ALJ Fallon Passes

Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Thomas H. Fallon of Boston has passed away at the age of 68. He had been an ALJ for 16 years. Prior to becoming an ALJ he had served as mayor of Malden, MA.

The Center Cannot Hold

These are some recent quotes about Social Security "reform" from scholars at the Brookings Institute, a supposedly centrist think tank:

• Isabel Sawhill: "Democrats must accept the need to slow the growth of Social Security and Medicare benefits."
• Alice Rivlin: "[D]o we want to allow rapid growth in programs supporting seniors (including Social Security) to drive out spending for education or scientific research or improving infrastructure that might contribute more to future economic growth?"
• Henry Aaron: "Other proposals that would cut Social Security spending or otherwise help reduce deficits deserve consideration."

What we see here are people who are trying to stay in the middle. On their left are Democrats who essentially want to keep Social Security as is. On their right are Republicans who are searching for a way to end Social Security, either through privatizing it or by cutting its benefits enough so that public support for Social Security spirals downward. The problem is that there is no middle ground for the would-be centrists to stand upon. These centrists end up with the less dramatic Republican option of cutting benefits but this is still an option based upon the premise that Social Security must cease to exist, a premise that these centrists do not accept.

Must Be Something In The Air Or Water

Joe Klein of Time picks up on Matt Bai's theme that only wild left-wing Democrats could oppose a "few minor fixes" to Social Security, such as raising the retirement age to 70 and reducing benefits. After all, "a move toward federal fiscal responsibility might encourage the U.S. business community to start investing the $1.8 trillion in cash it is hoarding and thereby create some jobs."

The Washington punditocracy is nuts. The idea that deciding to reduce Social Security benefits decades from now could provide an economic stimulus today is preposterous on its face. The changes that Klein favors are not "minor" in any sense. What is wrong with these people?

New Regs On Step-Children

From today's Federal Register:

We are revising our regulations to reflect changes made in the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 (CAAA) to the entitlement and termination requirements for Social Security child's benefits to stepchildren. Under the CAAA, we consider a stepchild as dependent on a stepparent to receive child's benefits based on the stepparent's earnings only if the stepchild receives at least one-half support from the stepparent. Also, we terminate a stepchild's benefits that are based on the stepparent's earnings if the stepchild's parent or adoptive parent and the stepparent divorce, unless the stepparent adopted the stepchild and the stepchild can qualify for benefits as the stepparent's adopted child.

Why Raising The Retirement Age Isn't Such A Good Idea

From Hard Work? Patterns in Physically Demanding Labor Among Older Workers by Hye Jin Rho:

Employment in physically demanding jobs or in jobs with difficult working conditions is a major cause of early labor-market exit among older workers. Raising the retirement age is particularly concerning for near-retirement age workers with such jobs. Despite the fact that the retirement age increase is supposed to encourage workers to work longer, many workers would be physically unable to extend work lives in their jobs, and they would most likely be left with no choice but to receive reduced benefits.

An analysis of the Current Population Survey (CPS) and Occupational Information Network (O*NET) shows that in 2009 6.5 million workers age 58 and older (about 35 percent) had physically demanding jobs, while 5.0 million workers age 58 and older (about 27 percent) had jobs with difficult working conditions. More than 8.5 million workers age 58 and older (about 45 percent) were employed in difficult jobs (physically demanding jobs or jobs with difficult working conditions).

Physically demanding jobs include general physical activities, handling and moving objects, spending significant time standing, or having any highly physically demanding work. Highly physically demanding jobs involve such elements as dynamic or trunk strength, or kneeling or crouching. Difficult working conditions include cramped workspace, labor outdoors, or exposure to abnormal temperatures, contaminants, hazardous equipment, or distracting or uncomfortable noise.

It is easy to think that raising the retirement age to 69 or 70 would be no problem -- if you work in an office and seldom have any significant interaction with people who truly labor for a living. Unfortunately, the people making decisions about this work in offices and seldom have significant interaction with people who truly labor for a living.

