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The Battle for Social Security: From FDR's Vision To Bush's Gamble

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I was the Commissioner of Social Security under three Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon), I began working on Social Security on January 1, 1939, and I have read just about every book written on the subject. The Battle for Social Security is the best Social Security book to come out in a long time, and indeed is among the best ever written on the subject. It is a lively and highly readable journey through the establishment of Social Security, its expansion, and the present attack on the program's principles. Written in an accessible style, it will inform all readers, nonexpert and expert alike, about the dramatic history of Social Security and why the program should remain as it is currently structured. I urge everyone with a stake in the present battle over Social Security - that means everyone - to read this book.

The Battle for Social Security reads like a fast-paced novel, but with the unique advantage that you can read it in any order. Skipping way ahead to the final chapter From FDR's Vision to Bush's Gamble (chapter 17) you find a six-page summary of the entire book, while The Ideal, Pain-Free (for Almost Everyone) Way to Strengthen Social Security (chapter 16) outlines the author's favorite plan to keep Social Security solvent for the long term.
Each chapter tells its own engaging story. The All American Program (chapter 10) recounts the Eisenhower years and the Hobby Lobby; Social Security's Grandfather (chapter 2) explains how John R. Commons' groundwork influenced the people who would advise FDR; Bold Woman, Cautious Men (chapter 4) brings to life the audacious role attorney Barbara Armstrong filled amid the economists and actuaries who crafted FDR's blueprint for Social Security; and Aging Gracefully (chapter 13) describes how the deal was struck by Republicans and Democrats on the commission led by Alan Greenspan (who hired the author as his executive assistant). On signing the compromise legislation in 1983, President Reagan said it "demonstrates for all time our nation's ironclad commitment to social security." A Leninist Strategy (chapter 14), cites plans of some libertarian think tank scholars in the early 1980s to wage "guerrilla warfare against the Social Security system and the coalition that supports it" by a strategy to promote private accounts for young workers and "detach or at least neutralize" older Americans. The Drumbeat Finds a Drummer (chapter 15) recounts how turning part of Social Security into private accounts became the top priority of President Bush's second term in 2005.
With careful research, artful story telling, compassion, and wit, The Battle for Social Security clarifies the choices Americans voters and policymakers face as they decide where they want to stand on the future of Social Security.

In The Battle For Social Security, Nancy Altman provides readers with a detailed and interesting history of the Social Security System from the beginning in the mid-1930s to the present. She brings to life the different participants, and explores the legally and philosophically controversial nature of the Social Security pension and Medicare programs. She also describes the recent efforts to change the system through privatization and recommends modest changes in the current system that will make it actuarilly sound for generations to come. A must read for anyone interested in the future of Social Security.

This book is different from anything I have ever read on this subject (and I have read widely in the field). The Battle for Social Security is deeply researched, entertainingly written, and full of insight about the history and political values of the program. The author, who is very highly qualified, obviously believes in those values, but this book does not involve mindless cheering for Social Security, or knee-jerk Bush bashing. Instead, this work thoughtfully and powerfully details the program's creation and expansion, and explains all the very good (and quite traditional) reasons why it remains popular with most Americans. Chapter 16 has some excellent ideas about how to keep Social Security solvent for many years without going down the destructive road of private accounts. If you want a pleasant path to a profound understanding of Social Security, this book is for you.

While Bush's Social Security "reform" now appears to be DOA, this is still a most important book. It is a comprehensive, well-reasoned and non-ideological analysis of a proposal that is itself non-comprehensive, poorly-reasoned and ideological. Through this approach, the book cogently exposes the Emperor as having no clothes (or at least very different ones from the "reform" ones that the Bush Administration has claimed to be wearing) and, even beyond Social Security, offers troubling insights into the manner in which this Administration operates on many fronts. But, again, it is not in any way a political screed, but a thoughtful and careful academic analysis, which makes it that much more credible and important. In addition, it does not only criticize the Bush plan (easy enough to do), but offers its own, well-reasoned approach to avoiding a Social Security deficit in coming years. And, despite both the gravity of the topic and the inherent complexity of the issues surrounding it (legal, economic and political), it is an immensely readable book. I believe this will be THE definitive book on the Bush Administration's Social Security plan -- and why it deserved to fail.

I heard this author say in an interview that she had set out to write a history of Social Security that would be a "page turner". It made me very curious. Despite being generally interested in public policy and having worked briefly for the Social Security Administration myself many years ago, my mental response to her stated goal was, "There's no way!"

