Social Security and the Myth of the Entitlement "Crisis"

Although public support for Social Security remains high, confidence in the viability of the program has declined. The decline in confidence reflects confusion generated by public dialogue about various crises, the most recent being the "entitlement crisis." This article discusses two central ideological themes of the entitlement crisis, that entitlement spending is crowding out funds for other social needs and that current trends are unsustainable. It questions the substantive basis of these themes and then critically evaluates two proposals for the restructuring of Social Security, means-testing and privatization.