Web Special Article: Perspective on Social Welfare Policy and Retirement Income Security

By: Brad Forenza, MSSW

Every four years (this year included), the United States votes for its President and Vice President, who—for better or worse—are chosen from the ranks of one of two political parties: Republican or Democrat. This year’s choice is between incumbent President Barack Obama (the Democrat) and Challenger Mitt Romney (the Republican). In simple terms, a major distinction between their parties pertains to the scope of government: should it be comprehensive enough to meet basic, institutional needs, or should it be trim enough to allow the private sector to assume responsibility for the general welfare? If the past is any indicator of the present, expect the looming debate cycle (October 3^rd, 11^th, 16^th, and 22^nd) to feature volleys between attacks on, and defenses of, government sponsored social welfare policies and programs like healthcare, veterans’ assistance, and Head Start education. The message-oriented world of partisan politics makes it possible for the storied histories of such monumental reforms to be whittled down to mere sound-bytes. This is especially true for discourse around the cornerstone of American oscial welfare policy: the Old Age Insurance (OAI) component of the Social Security Act.

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Revisiting OAI’s history will serve social workers well in an election year, as we prepare for the inevitable discourse that will surround our profession’s contemporary bedrock. Guided by issues of equity in both OAI and privatized systems, this article will critique strengths and weaknesses to help practitioners articulate cogent arguments about income security in specific and political lenses in general.

Background

Francis Townsend was an unemployed physician when he came to national prominence as an organizer for Great Depression-stricken elderly. In 1933, Townsend advocated that if the federal government could implement a 2% sales tax, it could afford a $200 per month stipend for every American senior over 60. The Townsend Movement quickly won the support of seniors, community organizers, and even some local governments. One year after its proposal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (a Democrat) delivered his Message on Social Welfare to Congress. In it, Roosevelt highlighted three factors deemed fundamental to the vitality of American families: decent homes, productive employment, and “security against the hazards and vicissitudes of life” (Roosevelt, 1934).

On August 14, 1935, Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. Its cornerstone was the Old Age Insurance (OAI) program, charged with providing American elders basic protections against—simply stated—old age and the inability to work. Today, OAI benefits are calculated using the average of an individual’s 35 highest-paying years of employment. Benefits are received by the retiree until his or her death. Because OAI is funded by the payroll taxes of active workers, ensuring its solvency assumes some inter-generational risk. Changes in demographics exacerbate that risk, as future cohorts of retirees will have fewer workers to depend on. This “Pay-as-you-go” approach to OAI remains a sticking point for critics like Presidential Candidate Romney and others in the Republican Party.

In 1977 and 1983—in response to slower wage growth and smaller worker/retiree ratios—Congress preserved Social Security at reduced benefit levels. Concurrently, President Ronald Reagan (a Republican) incentivized alternatives—known as defined contribution or privatized accounts—in the way of tax shelters (Hacker, 2004). In recent years, entire countries have shifted from defined benefit programs like OAI to partially or fully privatized systems, with the Republic of Chile often touted as the model example. It should be noted, however, that the reforms of Chile were advanced by an authoritarian, military government (Kay, 1999); less is known about how well reforms would bode in our democratic society, where constituents and interest groups are assumed vital to policy formation. In fact, such groups were almost unanimous in their opposition to former Republican President George W. Bush in his attempt to partially privatize the OAI system.

In defined contribution or privatized scenarios, individuals (as opposed to the government) have comparatively more control over their retirement investments; contributions do not fund the retirements of prior generations. What one invests is (theoretically) what he or she gets back. But with investment control comes personal risk, a sticking point for privatization skeptics. Also, to be politically feasible, the cost of transitioning to a privatized system would likely fall on future generations and create additional debt.

Critiquing the Schemas

The Social Security Act’s main function is to protect vulnerable demographics. One way that OAI has accounted for this is through the progressive redistribution of benefits, whereby individuals with lower lifetime earnings receive a relatively higher retirement benefit, and vice versa. To this end, OAI’s current pay-as-you-go schema redistributes wealth within generations, as well as between them. However, the extent to which OAI accomplishes “progressive redistribution” is cause for debate--only employed individuals should expect to see an OAI benefit, so those who have not fully vested in the system or those who have never worked (presumably the chronically poor) are excluded from the program. Similarly, Mitchell & Zeldes (1996) cite the correlation between low lifetime earnings and premature death that may preclude lower income earners (chiefly blue-collar workers and African-Americans) from enjoying the same breadth of benefit as higher income earners. Women, who may experience interruptions in their employment trajectories due to childbearing or care, are also disenfranchised in the OAI system. So, too, are same-sex couples that do not qualify for partner benefits as the program is currently implemented.

Privatization advocates argue that those with low income have the most to gain from a transition to defined contribution accounts. In the absence of employer payroll taxes, those gains are thought to result from increased employment and real wages. In actuality, however, privatization’s effect on the American labor market is unknown. Because privatized accounts are largely voluntary, many younger and low-income workers may choose not to invest in them, a concern of both political parties. If forced savings are imposed, it is assumed that younger and low-income workers will invest the least amount possible. In other words, forced-savings would likely be smaller in a privatized system than in OAI. When forced-savings are smaller, we can infer that a rise in elder poverty may ensue. Mandatory privatized investment would also expose poor workers to market-based financial risk that OAI expressly protects against, another sticking point for those in favor of government sponsored intervention. Similarly, while OAI extends guaranteed income to qualified retirees, privatized investment does not. If the free market fails, as it did during the Great Depression, then privatized accounts cannot offer a guaranteed, sustained benefit to the most needy Americans, who may, in turn, revert to stigmatized means-tests programs to subsist.

Conclusion

This article offers an overview of the defined benefit OAI program and its leading alternative--defined contribution privatized accounts. This article highlights the ways in which OAI and privatized accounts interact with variables such as age, race, mortality, gender, income, and sexual orientation, to mitigate or reinforce demographic disadvantage. It is the author’s hope that this article can inform social welfare professionals—in the most neutral of ways—to cultivate a cogent argument regarding income security in time for the election season. It should be noted that Republican Presidential Candidate Romney has not unilaterally endorsed a privatized schema. Therefore, the political comparisons in this article should serve to cultivate a topical understanding of the Republican and Democratic parties, and their broad vision for the provision of social welfare policies and services.

Bibliography

Hacker, J. (2004). Privatizing risk without privatizing the welfare state: The hidden politics of social policy retrenchment in the United States. American Political Science Review, 98(2), 243-260.

Kay, S. (1999). Unexpected privatizations: politics and social security reform in the southern cone. Comparative Politics, 31(4), 403-422.

Mitchell, O. & Zeldes, S. (1996). Social security privatization: a structure for analysis. The American Economic Review, 86(2), 363-367.

Roosevelt, F.D. (1934, June). Message on Social Welfare. Speech presented to the United State Congress. Washington, D.C.

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0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif] Brad Forenza is an Adjunct Instructor and Doctoral Candidate at Rutgers University. His research foci include social policy, civil society, and youth development. He is a graduate of Ithaca College (B.S.) and Columbia University (M.S.S.W). Brad started his career as an intern in the Office of (former) United States Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. For six subsequent years, he was Senior Aide and Speechwriter to a member of the New Jersey Legislature. His career in public service is accentuated by: (1) direct social work practice at several youth & family development agencies, and (2) applied research/program evaluation for clients in the human services.