Social Security Works!: Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All PDF
Preview Social Security Works!: Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All
A growing chorus of prominent voices in Congress and elsewhere are calling for the expansion of our Social Security system—people who know that Social Security will not “go broke” and does not add a penny to the national debt. Social Security Works! will amplify these voices and offer a powerful antidote to the three-decade-long, billionaire-funded campaign to make us believe that this vital institution is destined to collapse. It isn’t.
From the Silent Generation to Baby Boomers, from Generation X to Millennials and Generation Z, we all have a stake in understanding the real story about Social Security. Critical to addressing the looming retirement crisis that will affect two- thirds of today’s workers, Social Security is a powerful program that can help stop the collapse of the middle class, lessen the pressure squeezing families from all directions, and help end the upward redistribution of wealth that has resulted in perilous levels of inequality.
All Americans deserve to have dignified retirement years as well as an umbrella to protect them and their families in the event of disability or premature death. Sure to be a game-changer, Social Security Works! cogently presents the issues and sets forth both an agenda and a political strategy that will benefit us all. At stake are our values and the kind of country we want for ourselves and for those that follow.
ReviewPraise for Social Security Works:
"A call to arms to defend Social Security from sneak attack. . . . A hard-hitting kickoff to the 2016 election campaign."
—Kirkus Reviews
“A balanced yet passionate defense of our social-security system.”
—Booklist
"Social Security Works! puts expanding Social Security front and center on the national agenda, where it belongs. Everyone who has a stake in the debate should read this important book."
—Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
"This book is an important shout-out to the U.S. Congress. Social Security Works! explains how and why expanding Social Security is the solution to our nation’s retirement income crisis."
—Richard L. Trumka, President, AFL-CIO
"Social Security Works! shows why expanding Social Security is a top priority for MoveOn.org's millions of members."
—Anna Galland, Executive Director, MoveOn.org Civic Action
"Altman and Kingson cut through the fog of calculated confusion and outright lies about Social Security, showing that it is the best funded of all federal programs, has a huge surplus and with minor changes will be sound forever. But they go beyond to show how it would be economically efficient, smart and moral to expand the most popular government program ever."
—David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author
"Social Security Works! makes clear that Social Security is an extraordinarily important women’s issue. A must-read for everyone who cares about economic justice for women."
—Terry O’Neill, President, National Organization for Women
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Chapter One: The Changing Conversation
"This is no time, this is the last time to be talking about cutting Social Security. This is the moment when we talk about expanding Social Security."
—Senator Elizabeth Warren, The Rachel Maddow Show, November 20, 2013
Whether you are a member of the Silent Generation or a Baby Boomer, whether a Gen Xer or a Millennial, this book is for you. It makes the case for why and how we can and must expand our Social Security system. And why doing so is excellent policy, excellent politics, and, most importantly, excellent for all Americans—young and old, women and men, people of all races and ethnicities.
For the many readers who have heard for decades that Social Security is going bankrupt and won’t be there in the future, the idea that it's not—and that there’s a movement to expand it—may come as a shock. If you are one of those readers, it is essential to your own and your family's well-being that you free yourself from what you think you know about Social Security.
Armed with misinformation and half-truths, a three-decade long, well-financed campaign has sought to dismantle Social Security, brick by brick. This campaign has been remarkably successful in undermining confidence in Social Security. In fact, the younger you are, the less confident you are likely to be that Social Security will exist when you need it.
The campaign has also been successful in convincing prominent politicians of both political parties that Social Security must be radically changed, or at least scaled back. The mainstream media has aided and abetted the campaign by uncritically accepting and advancing a panoply of misconceptions, while largely ignoring the facts.
While the campaign against Social Security has been successful in those ways, its hundreds of millions of dollars have failed to enact anti-Social Security legislation. Standing in the way, resolute, are the American people.
Politicians and the media decry how polarized our nation’s politics are. Electoral maps, depicting red states and blue states, provide a pictorial representation of that polarization. Hot-button topics like abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration reform divide the electorate.
But there is one issue about which Americans are overwhelmingly united: they support Social Security. Poll after poll reveals this. The findings of a recent online survey of two thousand adults, ages 21 and over, conducted by Matthew Greenwald and Associates in collaboration with the non-partisan National Academy of Social Insurance, is a good example. A large majority of Americans believe that Social Security is more important than ever, do not mind contributing to Social Security because it provides security and stability, and believe that consideration should be given to expanding benefits.
Numerous polls show that Americans of all political affiliations—Republicans, Independents, Democrats, self-proclaimed Tea Partiers, union households, and progressives—support our Social Security system by large majorities. Conservatives may disagree with progressives about most political issues, but not about the importance of Social Security. Those from the Northeast may differ with those from the Deep South about many issues, but both groups support Social Security.
Virtually all demographic groups support Social Security. Men and women support Social Security. So do African-Americans, Hispanics, European-Americans, and other racial and ethnic groups. Every age group does, as well. Even younger Americans, who have bought the lie that Social Security won’t be there for them, nevertheless support the program for their parents and grandparents, and don’t want to see it cut.
And the support is not just widespread; it also runs very deep. Feelings for Social Security are so strongly held that one well-respected pollster, Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, says this support is not just an indication of preference, but of values.
This view of the overwhelming majority of the American people should come as no surprise. The America we know today would not be possible without Social Security. This institution undergirds the economic security of virtually every American. And it gives expression to the American people’s best instincts—caring for our parents, children, and neighbors; working hard and contributing; engaging in self-help and mutual aid; respecting the dignity of each person; managing resources conservatively and prudently; and understanding that together we stand stronger. Old-fashioned ideas, perhaps, but still valuable, and fundamental to advancing strong families, communities, and our nation.
The current campaign to undermine Social Security is not a new battle. Although the moneyed interests and conservative ideologues have hated Social Security and battled against it since before it was enacted, the will of the people has always ultimately prevailed. The intensity of the battle and fields of engagement may ebb and flow, but the battle lines are always drawn. The current campaign against Social Security is simply the latest skirmish in that ongoing war. It’s a war we, the people, can and must win.
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