Social Security Reform: An Analysis of the Ball/Altman Three-Point Plan
This article describes and analyzes the costs and benefits of a three-part Social Security reform proposal introduced by Robert Ball and endorsed by Nancy Altman. The Ball/Altman proposal consists of (1) gradually increasing the maximum earnings base until it reaches 90 percent of earnings; (2) dedicating the estate tax to funding Social Security beginning in 2010; and (3) investing a portion of the Social Security trust fund in equities. The article concludes that while the Ball/Altman proposed solution is not costless, it deserves serious consideration.
Should We End Life Support for Death Taxes
This was the question posed at the Herman Goldman Memorial Lecture, held at the Bar Association of the City of New York on the evening of May 22, 2000. Its topicality, given the Ways and Means Committee's decision to repeal the federal estate and gift tax, is obvious. Taking the affirmative, and presenting the case for the repeal, was Edward McCaffery, Maurice Jones Jr. Professor of Law, University of Southern California. Taking the negative, and presenting the case against repeal, was Charles Davenport, Professor of Law, Rutgers University-Newark. Judge James Halpern, United States Tax Court, presided (although he did not enter judgment); and Willard Taylor, Chair of the Herman Goldman Lecture Committee, introduced the speakers. No transcript was made of the debate, but the speakers have set out (in the paper) a summary of their arguments, and Judge Halpern has provided his comments. Attached at the end is a selective bibliography of the literature relating to the repeal of the federal estate and gift tax.
Comparative Industrial Sociology and the Convergence Hypothesis
Industrial sociology grew spectacularly after World War II, concentrating on three areas: workers' relations with each other, their managers, and their unions; the social organization of the factory; and the impact of technology on social systems extending from the factory to the society. Unable to sus­ tain leadership in all of these areas, industrial sociology shrivelled as other fields invaded its domains. Human relations became the ideological property of the business schools; labor economics maintained its grip on industrial relations; industry-community relations waned as interest in community power soared; industrial organizations were absorbed into the study of com­ plex organizations; occupational sociology maintained research impetus in labor force analysis; and the sociology of the economy dominated the study of industry's institutional relationships. Industrial sociology survived on remnants: worker-machine relationships (job satisfaction, alienation, un­ employment), organizational responses to technological changes. and a bit of working-class ethnology. Enduring interest in technology, however, en­ abled industrial sociology to take part in sociology's expanding interest in comparative studies.