Description: This article is a review of the report, An Actuarial Audit of the Social Security System, by Robert S. Kaplan and Roman L. Weil. Mr. Myers suggests that economists were not the appropriately chosen authors for an actuarial audit.

Description: This article describes a report by the GAO that was prepared at the request of Congressman Wolff. Robert J. Myers, the author of the article, that the GAO report is “an excellent summary of the various recent studies on the financial problems confronting the OASDI system. Four of the studies have been recently reviewed in The Actuary: An Actuarial Audit of the Social Security System by Kaplan and Weil April 1975, the 1975 Trustees Report June 1975, Report of the Panel on Social Security Financing to the Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate May 1975, and Reports of the Quadrennial Advisory Council on Social Security October 1975. Also considered in the report are editorial comments by The Wall Street Journal which first impelled Congressman Wolff to request the GAO Report.”

Description: Sets forth the history of the actuarial responsibilities for the Social Security System since the Act of 1935.

Description: This paper discusses the reasons why universal coverage of social security is desirable and the methods by which it could be achieved. The paper also covers an alternative approach to solving the financial problems without universal coverage. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1979, Vol. 31.

Description: This article is a review of “1972 Lifetime Earnings by Age, Sex, Race, and Education Level, Research and Statistics Note No. 14-1975,” published by the Social Security Administration, which presents detailed data by quinquennial age groups, sex, race, and years of school completed as to the present value of future earnings based on static earnings levels 1972. It is stated that such data can be used for general analytical purposes to form policy, for court determinations of awards in damage suits, and for cost-benefit analysts in such areas as disease prevention and education programs. The author of this article notes in his analysis the inconsistency of the static salary assumptions with a range of interest rates from 2% to 8%.

Description: This session at the SOA 1990 Annual Meeting looks at recent and pending social security legislation, the 1990 Trustees Report, and the Moynihan proposal to move to pay-as-you-go financing.

Description: This paper presents an analysis of whether workers get their 'money's worth' from the taxes they pay under the U.S. Social Security program. The cash retirement benefits for various cases of workers who have attained age 65 in different years and at different earnings levels is explored. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1983, Vol. 35.

Description: Presented at Annual Meeting October 1986. Discusses: Reasonableness of cost projections in the 1986 OASDI Trustees Report, Possible policy alternatives in response to the higher cost projected for years after 2020, How to reduce the variability in cost trends due to economic and demographic changes, Financing implications of differences and similarities in cost trends between Social Security pensions and private pensions, paper, 'Components of Trends in Social Security Costs' by Francisco R. Bayo, Milton P. Glanz and Charles L. Trowbridge.

Description: Distinguished panelists discuss the historical development of long-range 'close actuarial balance' of OASDI, its purposes and how well it is fulfilling its purposes, whether similar measures should be applied to the Hospital Insurance [HI] and Supplementary Medical Insurance [SMI] programs, and possible alternative measures. From the 1988 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 14, No. 1.

Description: Surveys show that young people do not have confidence that Social Security will exist when they retire - a view that is supported by some official projections. Author points out some ways the funding shortfalls can be corrected to secure Social Security's future.