Fiscal Policy Program

Americans are aware that Social Security faces substantial challenges in the decades ahead--and hold a wide variety of conflicting, impassioned views about how to render the program strong and beneficial going forward. Our national debate is nevertheless more polarized than it needs to be, says former White House adviser Charles Blahous, even given the depth of legitimate differences over the program's appropriate future direction. Unless we identify and understand our respective initial assumptions, he explains, we will not be able to fathom the conflicting policy initiatives that they drive. In Social Security: The Unfinished Work he presents some often misunderstood, basic factual background about Social Security. He discusses how it affects program participants and explains the true demographic, economic, and political factors that threaten its future.