Includes bibliographical references (pages [113]-142) and index.
Contents
Introduction -- Values underlying social security -- Other features of the program -- Is social security going bankrupt? -- What is the social security trust fund? -- The cost of supporting the future elderly -- Main street's view of social security -- Why the pressure to reform social security? -- Plan of the book -- 1. Fixing social security -- Remedies for the long-run deficit -- Making social security universal -- Altering the benefit formula -- Raising the payroll tax cap -- Raising the tax on benefits -- Cutting the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) -- Lengthening the period for averaging wages -- Increasing the normal retirement age -- Means-testing -- The money's worth problem -- Concluding comments -- 2. Should we privatize social security? -- Would privatization boost retirement income? -- The revenue hole -- Risk -- Administrative costs -- Cost of creating a new administrative system -- Early access to retirement accounts -- Loss of social security benefits -- Privatization and the broader values of social security -- Arguments in favor of privatization -- Everyone could hold stocks -- Boosting national saving -- Stimulating work effort -- Other possible benefits of privatization -- Privatization in the rest of the world -- Great Britain : a red flag for the United States -- Chile : poster child -- Report of President Bush's 2001 commission to strengthen social security -- Concluding comments -- 3. Diversifying the trust fund -- The battle over diversification -- The political dangers of diversification -- Eisner's magic bullet -- Privatization versus diversification : a summary -- Freedom entails risk -- Disability and survivor benefits -- Cashing in early -- Redistribution -- National saving -- Hours worked -- Costs of setting up a new administrative system -- Administrative costs -- Political danger -- A final thought : would reform impede monetary policy? -- 4. Questions and answers.
