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The sky isn't falling on Social Security, say economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot in this readable but sophisticated defense of America's popular government-run retirement program. The public suspects Social Security won't be solvent in the 21st century, they continue, because of "an avalanche of misinformation, disinformation, and powerful political and financial interests." The authors are both liberal economists, and they believe that the privatization of Social Security favored by many libertarians and younger Americans would involve great risk and possibly destroy a system of entitlements that has rescued millions of retirees from spending their golden years in poverty. Although they admit the stock market has averaged a 7 percent rate of return over the last 75 years--much higher than anything Social Security can claim--there is no way to predict what will happen in the future; mandatory private investment programs favored by many free-market reformers therefore offer false promises. Only Social Security, say Baker and Weisbrot, provides a guarantee of income for the elderly. Along the way,
Social Security: The Phony Crisis discusses the history of Social Security and evaluates several of the reform proposals now on the table in Washington. A constant drumbeat in favor of the status quo will guarantee this book's popularity among liberals.
--John J. Miller
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Baker and Weisbrot take issue with widespread dire predictions that the 64-year-old Social Security system will not be able to provide financial security for the aged and disabled in the future. Baker, a senior research fellow at the Century Foundation and the Preamble Center, and Weisbrot, a research director at the Preamble Center, project that Social Security will remain viable for at least 30 more years--longer if the U.S. economy continues to grow at its current pace. Concerns about a shortfall that will transform economic class warfare into "intergenerational conflict" are outright lies, according to the authors. Doomsayers have misinterpreted demographic trends and mistakenly lumped together Medicare and Social Security when estimating the financial burden on the government, the authors claim. Baker and Weisbrot offer an interesting viewpoint in the controversial debate about Social Security--one that is certainly more welcome than the typical predictions of a shortfall.
Vanessa Bush
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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