Product DescriptionSocial Security has a long-term financing problem. More of us will soon be collecting benefits with not many more paying taxes to support the program. The Social Security Fix-It book is a short, colorful guide to the program, its financing issues, and the leading proposals for eliminating the shortfall. Cheerfully narrated and easy to read, this book seeks to raise public awareness to achieve a long-lasting solution.About the AuthorAlicia H. Munnell is the Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and the Peter F. Drucker Professor in Management Sciences at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Steven A. Sass is Associate Director for Research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Andrew Eschtruth is Associate Director for External Relations at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

This intriguing book introduces the first Social Security reform proposal tailored to meet the nation's fiscal challenges and care for an aging population. Tackling one of the most difficult and divisive issues facing America today, A Well-Tailored Safety Net: The Only Fair and Sensible Way to Save Social Security seeks to transform the political debate over Social Security reform by introducing the first proposal tailored to meet both the nation's fiscal challenges and the responsibility of caring for an aging population. As the first batch of 77 million baby boomers begins to collect its social security benefits in the midst of the explosion of national debt from economic recovery expenditures, Social Security reform becomes increasingly urgent. Jed Graham takes apart each of the current leading proposals and shows how all of them fall short by the key criteria of affordability, effectiveness, and fairness. Graham proposes a bold new approach that would erase more debt than any other proposal, yet avoid benefit cuts in very old age, when people can least afford them. Short on actuary speak and long on common sense, A Well-Tailored Safety Net makes the Social Security debate accessible to general readers. At the same time, it advances innovative solutions with such command of analytic detail and ideological impartiality as to merit serious study by legislators and policymakers.

New material in this revised and updated edition of an acclaimed guide reflects recent changes in Social Security law and procedures. The author cuts through some of the more complex issues people often face when applying for Social Security and shows how to untangle the red tape and bureaucratic snares to get what they are entitled to.