New Edition Of Social Security Disability Practice

The 2010 edition of my book, Social Security Disability Practice, has been released. It is available for sale from the publisher, West, which is now part of Thomson Reuters. I just received my author copies this afternoon so you know the book is hot off the presses.

OIDAP Agenda

Social Security's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP) is holding a meeting in Boston next week. Below is the "Public Agenda" for the meeting.

A couple of reports are mentioned in the agenda. I hope these reports will be released to the public in the near future but I fear they will not. Rapid dissemination of information that OIDAP receives or develops is essential for the panel's credibility but that is not the way OIDAP has operated. They seem to have a conspiratorial bent. I would be suspicious of OIDAP under any circumstances. The way they have operated has made me very suspicious.

WEDNESDAY—September 1, 2010

8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Call to Order

Overview of Today’s Agenda

v Terrace, Lower Level

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

Opening Statement

Richard Balkus, Associate Commissioner

Office of Program Development and Research

Social Security Administration

8:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Occupational Information Development Project Report

Sylvia E. Karman, Director, OID Project & OIDAP Member

9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Evaluation of 2008 Occupations Held by SSDI and SSI Disability Claimants

Renee Ferguson, Statistician

Office of Program Research

Office of Program Development and Research

9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Briefing on the Occupational/Medical-Vocational Study

Deborah Harkin, Social Insurance Specialist

Social Security Administration

10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Status on the Development of the OIS—Content Model

Shirleen Roth, Social Insurance Specialist

Social Security Administration

11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. LUNCH ON YOU OWN

WEDNESDAY—September 1, 2010 (continued)

1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. OIDAP Comment Process

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

v Terrace, Lower Level

1:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Public Comment

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Update on User Needs Report on Comments on the OIDAP Recommendations

Shanan Gwaltney Gibson, Ph.D., Member, User Needs & Relations Subcommittee

3:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. BREAK

3:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Subcommittee Report—Research Subcommittee

Mark Wilson, Ph.D., Subcommittee Chair

3:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Panel Discussion and Deliberation

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

5:00 p.m. ADJOURN

THURSDAY —September 2, 2010

8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Call to Order

Overview of Today’s Agenda

v Terrace, Lower Level

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

8:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Subcommittee Report—User Needs

Robert Fraser, Ph.D., Member, User Needs & Relations Subcommittee

9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Status: Job Analysts Ad Hoc Group

Deborah Lechner, Ad Hoc Chair

9:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. BREAK

10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Public Comment

10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Administrative Meeting

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

11:00 a.m. ADJOURN

More Signs Of The Deep Penetration Of Republican Myths About Social Security

From Firedoglake:

Matt Bai and the editors of the New York Times have printed an article ostensibly about Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer and his willingness to cut wasteful spending to reduce the deficit — as though eliminating unhelpful or harmful programs were an unheard of position for Democrats ...

With no apparent oversight from the Times’ editors, Bai turns the “news analysis” article into a Republican talking point attacking Social Security and the US Government’s credit worthiness ...

Here is how Matt Bai, who apparently gets his understanding of how Social Security works from Alan Simpson, describes how the Trust Fund works:

The liberal groups that are already speaking out against the debt panel’s unfinished work have chosen to start with Social Security because it is likely to be at the center of any budget compromise. “If there’s a place where it looks like Republicans and Democrats can reach agreement, we’re afraid it’s Social Security,” says Frank Clemente, the director of Strengthen Social Security. (In other words, the two parties might actually work together on something. They must be stopped!)

The coalition bases its case on the idea that Social Security is actually in fine fiscal shape, since it has amassed a pile of Treasury Bills — often referred to as i.o.u.’s — in a dedicated trust fund. This is true enough, except that the only way for the government to actually make good on these i.o.u.’s is to issue mountains of new debt or to take the money from elsewhere in the federal budget, or perhaps impose significant tax increases — none of which seem like especially practical options for the long term. So this is sort of like saying that you’re rich because your friend has promised to give you 10 million bucks just as soon as he wins the lottery.