Combine Retirement and Disability Trust Funds, that is, an accounting device to avoid the problem of coming depletion of the latter fund.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nEven with these new taxes, how do they justify increasing Social Security benefits? \u00a0To begin with, they cite the comparatively reasonable growth of Social Security as a percent of GDP, which is projected to increase from 4.94% in 2015 to 6.08% in 2085 (graph, p. 125). \u00a0That is a significant increase, but a lot more moderate than either the increase as percent of Social Security-taxable wages, or the increase in healthcare spending (Medicare and the portion of Medicaid spent on the elderly).<\/p>\n
As to the latter issue, they simply announce that we simply need to \u201cmake\u201d medical costs as cheap in various European countries and our problem will be solved. \u00a0(Gee, why hasn\u2019t anyone else thought of that?) \u00a0Given that Medicare and Medicaid are already single-payer, oft-cited as the miracle cure to healthcare-cost woes, anyone who in the space of a paragraph or two declares this problem to be \u201csolved\u201d loses credibility.<\/p>\n
And what about the very real Old Age Dependency Ratio? \u00a0They discard demographic issues with the magic word \u201cproductivity\u201d \u2014 as well as the statement that the old-age dependency ratio may be bad, but the overall dependency ratio, taking into account the under 20s and the over 65s, is still fine, based on the following table, in which the number of dependents in 2065 is still lower than in 1965:<\/p>\n
1965 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 94<\/p>\n
1980 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a075<\/p>\n
1995 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a071<\/p>\n
2010 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 67<\/p>\n
2035 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 85<\/p>\n
2065 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a086<\/p>\n
(p. 171)<\/p>\n
Never mind that retirees are a more costly sort of dependent than children \u2014 sure, children require schooling, but that\u2019s a fair bit cheaper than living costs plus medical costs for retirees, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
How even-handed are they? \u00a0The highly partisan rhetoric is so well illustrated by Chapter 9\u2019s title, \u201cThe Billionaires\u2019 War Against Social Security,\u201d that it\u2019s not really worth pulling particular further examples.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my biggest, bottom-line complaint, which I\u2019ll address further in a later post:<\/p>\n
The authors\u00a0want to have it both ways. \u00a0They praise Social Security as an \u201cinsurance\u201d program in which everybody earns their benefits and pays their way, similar to private insurance. \u00a0But at the same time, they repeatedly use rhetoric that the wealthy need to pay their \u201cfair\u201d (and disproportionately larger) share in order to provide bigger benefits for everyone else.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The subtitle to the book pretty much says it all, \u201cWhy Social Security Isn\u2019t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All\u201d \u2014 that is, communicates the authors\u2019 opinions, not my own. \u00a0The book is an extended argument that Social Security is doing just fine, thank you very much, and the only changes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":1386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[450],"tags":[10,54],"class_list":["post-1480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actuarial","tag-from-the-library","tag-social-security"],"yoast_head":"\n
From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The subtitle to the book pretty much says it all, "Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All" -- that is, communicates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The subtitle to the book pretty much says it all, "Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All" -- that is, communicates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-10T22:23:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-16T15:53:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/02\/library.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html\",\"name\":\"From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-10T22:23:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-16T15:53:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"The subtitle to the book pretty much says it all, \\\"Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All\\\" -- that is, communicates\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson","description":"The subtitle to the book pretty much says it all, \"Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All\" -- that is, communicates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson","og_description":"The subtitle to the book pretty much says it all, \"Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All\" -- that is, communicates","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-03-10T22:23:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-16T15:53:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/02\/library.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html","name":"From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-10T22:23:26+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-16T15:53:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"The subtitle to the book pretty much says it all, \"Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All\" -- that is, communicates","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/from-the-library-social-security-works-by-nancy-j-altman-and-eric-r-kingson.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"From the library: Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}