|
|
Article: Social Security: Mythmaking and Policymaking
- Article from:
- Freeman
- Article date:
- December 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Foundation for Economic Education, Incorporated Dec 2003. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
As Social Security's critics know, the government program is robed in myths, for example, that it is "insurance" financed with a "trust fund," paying "guaranteed" benefits "as a matter of earned right." These myths have given most Americans a mistaken understanding of Social security. As a result, they perniciously affected policymaking in the past and severely constrain reform options today.
Beginning in 1935, when Social security was enacted, the program's administrators made a huge effort to shape the public's understanding of and beliefs about it. In speeches, articles, pamphlets, and other mass-circulation literature, they described Social security as "insurance" under which workers ...