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Full Description
For many of us, Social Security doesn't seem to be the good deal our parents enjoyed. Pensions from previous generations have either disappeared or been completely reengineered and, to make matters worse, we have just gone through the worst decade for investing since the Depression. As the 'Baby Boomer' generation reaches the age of 65, Americans are faced with the confounding problem of how to pay for a growing retired population with increasingly limited financial resources.Yet the historical evolution of these current dilemmas has been full of signs indicating that we would arrive ultimately at where we are now.
In Predictable Surprise, Sylvester J. Schieber explains how retirement systems work and the implications for various generations of continuing our current course. He lays the background for the establishment of retirement programs in the United States, focusing on the beginning of employer-sponsored pensions and on Social Security. The motivations for setting up these programs decades ago still persist, despite current developments. Schieber explains how the original architecture of Social Security has changed in ways that have led to current concerns about financing and equity of the program. In contrast, he shows how Social Security has at the same time defied change to accommodate to social and economic circumstances that have evolved since its 1935 inception. Schieber discusses benefits that Social Security has delivered over time, how the system is changing before our eyes, and the costs that it has exacted from various segments of our society. Employing clear and concise language, Schieber's Predictable Surprise describes the nuances of the political economics of retirement in an approachable and applicable manner--just when we need it the most.
Contents
Part 1: Foundations and Fault Lines ; 1. Retirement USA ; 2. Early Motivations behind the Pension Movement ; Part II: Social Security, the dream and reality ; 3. Development and Passage of the Social Security Act ; 4. Early Concerns Prove Nagging and Persistent ; 5. Moving to Pay-as-You-Go Financing ; 6. A Deal too Good to Last ; 7. Operations under Pay-as-You-Go Financing ; 8. Crisis Reactions: Conflict, Consensus and Surprise ; 9. Sorting out the Trust Fund Semantics and Realities ; 10. Policy Stalemate at the Demographic Divide ; 11. Understanding Social Security in Modern Times ; Part III: Employer-based pension provision ; 12. Employer Pensions Taking Root ; 13. Growing pains for Private Retirement Plans ; 14. ERISA: the Transition to a New Regulatory Regime ; 15. The 1980s, a Decade of Regulatory Schizophrenia ; 16. Good Intentions Gone Awry ; 17. Some Good News-or Not ; 18. The Unfolding of a Predictable Defined Benefit Surprise ; 19. And Then, a Predictable Defined Contribution Surprise ; 20. Public pensions: the good, the bad and the ugly ; Part IV: Delivering benefits and providing retirement security ; 21. Retirement Income Security and Workers' Residuals ; 22. End Game: A Gold Watch, Pat on the Back and More ; 23. We've Killed the Goose, Let's Gild the Eggs ; 24. Tax Benefits and Benefit Taxes ; 25. Retiree Health Benefits: Misfortune or Malpractice ; Part V: Truth and consequences ; 26. The Fellow Behind the Tree ; 27. Securing the Social Security Foundation ; 28. Securing Tax-Favored Benefits and Living Standards ; 29. Remembering the Future
