The People's Pension:The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan

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►►	77 Years After FDR Signs Social Security, VP Pick ... democracynow.org2012년 8월 15일 He is an independent journalist, author of The People's Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security ...

The People's Pension

The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan

Eric Laursen (Author)

• Publisher: AK Press
• Format: Book
• Binding: pb
• Pages: 802
• Released: Apr 27, 2012
• ISBN-13: 9781849351010

Published by AK Press

2

Details

Social Security, not for nothing do politicians call it the “third rail of American politics—touch it, and you die.” Yet a powerful, well-funded movement to phase out Social Security or even privatize it has been gathering strength since the election of Ronald Reagan. Each time it comes close to succeeding, it's beaten back by a coalition of labor, grassroots organizers, and the elderly. Meanwhile, Social Security has only become more vital to retirees and their families as the federal and state governments slash other benefits and services—a trend that's grown ever more troubling in recent years.

The People's Pension is both groundbreaking history and an eye-opening guide for anyone concerned about one of the biggest issues of our times. 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. In a provocative epilogue, Laursen argues to democratize, not disable, the program, suggesting that the only solution for Social Security may be to de-link it from government altogether.

Praise for The People's Pension:

"Drawing on research and interviews with economists, politicians, and social scientists who shaped the early development of Social Security, Laursen analyzes how American economics and politics evolved to the point at which a program once considered nearly sacrosanct has come to be viewed as a government entitlement. He debunks that notion as well as the conservative conventional wisdom that in order to save Social Security for future generations, it is necessary to virtually destroy it by reducing benefits and raising the retirement age. Comprehensive and compelling reading on an important topic." —Booklist (starred review)

"This magnificent history documents the hydra-headed campaign to cut and kill Social Security, conducted over decades by rightwing bankers, foundations, economists, and politicians. [The People's Pension] is utterly urgent." —James K. Galbraith, author of The Predator State

“This is a fascinating history that progressives must learn, not only to protect Social Security but also to understand the dynamics behind an effective long-term strategy. It is remarkable that such a popular and successful program could actually have its survival called into question.” —Dean Baker, author of Taking Economics Seriously

“[Laursen] has given us as thorough, illuminating—and disturbing—a look at the decades-long ideological attack on this all-important program as we are ever likely to get.” —Michael Hiltzik, author of The New Deal: A Modern History

About the author:

Eric Laursen is an independent financial and political journalist, activist, and commentator. He is co-author of Understanding the Crash (2010). and his work has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including The Nation, The Village Voice, Z Magazine, The Indypendent, and the Huffington Post. He lives in Buckland, Massachusetts.

http://www.akpress.org/peoplespension.html

Robert D. Parmet: Review of Eric Laursen's "The People's Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan" (AK Press, 2012)

• 

SOURCE: Special to HNN (8-21-12)

Robert D. Parmet is professor of history at York College of the City University of New York.

In 1964 Barry Goldwater discovered that suggestions to reduce or replace Social Security can be politically hazardous. Twelve years later Ronald Reagan lost the Republican presidential primary election in Florida in part because he attacked Social Security. Nevertheless, the assaults persisted, and since Reagan’s election in 1980 have become increasingly sophisticated and intense. In more than seven hundred pages of text, Eric Laursen describes these efforts in great detail, presenting the provisions of proposed legislation, the campaigns to substitute alternate retirement schemes, and the coalitions of politicians, businessmen, and financiers who to the present day have sought to subvert the landmark social legislation of the New Deal. With Social Security and Medicare major issues in this presidential year, this book provides the background for anyone who wishes to be well-informed.

Laursen is a journalist and activist who spent fifteen years researching Social Security and writing about it for various publications. He is not neutral, noting that it “has been by far the largest income support program in the U.S. and a necessity for the 95 percent of American workers who participate in the above-ground economy” and “For seventy years, it has been a fundamental element of American workers’ lives,” one of the programs to which middle-class Americans “owed their prosperity.”

Their welfare is his primary concern. Invariably, when discussing criticism of Social Security as a deficit buster or “entitlement,” or a program that would be improved by privatization, Laursen points out the vulnerability of those whom it serves. For example, such is the case with African Americans, whom critics of Social Security claim do not receive proportionate retirement benefits because of poor longevity. They do, however, receive significant disability benefits.

The alleged evils of Social Security exceeded mere expense. In the ideological warfare against it, critics created “entitlements” as a “catchall term” to serve a conservative agenda and give the program “a hint of illegitimacy.” In 1980 Business Week complained that entitlements undermined economic growth. Five years later, Paul Hewitt, a Republican Senate staff director, founded Americans for Generational Equity, which had another complaint that Social Security created generational conflict. Overgenerous benefits to the elderly would jeopardize future payments to the young. Peter Peterson, former Secretary of Commerce under Richard Nixon, an articulate proponent of this viewpoint, was another leader of this group. Soon the projected victims of the Social Security shortfall received a name. Born after 1964, they were identified as Generation X, but they allegedly “had the talent and the temperament for privatized Social Security,” which they were urged to endorse.

The war against Social Security has indeed been waged on many fronts. Among the foremost has been the allegation that it was out of control and headed for bankruptcy. Evidently less interested in saving than scuttling it, the Cato Institute sponsored a Project on Social Security Privatization. In a particularly competitive mood during the 1990s, Wall Street utilized the concept to sell mutual funds and other alternatives. To lure people from Social Security by converting them into investors, Laursen observes, Citigroup had an “array of financial products and its army of salespeople.” Americans would do more than just retire in comfort. They would get rich.

