The Social Security Primer: What Every Citizen Should Know: What Every Citizen Should Know

Social Security is America's oldest social program and, by many accounts, our most successful. Yet, in recent years, it has been the focus of enormous publicity, with calls for its reform, repair, abandonment, and preservation. At the root of these differing recommendations are rather disparate points-of-view about how Americans perceive Social Security: as a trust fund, a tax-and-spend system, income transfer from young to old, a "pay as you go" system, or component of "national saving". However one chooses to look at it, Social Security is a program that invites controversy, but, because of its importance to so many, it is also one that deserves close, authoritative scrutiny. The Social Security Primer is an accessible tool that offers a clear understanding of what Social Security has accomplished in the past, challenges it now faces, and possibilities for the future. The full spectrum of up-to-date issues, policies, benefits, and proposed reforms are carefully outlined. For either a current beneficiary or the next generation planning for the future or helping their parents muddle through the social security quagmire, The Primer is a worthwhile and informative read.

Wallace C. Peterson is the George Holmes Professor of Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln