The concept of generational equity—that the nation is squandering its wealth on entitlements to the elderly while children remain impoverished—has received considerable media attention. The author traces the source of that message to an organization, Americans for Generational Equity, which is dedicated to restructuring the Social Security system along the lines of a social assistance program: reduced benefits available at later ages only to those who qualify through means tests. The impact of this agenda would be to increase the labor force participation of older people, particularly women and minorities, those presently without private pension coverage and already heavily represented in that sector of the economy where labor shortage is developing. Defining national spending priorities in terms of intergenerational conflict obscures the fact that Social Security is the only U.S. welfare program that has been successful in reducing poverty levels.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aid to the elderly divides young, old, and politicians. The New York Times, June 23, 1988, p. la.
2.
Children are priority, health survey shows. The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 7, 1988, p. 3a.
3.
DerthickM.Policymaking for Social Security. Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 1979.
4.
BerkowitzE.The first Advisory Council and the 1939 amendments. In Social Security After Fifty, Success and Failure, edited by BerkowitzE., pp. 55–78. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1987.
5.
QuadagnoJ.The Transformation of Old Age Security: Class and Politics in the American Welfare State. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1988.
6.
MylesJ.Postwar capitalism and the extension of social security into a retirement wage. In The Politics of Social Policy in the United States, edited by WeirM.OrloffA.SkocpolT., pp. 265–292. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1988.
7.
AchenbaumA.Social Security, Visions and Revisions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1985.
8.
LightP.Artful Work: The Politics of Social Security Reform. Random House, New York, 1985.
9.
EdsallT.The New Politics of Inequality. W. W. Norton, New York, 1984.
10.
CohenW.The bipartisan solution, securing social security. The New Leader, February 7, 1983, pp. 5–7.
11.
The battle over repairing social security. Business Week, September 28, 1981, p. 116.
12.
KuttnerR.The Revolt of the Haves: Tax Rebellions and Hard Times. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1980.
13.
EhrbarA.How to save social security. Fortune, August 25, 1980, p. 37.
14.
ObeyD.SarbannesP.The Changing American Economy. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1986.
15.
GreiderW.The Education of David Stockman and Other Americans. E. P. Dutton, New York, 1982.
16.
How to cut the deficit. Business Week, March 26, 1984, pp. 52, 56.
17.
Mildred and Claude Pepper Library, RG309B, Box 87, File 20: The Green Sheet.
18.
SheppardH.The Early Retirement Age Issue in the United States. Committee on U.S. Europe Early Exit Project, Tampa, Fla., November 12–14, 1987.
19.
BoazR.The 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act: Will they delay retirement? Summary of the evidence. The Gerontologist27:151–155, 1987.
20.
MylesJ.Trillion dollar misunderstanding. Working Papers, July/August 1981, pp. 18–24.
21.
HardyD.Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Kansas City Times, May 18, 1987, p. 17.
22.
PetersonP.The salvation of social security. The New York Review, December 16, 1982, pp. 50–57.
23.
Social security: The real cost of those rising benefits. Fortune, December 20, 1973, pp. 80–82.
24.
EhrbarA. F.The wrong solution. Fortune, August 17, 1980, p. 118.
25.
BladenA.The truth about social security. Forbes, December 6, 1982, p. 242.
26.
PetersonP.Social security: The coming crash. The New York Review, December 2, 1982, pp. 34–36.
27.
An exchange on social security. The New Republic, May 18, 1987, p. 23.
28.
RobertsonA. H.Is the current social security program (of OASI, DI, HI and SMI benefits) financially feasible in the long run?J. Am. Soc. CLU CHFC, November 1986, pp. 53–61.
29.
LongmanP.Taking America to the cleaners. Washington Monthly, November 1982, pp. 24–30.
30.
Americans for Generational Equity. Second Annual Report, 1986–1987. Washington, D.C., 1987.
31.
DurenbergerD.Letter to AGE directors and members. December 1, 1986.
32.
DurenbergerD.Speech to the conference on An Agenda for the Aging Society. Minneapolis, January 13, 1987.
33.
SchwedP.A dirty little secret. Campus Voice, August/September, 1986, pp. 2–3.
34.
BoyerE.An imperiled generation. Generational J. 1: 37–38, 1988.
35.
ReinhardtU.U.S. health policy: Errors of youth. Generational J. 1: 42–45, 1988.
36.
JonesJ.Letter from the President. Of Age, Fall 1987, p. 8.
37.
AGE adds four policy experts to board. Of Age, Fall 1987, p. 7.
