The rancorous debate over the future of Social Security reached a fever pitch in 2005 when President Bush unsuccessfully proposed a plan for private retirement accounts. Although efforts to reform Social Security seem to have reached an impasse, the long-term problem—the projected Social Security deficit—remains. In Pension Puzzles, sociologists Melissa Hardy and Lawrence Hazelrigg explain for a general audience the fiscal challenges facing Social Security and explore the larger political context of the Social Security debate. Pension Puzzles cuts through the sloganeering of politicians in both parties, presenting Social Security's technical problems evenhandedly and showing how the Social Security debate is one piece of a larger political struggle. Hardy and Hazelrigg strip away the ideological baggage to explicate the basic terms and concepts needed to understand the predicament of Social Security. They compare the cases for privatizing Social Security and for preserving the program in its current form with adjustments to taxes and benefits, and they examine the different economic projections assumed by proponents of each approach. In pursuit of its privatization agenda, Hardy and Hazelrigg argue, the Bush administration has misled the public on an issue that was already widely misunderstood. The authors show how privatization proponents have relied on dubious assumptions about future rates of return to stock market investments and about the average citizen's ability to make informed investment decisions. In addition, the administration has painted the real but manageable shortfalls in Social Security revenue as a fiscal crisis. Projections of Social Security revenues and benefits by the Social Security Administration have treated revenues as fixed, when in fact they are determined by choices made by Congress. Ultimately, as Hardy and Hazelrigg point out, the clash over Social Security is about more than technical fiscal issues: it is part of the larger culture wars and the ideological struggle over what kind of social responsibilities and rights American citizens should have. This rancorous partisan wrangling, the alarmist talk about a "crisis" in Social Security, and the outright deception employed in this debate have all undermined the trust between citizens and government that is needed to restore the solvency of Social Security for future generations of retirees. Drawing together economic analyses, public opinion data, and historical narratives, Pension Puzzles is a lucid and engaging guide to the major proposals for Social Security reform. It is also an insightful exploration of what that debate reveals about American political culture in the twenty-first century. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology

An "owner's manual" for every Canadian with a pension plan. Millions of Canadians are covered by pension plans in one form or another-whether that's CPP or a company plan, or personal RRSPs. But pensions are the benefit least understood by employees. They're confusing and complex, but understanding pensions is crucial to every Canadian's financial security in retirement. Since its initial publication, The Pension Puzzle has become the definitive book on the subject. Now completely revised and updated, The Pension Puzzle remains a true owner's manual for anyone with a pension plan. The Pension Puzzle is not just for those about to retire. It's for every working Canadian who needs to make decisions about their pension plan and how it affects their financial future.

Looks at the policy choices involved in creating pension schemes, particularly whether it is advisable to move away from government pay-as-you-go pensions toward private or publicly funded plans. Examines the reasons for the controversy surrounding pension design, and whether the second level of pension systems should be mandatory, private, funded, and defined-contribution.

From the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School

Since its first printing in 2012, Solving The Retirement Puzzle With 4 Easy Pieces has become a guidebook for soon-to-be and recent retirees alike. Coauthored by Peter Wechsler, retirement & income planning specialist, and Jeremy A. Wechsler, Esq., Your Estate Planning and Asset Protection Attorney, Solving The Retirement Puzzle leads you through the potential minefields of both retirement and estate planning. Having focused exclusively on retiree issues for the past 18 years, Peter and Jeremy know the importance of having a solid, secure plan for your nonwork years to ensure reliable income and peace of mind, even amidst up and down markets. As an Investment Advisor Representative and retirement & income planner, Peter explains how he helps folks navigate the many challenges involved in retirement planning. Using their “Four Step Discovery Review Process” as a guide, the pages of Solving The Retirement Puzzle start with Peter’s exploration of Income and Tax Planning, along with Risk Exposure and Risk Comfort Level. Those principles established, Jeremy then tackles Estate and Elder Planning. You’ve worked hard to build your nest egg. You saved, you scrimped and you sacrificed - determined to retire comfortably and leave a lasting legacy for those you love. Now, you must strive to protect and preserve that nest egg while also using it for your future and the future of your kids and grandkids. But you can’t do it alone. Peter and Jeremy, and Solving The Retirement Puzzle With 4 Easy Pieces, have the information and insight you need.

Joe Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers, Second Edition, challenges you with his trickiest puzzles and then helps solve them with a variety of solutions and explanations. Author Joe Celko demonstrates the thought processes that are involved in attacking a problem from an SQL perspective to help advanced database programmers solve the puzzles you frequently face. These techniques not only help with the puzzle at hand, but also help develop the mindset needed to solve the many difficult SQL puzzles you face every day. This updated edition features many new puzzles; dozens of new solutions to puzzles; and new chapters on temporal query puzzles and common misconceptions about SQL and RDBMS that leads to problems. This book is recommended for database programmers with a good knowledge of SQL. - A great collection of tricky SQL puzzles with a variety of solutions and explanations - Uses the proven format of puzzles and solutions to provide a user-friendly, practical look into SQL programming problems - many of which will help users solve their own problems - New edition features: Many new puzzles added!, Dozens of new solutions to puzzles, and using features in SQL-99, Code is edited to conform to SQL STYLE rules, New chapter on temporal query puzzles, New chapter on common misconceptions about SQL and RDBMS that leads to problems

The Steelworkers' Retirement Security System: A Worker-based Model for Community Investment articulates a new model for economic security based upon steelworkers’ pension provisions and labor politics after World War II. Labor’s collective bargaining agreements created interdependent commitments that sustained jobs and stabilized communities. The evidence in The Steelworkers' Retirement Security System includes an empirical analysis of United States steel towns and case studies of Weirton, West Virginia, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. By understanding the politics that bound firms and workers together and adapting these commitments to the post-industrial economy, The Steelworkers' Retirement Security System offers a new means by which communities can provide workers security and economic growth. This new model, the Guaranteed Pension and Community Investment plan, provide workers with lifetime retirement annuities and communities with reliable investment capital.