False Alarm: Why the Greatest Threat to Social Security and Medicare Is the Campaign to "Save" Them (Century Foundation Book) - Hardcover

White, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801866650 ISBN 13: 9780801866654

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001

Synopsis

With the aging of the U.S. population, there is much speculation about the future of the Social Security and Medicare programs. Will they be able to provide for the increasing number of elderly people? And, if they can, will their cost endanger the federal budget and the economy? Vocal segments of society are calling for radical reform of these programs. In False Alarm, Joseph White makes the case against radical reform, advocating instead for incremental change.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"Joe White's book is a model of political economy, a clear-eyed analysis of the sense and nonsense in budget projections, the use and misuse of demography in discussions of aging, and a clarifying account of the purposes and constraints of social insurance. For those who wonder about the future of Social Security and Medicare, this is a godsend of a book."—Theodore R. Marmor, Yale University, author of The Politics of Medicare"Joseph White explains how the myth of the "entitlement crisis" emerged and became the conventional wisdom among the Washington policy elite, why it overstates the challenges we face and how it can lead to irresponsible actions we may regret. If you believe that Social Security and

Medicare can't survive without fundamental reforms, read this book before you cast your next vote." —Lawrence Thompson, The Urban Institute

About the Author:

Joseph White is Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy, Department of Political Science, and Director of the Center for Policy Studies, Case Western Reserve University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0801866650
• ISBN 13: 9780801866654
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 344