While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Two of the United States' foremost economists propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it.
Peter A. Diamond is an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His recent books include Social Security Reform, The 1999 Lindahl Lectures (Oxford University Press, 2002) and Taxation, Incomplete Markets, and Social Security: The 2000 Munich Lectures(MIT Press, 2002). He is a former president of both the American Economic Association and the National Academy of Social Insurance. Peter R. Orszag is director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under President Obama. His previous positions include director of the Congressional Budget Office and Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is also a research professor at Georgetown University and a codirector of the Tax Policy Center. He served as special assistant to the president for economic policy during the Clinton administration.
"The debate about reforming Social Security has become increasingly ideological. Scare tactics and unrealistic promises have become the norm. Diamond and Orszag bring some welcome realism and decency to the debate. They show exactly where the current system is strained, and they suggest concrete ways to strengthen and improve it with the least possible disruption to the lives of future workers and beneficiaries, especially the most vulnerable among them. There is no magic here, just the kind of honesty and common sense you would want from a really good mechanic." --Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, MIT, and Nobel Laureate in Economics "When members of Congress get serious about fixing Social Security, they should begin by reading this book, instead of appointing another commission." --Michael J. Graetz, Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law, Yale University Law School
"An honest, transparent, and comprehensive approach to making the much needed reforms to the Social Security program." - Journal of Pensions, Economics, and Finance |"What [the book] demonstrates is this: With a balanced approach that includes both benefits cuts and new revenue, Social Security can be restored to good health and without the radical surgery others have recommended." - Boston Globe |"A concise and well-written book." - Political Studies Review |"The debate about reforming Social Security has become increasingly ideological. Scare tactics and unrealistic promises have become the norm. Diamond and Orszag bring some welcome realism and decency to the debate. They show exactly where the current system is strained, and they suggest concrete ways to strengthen and improve it with the least possible disruption to the lives of future workers and beneficiaries, especially the most vulnerable among them. There is no magic here, just the kind of honesty and common sense you would want from a really good mechanic." -Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, MIT, and Nobel Laureate in Economics |"When members of Congress get serious about fixing Social Security, they should begin by reading this book, instead of appointing another commission." -Michael J. Graetz, Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law, Yale University Law School