38.
AGE Conference looks at the economics of an aging society. Of Age, Fall 1987, p. 3.
39.
RodmanT.Letter to fellow baby boomers. January 18, 1988.
40.
HewittP.Memo to AGE members. February 4, 1988.
41.
LongmanP.Justice between generations. Atlantic Monthly9: 73–81, 1985.
42.
SmithL.The war between the generations. Fortune, July 20, 1987, pp. 78–81.
43.
PetersonP.The morning after. Atlantic Monthly, October, 1987, pp. 43–69.
44.
RobertsonA. H.Promises social security won't be able to keep. Chicago Tribune, December 1, 1987, p. 19.
45.
DuPontP.Creating Opportunities for the Next Generation of Americans. Remarks to the Magazine Publishers Association, Orlando, Fla., November 10, 1986.
46.
Senator pessimistic on health care. Kansas City Star, May 3, 1987, p. 6.
47.
BeilensonA.Let's put social security back on deficit-negotiations table. Tallahassee Democrat, November 11, 1988, p. 13a.
48.
Washington Post changes editorial stance on social security. Of Age, Fall 1987, p. 7.
49.
KausM.The right's free lunch. The New Republic, March 28, 1988, p. 14.
50.
TierneyJ.Old money, new power. The New York Times Magazine, October 23, 1988, p. 52.
51.
FairlieH.Talkin' bout my generation. The New Republic, March 28, 1988, pp. 17–20.
52.
AARP News Bull., April 1987.
53.
PolanyiK.The Great Transformation. Beacon Press, Boston, 1957.
54.
MylesJ.Decline or impasse? The current state of the welfare state. Stud. Polit. Econ.26: 73–107, 1988.
55.
QuadagnoJ.Women's access to pensions and the structure of eligibility rules: Systems of production and reproduction. Social. Q.28: 541–558, 1988.
56.
O'RandA.HenrettaI.Delayed career entry, industrial pension structure, and early retirement in a cohort of unmarried women. Am. Social. Rev.47: 365–373, 1982.
57.
LongmanP.Born to Pay, the New Politics of Aging in America. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1987.
58.
BluestoneB.HarrisonB.The Great American Jobs Machine: The Proliferation of Low-wage Employment in the U.S. Economy.Study prepared for the Joint Economics Committee, 1987.
59.
HaywardM.GradyW.McLaughlinS.Changes in the retirement process among older men in the United States: 1972–1980. Demography, 1990, in press.
60.
HaywardM.GradyW.McLaughlinS.The retirement process among older women in the U.S.: Changes in the 1970s. Res. Aging, 1990, in press.
61.
SerowW.The effects of an aging population on immigration policy. J. Appl. Gerontol.1: 25–36, 1982.
62.
RugglesP.O'HigginsM.Retrenchment and the new right: A comparative analysis. In Stagnation and Renewal, edited by ReinM.Esping-AndersonG.RainwaterL., pp. 160–190. M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, N.Y., 1987.
63.
BluestoneB.HarrisonB.The Deindustrialization of America. Basic Books, New York, 1982.
64.
BlumbergP.Inequality in an Age of Decline. Oxford University Press, New York, 1980.
65.
BernsteinM.BernsteinJ.Social Security, the System that Works. Basic Books, New York, 1988.
66.
PrestonS.Children and the elderly: Divergent paths for America's dependents. Demography21: 435–457, 1984.
67.
EriksonR.FritzellJ.The Effects of the Social Welfare System in Sweden on the Well-being of Children and the Elderly. Swedish Institute for Social Research, University of Stockholm, Reprint Series No. 222. Stockholm, 1988.
68.
SawhillI.Discrimination and poverty among women who head families. In Women and the Workplace: The Implications of Occupational Segregation, edited by BlaxallM.ReaganB., pp. 207–226. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1976.
69.
HernesH.Welfare State and Woman Power: Essays in State Feminism. Norwegian University Press, Oslo, 1987.
70.
SchirmerJ.The Limits of Reform: Women, Capital and Welfare. Schenkman, Cambridge, Mass., 1982.
71.
RuggieM.The State and Working Women: A Comparative Study of Britain and Sweden. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1984.
72.
MylesJ.Citizenship at the crossroads: The future of old age security. In Old Age in a Bureaucratic Society, edited by Van TasselD.StearnsP., pp. 193–216. Greenwood Press, Westwood, Conn., 1986.
73.
DurenbergerD.Action needed now for future long-term health care needs. Generational J. 1: 7, 1988.
