The US public has been led to believe that Social Security is going bankrupt and that our children will be burdened with supporting the elderly unless it is reformed. Benavie will refute these arguments. While it is true that our public pension system can be improved, this book will separate the widely accepted economic facts of the issue from personal value judgements. This book is an invaluable guide to understanding and making informed decisions...

The People's Pension is both groundbreaking history and an indispensable guide for anyone concerned about one of the biggest issues in the upcoming election. With 95 percent of Americans participating in the program either as beneficiaries or through their payroll tax contributions, Social Security is quite literally the "glue" that binds Americans together as a community. Yet in the aftermath of the debt reduction deal between Barack Obama and congressional...

Want to know how to navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits? You could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules), but Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman explain Social Security benefits in an easy to understand style. What you don't know can seriously hurt you: wrong decisions about which Social Security benefits to apply for cost some...

Confused or uncertain about Social Security? This friendly, easy-to-understand guide cuts through the complexities and gives you the practical information you need to make the most of the program and make smart decisions about retirement. You'll find advice on when to start collecting benefits, get the facts on working in retirement, learn how potential changes could affect you, and see how Social Security fits into your plan for economic security....

Edwin Amenta is professor of sociology and history at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Professor Baseball and Bold Relief: Institutional Politics and the Origins of Modern American Social Policy (Princeton). When Movements Matter accounts for the origins of Social Security as we know it. The book tells the overlooked story of the Townsend Plan--a political organization that sought to alleviate poverty and end the Great Depression...

"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...

How your Social Security retirement benefits, spousal benefits, and widow/widower benefits are calculated. How your benefits are affected if you have a government pension or if you continue working while claiming Social Security. How to decide when is the best age for you (and your spouse, if you're married) to claim Social Security in order to get the most out of your benefits. Whether or not it makes sense to take Social Security early in order...

A sharp examination of the troubled state of retirement in America shares sobering insights into how the real estate crash and limited social security are preventing retirement and inducing widespread poverty in aging Baby Boomers. "As millions of baby boomers reach their golden years, the state of retirement in America is little short of a disaster. A third of Americans have no retirement savings at all. The real estate crash wiped out much of the...