This comprehensive overview of Social Security's past and future places an enormous amount of technical information into a format ordinary readers can understand. Although a few parts are tough going, an abundance of tables and figures are a big help. The authors chronicle the development of Social Security from its origins as an FDR project in the 1930s to its current position as an enormously popular program in deep trouble. Indeed, without significant reform, say the authors, Social Security won't be around for the baby boom generation. Politicians are partly to blame, and the public has been duped: "The myth that people are only getting what they paid for has stuck in the public mind; the practical arithmetic proving that they have gotten enormous unwarranted benefits to the tune of $11.4 trillion has been easily brushed aside." The authors show, for example, that Ida May Fuller, the first retiree ever to receive Social Security benefits, paid a grand total of $24.75 into the system. Her first monthly check, however, was for $22.54, and she collected nearly $30,000 in benefits during her retirement. The problem today, of course, is that fewer workers are supporting more retirees--a pay-as-you-go system that Schieber and Shoven argue is unsustainable. They review a series of current reform proposals and then advance their own: mandatory private savings accounts for workers. These could be invested in the stock market or elsewhere, but couldn't be touched until retirement. --John J. Miller


From Library Journal
The 2000 elections will inevitably present the public with another opportunity to hear all the candidates offer various and contradictory solutions for saving Social Security. But it's difficult for the average person to sort through the proposals or to understand the dimensions of the problem. This book is a wonderful primer on these issues. Schieber (vice president, Watson Wyatt Worldwide) and Shoven (economics, Stanford) deliver a thorough history of the origins and development of the Social Security program. They then turn to a balanced analysis of the major problem facing the systemAkeeping it solvent as the baby boomers retire without drastically raising payroll taxes or decreasing benefits. Although the authors explain and analyze the major alternatives presented by politicians and economists over the past 20 years, they also present their own proposal. Some readers may find their ideas (like mandatory private retirement accounts) too drastic, but to the authors' credit, they don't shrink from controversy. This is an excellent book that anyone interested in understanding the Social Security system and its future should read.AThomas J. Baldino, Wilkes Univ., Wilkes-Barre, PA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
This year alone--and not even considering countless magazine and newspaper articles--more than 200 publications have been devoted to the topic of social security. Most of them have addressed the question of how to save or reform the program, depending on one's point of view. For those who have been unable to keep up with the deluge, Schieber and Shoven provide the opportunity to catch up. Even though they push their own proposal, the two experts clarify the debate by putting arguments about social security in historical perspective. Schieber is a vice president at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a benefits consulting firm; Shoven, an economics professor at Stanford University. The two have written extensively on retirement and pension issues and are coeditors of Public Policy toward Pensions (1997). They profile the policies and the individuals that shaped social security as well as thoroughly trace its evolution. They detail the problems that arose with social security after 1972, and they lay out the options for reform, advancing their proposal for mandatory private savings accounts and challenging alternative solutions. David Rouse


Book Description
How can we be sure that Social Security will meet the claims of retired and disabled Americans in the future? This book analyzes the history of Social Security reform, then proposes mandatory private retirement savings accounts for workers. Such a plan would lighten retirement security burdens for future generations, avoid tax increases, and preserve the system`s progressivity, the authors argue.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

How can we be sure that Social Security will meet the claims of retired and disabled Americans in the future? This book analyzes the history of Social Security reform, then proposes mandatory private retirement savings accounts for workers. Such a plan would lighten retirement security burdens for future generations, avoid tax increases, and preserve the system's progressivity, the authors argue.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

In a sophisticated, scholarly manner, Schreiber and Shoven offer a fresh and equitable solution for the modernization of our Social Security system. This book is good news for everyone. — Charles R. Schwab