Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Public Policy - Social Security

During the depression of the 1930s, both the United States and New Zealand passed a Social Security Act. Both countries were developed nations of the "new world," and each statute was an omnibus measure aimed at protecting citizens from the poverty so visible at the time. The two acts, however, were very different. The New Zealand measure was absolute, promising everyone medical care and a reasonable income in every circumstance. It redistributed income downward. The U.S. act addressed only a handful of risks, and each of its two main programs covered less than half of the population. Its...

Blahous contends that Social Security is ill-equipped to withstand the effects of an aging population and will impose excessive tax burdens upon future Americans unless its course is changed. Far from a doomsday tract, however, the book provides instances of proposals that would satisfactorily avert this course, if only the political will is mustered to implement them. Blahous argues for the program developed by the National Commission on Retirement Policy, but also offers positive descriptions of plausible alternatives as well as unsparing criticism of those who would cook the books in...

Social insurance in the United States--including the Social Security Act of 1935 and the Medicare, Medicaid, and disability insurance programs that were added later--may be the greatest triumph of American domestic policy. But true security has not been achieved. As Michael J. Graetz and Jerry L. Mashaw show in this pathbreaking book, the nation's system of social insurance is riddled with gaps, inefficiencies, and inequities. Even the most popular and successful programs, Medicare and Social Security, face serious financial challenges from the coming retirement of the baby boom generation...

The New Deal placed security at the center of American political and economic life by establishing an explicit partnership between the state, economy, and citizens. In America, unlike anywhere else in the world, most people depend overwhelmingly on private health insurance and employee benefits. The astounding rise of this phenomenon from before World War II, however, has been largely overlooked. In this powerful history of the American reliance on employment-based benefits, Jennifer Klein examines the interwoven politics of social provision and labor relations from the 1910s to the 1960s....

Covering six decades through the beginning of the current century, Beland chronicles how Social...

America's elderly population is soaring, presenting numerous challenges for policymakers in the United States. Other developed nations with aging populations face similar problems. There will be fewer workers relative to retirees in coming decades and the elderly are also expected to live longer. The impact of these demographic changes in the United States is likely to be challenging, especially for America's system of social security. Solomon offers new perspectives on how to meet the future costs of social security without bankrupting the next generation or gravely damaging the U.S....