The Predictable Surprise
The Unraveling of the U.S. Retirement System
1st Edition
Published on 1. March 2012
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-19-989095-8 (ISBN)
Description
Social Security is in jeopardy, private pension systems have fallen apart, and workers are trying to save for their own for retirement with the stock market in the worst shape since the Great Depression. In The Predictable Surprise, Sylvester J. Schieber shows that forewarnings of the coming retirement crisis have been apparent for decades, but we have never mustered the political will to address the problem. This book explains how we have gotten into the retirement predicament and where we can go from here. Schieber, a renowned authority on this topic, provides a compact, insightful history of Social Security, pension plans, and other retirement options, highlighting both their original justifications and the point when things began to go wrong. He brings his discussion right up to the present morass and concludes with suggestions as to how we can reform our retirement system. Our situation is not hopeless, Schieber concludes, if we take on some of these issues and resolve them. If we do not, we will severely jeopardize the prosperity of younger generations.
Reviews / Votes
Outstanding Academic Titles 2012, as selected by CHOICE Magazine (December 2012). CHOICEMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Students, scholars, and general readers interested in the social security political debate, as well as the history and current state of our retirement institutions and health care reform in the U.S.
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
771 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-989095-8 (9780199890958)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2012
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€22.49
Available for download
E-Book
03/2012
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€22.49
Available for download
Person
Sylvester J. Schieber is Former Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board, and the author or editor of numerous books on various aspects of population aging and retirement.
Content
Contents ; List of figures ; List of tables ; Preface and acknowledgments ; Part 1: Foundations and Fault Lines ; 1. Retirement USA ; 2. Early Motivations behind the Pension Movement ; Part II: Social Security, the dream and reality ; 3. Development and Passage of the Social Security Act ; 4. Early Concerns Prove Nagging and Persistent ; 5. Moving to Pay-as-You-Go Financing ; 6. A Deal too Good to Last ; 7. Operations under Pay-as-You-Go Financing ; 8. Crisis Reactions: Conflict, Consensus and Surprise ; 9. Sorting out the Trust Fund Semantics and Realities ; 10. Policy Stalemate at the Demographic Divide ; 11. Understanding Social Security in Modern Times ; Part III: Employer-based pension provision ; 12. Employer Pensions Taking Root ; 13. Growing pains for Private Retirement Plans ; 14. ERISA: the Transition to a New Regulatory Regime ; 15. The 1980s, a Decade of Regulatory Schizophrenia ; 16. Good Intentions Gone Awry ; 17. Some Good News-or Not ; 18. The Unfolding of a Predictable Defined Benefit Surprise ; 19. And Then, a Predictable Defined Contribution Surprise ; 20. Public pensions: the good, the bad and the ugly ; Part IV: Delivering benefits and providing retirement security ; 21. Retirement Income Security and Workers' Residuals ; 22. End Game: A Gold Watch, Pat on the Back and More ; 23. We've Killed the Goose, Let's Gild the Eggs ; 24. Tax Benefits and Benefit Taxes ; 25. Retiree Health Benefits: Misfortune or Malpractice ; Part V: Truth and consequences ; 26. The Fellow Behind the Tree ; 27. Securing the Social Security Foundation ; 28. Securing Tax-Favored Benefits and Living Standards ; 29. Remembering the Future ; Glossary