The predictable surprise : the unraveling of the U.S. retirement system.

A former chairman of the US Social Security Advisory Board, and author and editor of many publications on the effects of population aging (e.g., The Economic Implications of Aging Societies, coauthored with Steven Nyce, CH, Nov'05, 43-1694; and The Real Deal: The History and Future of Social Security, coauthored with John Shoven, CH, Feb'00, 37-3450), Schieber analyzes the retirement practices and policies of the US. He documents in detail the growing awareness of the pressures on pension liabilities due to the lessening of the ratio of number of workers in the labor force and the increase in the number of retirees over time. The author analyzes the various plans advanced during the 1970s-80s to meet expected pension liabilities, which later proved to be insufficient. His scope of inquiry covers Social Security and state pensions, as well as private pension plans. Schieber then addresses a number of very current proposals for reform, for example, the Bowles-Simpson Commission Report and the Domenici-Rivlin debt reduction task force reports. This is a masterful work and perhaps mandatory reading for students, policy makers, and others involved in the study of one of the most vital policy issues facing the US, retirement income. Summing Up: Essential. All readership levels and collections. H. I. Liebling emeritus, Lafayette College

Blaming the derailment of Social Security reform in 1998 on Monica Lewinsky is the one note of levity in Schieber's comprehensive, accessible analysis of the U.S. retirement system. Starting in the 1980s, Social Security trustees have been predicting deficits beginning a few years after baby boomers started to retire. The surprise is that deficits occurred in 2008 rather than 2016, and that they were larger than anticipated, due to the economic downturn and the worst decade for investment since the Depression. Though 401(k) plans seemed like a win-win for employers and employees during the bull market of the 1990s, they are proving less effective at providing retirement security than the large pension plans they've replaced. Schieber, former chairman of the Social Security Advisory Committee under Clinton and author of The Economic Implications of Aging Societies, cuts through the thicket of rhetoric and specialized knowledge to reveal the interplay of demographics, economic conditions, politics, and government regulations that have led to this current crisis. It's hard not to share Schieber's respect for the architects of Social Security and what they accomplished during difficult times, and his regret that the current political climate doesn't encourage thoughtful discussion of needed reforms. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone who wishes to engage in that discussion. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Fundamentals of Private Pensions, 2010, etc.), warning our children and grandchildren about their golden years turning to dross because of the reluctance of political leaders to grapple with a retirement system that cannot be sustained. He begins by identifying the components of the "system"--Social Security, employer-sponsored pensions (both public and private sector), personal savings, retiree health insurance and the part-time jobs people take as a bridge to retirement--and traces the history and development of each. He goes on to demonstrate how the system has been shaped by changing demographics and economics, the political response to the needs and desires of workers and the regulatory structure installed to administer and monitor private and public retiree programs. For more than 40 years the author has helped shape retirement policies, and he's not bashful about inserting his own authoritative voice and considerable experiences into his history. The discussion necessarily gets deep into the weeds--analysts and policymakers will welcome the thoroughness--but general readers will appreciate Schieber's efforts to warm the material with quotations from Sophocles, Confucius, Dickens, Churchill, Lewis Carroll and even Mae West, and to demystify the arcana with a plethora of table, charts and graphs, and a useful glossary. The author brings us up to 2010, surveys our precarious footing and makes recommendations for repairing our broken system. Even those who disagree with his prescriptions for reform--he forthrightly calls, for example, for immediate sacrifice by the boomers, would allow individual accounts as an element of Social Security, believes health-benefit plans should be taxable--will be forced to confront the dire facts. There's time to fix our retirement system, he insists, but not much. Precisely the sort of levelheaded, serious discussion our political leaders appear so unwilling to conduct.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.