The army waging what Laursen calls “the war against the geezers” has not included strictly partisan troops. Fearful that the cost of Social Security would ultimately compel taxes to be raised, “a small but influential caucus of center-right Democratic deficit hawks,” including Daniel P. Moynihan, Joseph Lieberman, and occasionally Bill Clinton, joined the Republicans, who saw this alliance with Democrats as their best means of phasing it out. Bipartisanship, we are reminded, is not always enlightened.

With considerable care, Laursen chronicles this continuing struggle, including the efforts of congressional Democrats such as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to withstand the conservative pressure on Social Security. In general, progressive Democrats have successfully repulsed the attacks, but they continue, and extend to Medicare, the health program for seniors. It “is a political tinder box,” The Economist complains, “popular” and backed by “powerful” advocates, but “unaffordable.”

Laursen would like to witness a broad progressive coalition emerge to protect the social insurance introduced by the New Deal. Skeptical that the American middle class can afford to realize the conservative dream of an “ownership society,” or that Washington in the present political and economic climate will produce a progressive alternative, he thinks “the next step ... might be a return to mutual aid,” where “working households would have to work together.”

Behind his rather gloomy outlook is his acknowledgement of the circumstances that initially produced Social Security. He notes that it resulted from the devastation of the Great Depression and “a deep desire for social renewal.” Without such conditions today, and with a president who appears to have abandoned the activists who had helped elect him in 2008, he feels that there is little chance for government action to strengthen the system, despite recent signs of public protest against social injustice. However, what is most depressing, and what Laursen amply demonstrates, is that the plans to deal with Social Security since 1980 have usually been devised for purposes other than genuine social insurance, and not especially mindful of those in society who are most in need.

Source: 

Special to HNN

Date: 

8-21-12

http://hnn.us/articles/robert-d-parmet-review-eric-laursens-peoples-pension-struggle-defend-social-security-reagan

 

Michelle O’Brien

July 24, 2012

Issue #

178

The People’s Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan
By Eric Laursen
AK Press, 2012

---

In the tumultuous political battles of the Great Depression, massive social movements and disruptive strikes forced the U.S. government to implement a series of major programs to ease the human impact of the country’s economic woes. One of these programs — Social Security — offered an alternative vision that allowed workers to save money and retire in relative comfort.

Eric Laursen’s The People’s Pension begins nearly half a century after the creation of the program, with the emergence of a coordinated movement to attack Social Security. Since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, conservative politicians, think tanks and foundations have waged a steady battle to discredit, cut or dramatically transform the program. Labor unions and senior citizens’ groups led a broad movement that has largely succeeded in defending Social Security.

The People’s Pension covers in minute detail the specific politicians, lobbyists and organizations that have acted against Social Security over the last three decades. The book is massive, with a total of 818 pages and an unfortunate over-emphasis on the activities of Washington insiders.

In many respects, though, the book is a significant accomplishment. Written by an independent journalist and distributed by an anarchist publisher, The People’s Pension is a formidable piece of research, and its coherent, readable narrative is a gift to activists and scholars alike. In his closing chapter, Laursen even takes an admirable stab at demonstrating the relevance of anarchist concepts of mutual aid and popular direct democracy in bolstering the movement to save Social Security and public benefits.

Laursen consistently and thoroughly demonstrates that Social Security, despite conservative rhetoric, is not broken, not about to go bankrupt and not necessarily in need of a massive overhaul. Social Security functions remarkably well and has helped millions of people make ends meet. “Social Security,” Laursen writes, “had by 1980 evolved into the most successful antipoverty program in U.S. history.”

Laursen is particularly astute in his extensive analysis of the hype around generational rivalry. In these narratives, “greedy geezers” are stealing the wealth of today’s young workers. This rhetoric emphasizes generational divides to promote fear and reactionary politics. Social Security, Laursen convincingly argues, should be heralded as a system of solidarity and care between generations.

The People’s Pension is much weaker, however, in demonstrating why conservatives have put so much effort into attacking such a popular program. Laursen attributes these attacks to a combination of self-interest and ideology, but he is consistently vague about what business elites stand to gain. He alludes to a few possible causes, including fear of future taxes and the potential windfall of investment fees for the financial services industry if Social Security is privatized, but he fails to examine these claims any further.

Both austerity cuts to Social Security and privatization have a rational economic logic for business elites. But by failing to examine the underlying economic impetus for attacking Social Security, Laursen mislabels the problem in his closing chapter as one of bureaucrats removed from public concerns. Laursen’s chief solution — democratizing the management of Social Security — could never be successful without confronting the power of employers in American society.

As documented throughout The People’s Pension, labor unions and social movements have largely relied on lobbying, electoral politics and symbolic protests to defend public benefits. We need to go beyond the halls of Congress to fight back in our workplaces, to disrupt the profit of corporations, to build militant organizations of workers and the poor, and to develop solutions to the economic crisis that make banks and corporations pay.

Michelle O’Brien is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at New York University, studying the politics of welfare.

A longer version of this review will appear on The Rank-and-Filer, a political blog for radical social service workers, at rankandfiler.net.

http://www.indypendent.org/2012/07/24/what-they-gain-what-we-lose

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