Description: This article discusses key excerpts from testimony in June and July 1981 by James R.Swenson, Chairman of the Academy’s Committee on Social Insurance, to the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and to the Senate Subcommittee on Social Security. The testimony recommended that the long term problems of Social Security be addressed at the same time as the short term imbalances, that benefits be adjusted to affordable levels e.g. gradual increase in retirement age, that more attention be paid to pessimistic actuarial projections, that the actuaries be given more latitude in selecting assumptions, and that the law be amended to require actuarial certifications for Social Security.

Description: Discusses those Disability Insurance program changes, brought about by the Social Security Disability Amendments of 1980, which fall into two major categories: benefit amounts and program administration.

Description: This article discusses whether there should be a delayed retirement credit and, if so, how much the credit should be. The article distinguishes the applicability of the delayed retirement credit between social insurance and private pensions.

Description: Discusses author's thoughts on emerging social policy such as Social Security.

Description: Summary of the Reports of the Quadrennial Advisory Council on Social Security.

Description: Article The 1979 Annual Report of the Trustees Of the U.S. Social Security Programs by Bartlett in The Actuary, June 1979, Volume 13, Number 6

Description: The article summarizes a survey conducted by the Pension Section's Research Team. Nearly 2,400 actuaries responded with answers that ranged from abolishing the system to expanding the program to include all workers. The question, What changes, if any, should be made to the current system? is recapped.

Description: This article, excerpted with permission from the author’s presentation at Open Forum One in Quebec City, describes the Carter Administration’s financing proposals for the Social Security trust funds, released at the same time as the 1977 Trustees Reports. The Administration proposal in total is rather complex and defies a simple explanation but there are basically eight major provisions, which the author discusses in this article.

Description: This article is about the role of interest in financing the OASDI system and assumptions if the OASDI system is funded in the future so that it is on a current cost basis.

Description: The book review states 'This monograph provides an independent overview of the assumptions and methodology behind the OASDI estimates made by the Social Security Administration. Such information has heretofore been available only in the annual reports of the Board of Trustees of the OASDI Trust Funds, in the Actuarial Studies issued by the SSA and in writings by individuals closely associated with the system.'