Contents | January/Feburary 2003
Michael Calabrese and Maya MacGuineas: Further reading for "Spendthrift Nation"
Economic statistics
For economic data regarding consumer debt and national saving, see:
www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/esbr.html
www.federalreserve.gov/rnd.htm
www.bea.doc.gov/
Private Pensions
For general background papers and data on the adequacy of U.S. retirement
saving and on private pension coverage, view the issue briefs and fact
sheets published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College,
www.bc.edu/centers/crr/publications.shtml, and by the Employee
Benefits Research Institute in Washington, D.C.,
www.ebri.org/facts/index.htm.
For a recent study projecting the retirement income shortfall facing
Americans by age, race, gender, and family status, see Edward N. Wolff,
"Retirement Insecurity: The Income Shortfalls Awaiting the Soon-to-Retire,"
Economic Policy Institute, May 2002, available online from the Economic
Policy Institute at www.epinet.org/press/releases/wolff050202b.html.
To read a report to Congress showing that among the half of the nation's
workforce not receiving a pension benefit at work, 85% are low-income,
young, work part-time or at small firms, see General Accounting Office,
"Pension Plans: Characteristics of Persons in the Labor Force Without
Pension Coverage, Report to Congressional Requesters," August 2000,
available at
www.gao.gov/docdblite/summary.php?recflag=&accno=163979&rptno=HEHS-00-131
To see President Clinton's original proposal for Universal Saving Accounts,
see "Remarks of the President on Universal Savings Accounts," April 14,
1999, transcript available at
www.network-democracy.org/social-security/bb/proposals/clinton_usa_accounts.html
To read more about the proposal in this article for universal 401(k)
accounts, see Michael Calabrese, "How to Improve Pension Coverage for
American Workers," testimony before the House Subcommittee on
Employer-Employee Relations, September 10, 2000, available at
edworkforce.house.gov/hearings/106th/eer/pension91400/calabrese.htm
To learn about Washington Voluntary Accounts, an innovative proposal for
state-sponsored, voluntary and universal 401(k)-type accounts, see the
background papers at the Economic Opportunity Institute of Seattle,
Washington, at
www.eoionline.org/Policy-EconomicSecurity.htm#WVA
Social Security
To learn more about the financial condition of the Social Security program,
see The 2002 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age
and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds.
www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/TR02/index.html.
For an excellent overview of the history of and the problems facing Social
Security, see Sylvester Schieber and John Shoven, The Real Deal: The History
and Future of Social Security. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
To learn more about the objectives of Social Security reform, see Eugene C.
Steuerle and Jon M. Bakija, Retooling Social Security for the 21st Century:
Right and Wrong Approaches to Reform. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute
Press, 1994.
To read more about the Progressive Private Accounts plan, see Maya
MacGuineas, "Testimony before the President's Commission to Strengthen Social
Security" at www.csss.gov/meetings/MacGuineas_Testimony.pdf and "Why
Liberals Should Support Social Security Privatization" The Washington
Monthly, April 1, 2001.
www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=article&pubID=172.
To read an overview of economic findings related to Social Security and
private and national saving, see Congressional Budget Office. "Social
Security and Private Savings: A Review of the Empirical Evidence," Washington
DC, July 1998.
For an excellent account of how Social Security reform could affect national
saving, see Douglas W. Elmendorf and Jeffrey B. Liebman, Social Security
Reform and National Saving in an Era of Budget Surpluses. Brookings Papers
on Economic Activity, 1-71, 2000.
To see details of what the President's Commission to Strengthen Social
Security recommended, see both the interim and final reports at
www.csss.gov/.
Copyright © 2003 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly.