Social Security Works!

November 24, 2014
If passion alone was enough to resolve public policy debates, this dense and detailed examination of the Social Security issue could single-handedly give the United States a vastly expanded social-welfare system. Altman and Kingson, a lawyer and academic, respectively, who served on the landmark 1982 National Commission on Social Security Reform, explain, with wonkish fervor, how benefits can be expanded without increasing the program’s cost. “We are wealthy enough to afford a much more robust, expanded Social Security System,” they proclaim, pointing out how such an expansion would help the elderly, the working poor, and the millions caring for ailing family members. The authors blame a “three-decade-long billionaire-funded campaign” against Social Security for bastardizing terms such as entitlements, whipping up unwarranted fears about the federal deficit, and obscuring the fact that the program’s fundamental nature is to be “earned compensation.” As with many public policy pieces written by insiders, the level of detail is hard to follow, though the intentions are clearly stated and far from unreasonable.

November 1, 2014
A call to arms to defend Social Security from sneak attack.Co-authors Altman (The Battle for Social Security: From FDR's Vision to Bush's Gamble, 2005, etc.) and Kingson (Social Work/Syracuse Univ.; Lessons from Joan: Living and Loving with Cancer, a Husband's Story, 2006, etc.), who both served as staff advisers to the 1982 National Commission on Social Security and were founding board members of the National Academy on Social Insurance, expose the method of guerrilla warfare still employed by conservatives to undermine the social-welfare system. "This is not a time to accept further cuts to our Social Security as 'reasonable compromise,' as little 'tweaks,' that will do no lasting harm," they write. On the contrary, they believe what is required is an expansion of the social-welfare system to achieve "greater economic security for all of America's working families." A first step is to counter "the misinformation...so deeply imbedded in the minds of the general public"-e.g., the false claim that Social Security is economically unsustainable and imposes an unacceptable burden on the younger generation. In his cogent foreword, David Cay Johnston (Undivided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality, 2014, etc.) describes this misinformation and reminds readers that the preamble to the Constitution includes a statement of the need to "promote the general Welfare." Altman and Kingson provide a historical overview of social legislation since the passage of the original Social Security Act in 1935, give a detailed explanation about why the Social Security trust fund is solvent and will remain so, and explain why conservatives have been unable to derail the system due to broad-based popular support. Even Ronald Reagan, the champion of reducing the role of government, recognized that Social Security (dubbed by House Speaker Tip O'Neill as "the third rail of politics") was unopposable. A hard-hitting kickoff to the 2016 election campaign.

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January 1, 2015
For a balanced yet passionate defense of our Social Security system, author-lawyer Altman (The Battle for Social Security, 2005) and professor Kingson team up, this time in print, to convince audiences from California to Maine that Social Security is, indeed, a valued and valuable program. Since its creation in 1935 under the leadership of FDR, the program itself has been buffeted about by many detractors, none of whom would admit that the act does more to rectify income inequality and prevent poverty among older Americans than any other program. Altman and Kingson present the facts in ways that nonactuaries can thoroughly understand: how it works for all generations, destroying the myths (yes, Virginia, Social Security is fully affordable), and revealing its opponents. Each chart, all well communicated, is further supported by a personal story: for instance, Neil Friedman, who invested $4 million in Bernard Madoff's funds and now lives entirely on Social Security, supplemented by a few flea-market sales. Obviously, the authors have a mission, which is, to their credit, transparent: to expand Social Security for all generations, with book, chapter, and verse on how to do so. Appended is additional information about how Social Security works and about the Social Security Works All Generations Plan; descriptions of various Social Security expansion legislative bills; and a list of leading organizations working to expand Social Security.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)