale here argues that the program faces insolvency far sooner than previously thought. To assess Social Security’s fate more accurately under current and alternative policies, Gokhale constructs a detailed simulation of the forces shaping American demographics and the economy to project their future evolution. He then uses this simulation to analyze six prominent Social Security reform packages—two liberal, two centrist, and two conservative—to demonstrate how far they would restore the program’s financial health and which population groups would be helped or hurt in the process. Arguments over Social Security have raged for decades, but they have taken place in a relative informational vacuum; Social Security provides the necessary bedrock of analysis that will prove vital for anyone with a stake in this important debate.

Store Search search Title, ISBN and Author Social Security and the Middle-Class Squeeze: Fact and Fiction about America's Entitlement Programs by Leonard J. Santow, Mark E. Santow Estimated delivery 3-12 business days Format Paperback Condition Brand New At the outset of his second term, President Bush s proposal to partially privatize Social Security has touched off a debate of enormous proportion. Disentangling the rhetoric and hyperbole from fact is essential for anyone trying to evaluate th

This book explores the legal meaning of the radical new laws which have transformed the social security system in the last decade. It analyses legislation and case law and lays out the legal principles and concepts, which underpin the sweeping reforms, culminating in the welfare reform package announced in the 2005 Budget. It also explores the policy foundations of these reforms and key administrative changes, such as the creation of a privatised job network and of Centrelink as a payment agency . This book also explores the tension between traditional protective functions of social security and the contemporary focus on activation, reciprocity and capacity-building, and the extent to which social changes have altered the form of Australian welfare. It reviews the history and transformation of the welfare state, the ideas about the nature of poverty and need, and the policy choices to be made. Detailed case studies are made of the law and policy affecting key groups such as the unemployed, people with illness or disability, and sole parents, as well as the administration and review rights of welfare recipients, and the workings of income and means tests.

While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nations foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. Saving Social Securitys strategy balances benefit and revenue adjustments, following the precedent set by the last major Social Security reform in the early 1980s. The authors proposal restores long-term balance and sustainable solvency to the program without imposing additional burdens on the rest of the budget. Further, it protects disability and young survivor benefits and strengthens Social Securitys protections for low earners and widows. Most important, the plan preserves the programs core social insurance role by providing a base-level of assured income to American workers and their families in time of need. To better understand the accomplishments and financial problems of Social Security, Diamond and Orszag provide background on the program, as well as on the causes of the long-term deficit. They suggest ways in which various alternative reform plans should be evaluated and explain the shortcomings of proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts. Saving Social Security is essential reading for policymakers involved in reform, analysts, students, and all those interested in the fate of this safeguard of American lives.

    In the second half of the twentieth century, no one exerted more influence over Social Security than Robert Ball, who in 1947 wrote what became the key statement defining why social insurance, not welfare, should be America’s primary income maintenance program. This policy-oriented biography surveys the history of Social Security from 1950 to the present through the eyes of the public servant most crucial to its development. Drawing on exclusive access to Robert Ball’s papers and Ball’s own extensive oral memoir created for this project, Edward D. Berkowitz explains how Social Security came to be America’s most important social welfare program. Ball’s role in expanding coverage to more workers during the period between 1950 and 1972, as well as in supporting the indexing of benefits to the rate of inflation, directly affected the lives of senior citizens and the overall U. S. economy.    Berkowitz demonstrates how Robert Ball used the conservative means of social insurance toward the liberal end of expanding the welfare state. He considers octagenarian Robert Ball’s legacy in the face of the George W. Bush administration’s goal of replacing Social Security with private accounts.

The Social Security Handbook: Overview of Social Security Programs, 2011 provides information about Social Security programs and services, and identifies rights and obligations under the Social Security laws. The Handbook also contains information about related programs administered by agencies other than the Social Security Administration.

While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nations foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. Saving Social Securitys strategy balances benefit and revenue adjustments, following the precedent set by the last major Social Security reform in the early 1980s. The authors proposal restores long-term balance and sustainable solvency to the program without imposing additional burdens on the rest of the budget. Further, it protects disability and young survivor benefits and strengthens Social Securitys protections for low earners and widows. Most important, the plan preserves the programs core social insurance role by providing a base-level of assured income to American workers and their families in time of need. To better understand the accomplishments and financial problems of Social Security, Diamond and Orszag provide background on the program, as well as on the causes of the long-term deficit. They suggest ways in which various alternative reform plans should be evaluated and explain the shortcomings of proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts. Saving Social Security is essential reading for policymakers involved in reform, analysts, students, and all those interested in the fate of this safeguard of American lives.

Will the Social Security system founder as millions of baby boomers enter their retirement years? Is the frightening vision of an impoverished old age a glimpse into the real future for Americans of the next generation? The authors of this book put debates about Social Security reform into historical perspective, consider various reform ideas, and elaborate a proposal to ensure that the system can continue to meet the claims of the retired and disabled. Sylvester I. Schieber and John B. n, leading experts on retirement issues, set forth a carefully considered plan to change the way we finance Social Security and thereby secure its future viability.Exploring the history of the Social Security system from its origins during the Depression to its current troubled prospects, Schieber and Shoven analyze the program's economic structure and introduce the remarkable personalities who influenced its evolution. The authors show how Social Security today differs from the program Franklin D. Roosevelt envisioned an how the shift to pay-as-you-go funding has led to the systems current problems. Seen in historical context, some reform approaches are revealed as a renewal of attempts to fund Social Security through means that have repeatedly failed. The authors a true mandatory private retirement savings account. For workers -- a proposal that would lighten retirement-security burdens for future generations, avoid tax increases, and preserve the system's progressivity. This book is essential reading not only for policymakers but for anyone else who wishes to understand what Social Security reform will mean for us as a nation and as individuals.

After 25 years of expansion and liberalization in the postwar period, social security policies in industrial countries have been encountering stresses and strains in the 1970s and 1980s. This book focuses on such questions as the relative merits of earnings-related, income-tested, and universal benefits; the bearer of the financial burden; the impact of social security benefits on incentives to work; the role of active labor market policies in combating unemployment; the wide differences among countries in their relative emphasis on rehabilitation and the disabled; and policies toward single-parent families.