But Nancy Altman actually did it, against all odds. Apparently all it required was her encyclopedic knowledge of social security and its history, combined with writing skills that could support a popular whodunit and seasoned with her commitment to well-reasoned social policy. From her first page, she engages readers with the "torn from the headlines" reality of the role of social security for dependents of our countrymen killed on 9/11.

This book would be fascinating to you if you're interested in how legislation gets passed (or doesn't get passed) and how public policy is made, whether or not you ever thought of social security before as a hot topic.

In The Battle For Social Security, Nancy Altman demontrates that the "eventual Social Security shortfall" that the Bushies are yammering about is simply the result of the fact that we do not currently collect taxes from earners above an annually adjusted ceiling which is currently $90,000.00. This $90,000.00 cutoff is literally starving the Social Security system. If this arbitrary tax cut to those who earn more than $90,000.00 were eliminated, so would the projected Social Security actuarial shortfall. In other words the so-called "Social Security crisis" is all about preserving another tax cut for the wealthy.

The Battle For Social Security is both a significant history book and a critically important discussion of one of the most important issues facing our country today. As a baby boomer, I have had numerous discussions with friends who are fearful of what they will live on during retirement. (Often the fear is whether or not they will actually be able to retire.) Though we've all been forewarned to save for our retirement, for many, Social Security will be the primary source of income. This is particularly true in light of the current crisis in private pensions. The Battle For Social Security clearly explains the importance of Social Security and why it must not be changed by a move to private accounts. (If people want private accounts, they already have the option of IRA's and 401(k)'s.) Social Security affects virtually every American, and I want everyone I know to read The Battle For Social Security. That's why it's my gift to family and friends this Christmas!

Social Security isn't a topic that is covered in great detail in college, and I was reading in another book about how many issues there are currently with Social Security so I thought it might be a subject worth researching. I'm in my mid 20's and I didn't know anything about Social Security before I read this book except there was a portion of my paycheck that funded the program. I wanted a book that was going to cover the program from start to end and ultimately my curiosity about the history and current issues of Social Security led me to reading this book. This book helped me accomplish that goal and actually had me thinking about the current debates of privatization with SS by the time I finished it.

On the Chapter about the ideal way to strengthen SS, I completely agree that privatization of SS (that Bush supports) is not the way to lead the program. Honestly, I don't think there would be much difference between a personal SS program, a 401K or an IRA, so I hope the government elects to stick with the current "social" system and doesn't try an "modernize" the program. I do feel many people my age will support privatization because of the uncertainty of SS being around when our generation retires. Apparently, a majority of young adults assume that if SS becomes individualized, the government will be able to pay their benefits when they retire. The author gives great facts about how it will cost much more to privatize SS, and there is an easier way to solve the issue. No, I won't ruin the ending for you, but I will say the problem can be resolved easier than you think it will be when you are reading the book.

Although I do not have much interest in politics or law, that would be my only criticism of this book. It goes into great details about getting certain amendments passed, which includes the final voting numbers by Congress, Senate, etc. These were the portions of the book that lost my interest. However, the history of the program is very interesting as it was really intriguing reading how all these presidents fought to evolve this social insurance program.

I probably wouldn't have rated this book so high if I'd had more in depth knowledge about Social Security previously, but I wanted the history of the program as well as the current issues and that's what this book was all about. In conclusion, if you want a detailed history of Social Security, then this book is for you. However, if you aren't that interested in the evolution of the program and want more information about current issues, then you should try a different book.

This is really an unfortunate book. It reminds one of those "town hall" events that the White House orchestrated for the foolish "60 stops in 60 days" tour during which President Bush tried to sell his Social Security reform plan to the American public. Like those events, this book is shallow and polemical. Altman divides the history of Social Security policy makers into the good (those who would never think to question or challenge any aspect of the program) and the bad (those who either oppose the program or so much as question any aspect of it). She devotes not a single chapter -- no, not even so much as a page or a sentence -- to a cricital examination of her own preconceptions or to any attempt to understand in a thoughtful manner the positions of those who have critically examined various aspects of the program over the years. This book is a catechism for Altman and the like-minded; there is no serious analysis anywhere within these pages.

For many of us who do not favor individual accounts but who worry about the long-term solvency of the program, this book really is a disappointment; I recommend Diamond and Orszag's Saving Social Security instead. For those interested in a detached, scholarly account of Social Security's early years, I recommend Achenbaum's Social Security: Visions and Revisions. For those who just want a thoughtful analysis of the issues at play in the current policy debate over Social Security, perhaps the best of all is Daniel Shaviro's Making Sense of Social Security Reform. Anything but Altman's book.