Insuring Inequality

The story of the conflict of values and of the short-sighted compromise that resulted in the Social Security system as we know it today

The New Deal placed security at the center of American political and economic life by establishing an explicit partnership between the state, economy, and citizens. In America, unlike anywhere else in the world, most people depend overwhelmingly on private health insurance and employee benefits. The astounding rise of this phenomenon

This volume places the welfare debates of the 1980s in the context of past patterns of U.S. policy, such as the Social Security Act of 1935, the failure of efforts in the 1940s to extend national social benefits and economic planning, and the backlashes against "big government" that followed reforms

Fred C. Pampel describes how age combines with other components of inequality by comparing the influence of group membership on social inequality before and after the life course transition to old age. He looks at the differences in public policy and how age inequality -- more than the other sources

This book examines Wilbur D. Mills' role in shaping the national tax agenda 1958-74.