Please join us!

 

Click the image above to register.

Please join us…

You’re invited to the Frances Perkins Center’s 2010 Garden Party Saturday, August 14, from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM It’s a once-a-year event! This year, we’re celebrating the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Social Security Act. Frances Perkins considered the passage of Social Security her greatest accomplishment. We’ve been commemorating her achievement all year with our Social Security Stories Project. At the garden party, you’ll have the opportunity to add to our collection by telling your own Social Security story on camera. And, continuing our tradition of honoring exceptional women who epitomize Frances Perkins’s leadership, we are very excited to announce the recipients of our three awards: Brooksley Born, Nancy Altman, and Megan Williams, all three of whom will be at the Garden Party. Read all about them below… Tickets for the Garden Party are $35 per person. If you’d like to be part of the Host Committee, the cost is $75 per person (in appreciation, you’ll receive a very small, very special thank-you gift). Please order your tickets today — we want to be sure that you’re coming! Order your tickets today! Intelligence and Courage Award — Brooksley Born Brooksley Born is the former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Recognizing the dangers of unregulated derivatives trading, she warned about the potential collapse of the financial system but her warnings were not heeded. Her attempt to save the country from economic disaster is the subject of a PBS Frontline documentary, “The Warning.” Brooksley was honored by the JFK Library last year with a “Profile in Courage Award.” Learn more here. Steadfast Award — Nancy Altman Nancy Altman has been working on Social Security policy since the 1980s, when she worked on the 1983 Greenspan Commission on Social Security as Alan Greenspan’s assistant. She has taught at both Harvard’s Kennedy School and Law School and is a founder of the National Academy of Social Insurance, on the board of the Pension Rights Center, and co-founder of SocialSecurity-Works.org. She has testified before Congress on Social Security policy on numerous occasions and is the author of The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble. (Books will be available for purchase and can be autographed.) Open Door Award — Megan Williams Megan Williams is the executive director of Hardy Girls Healthy Women. Named one of the ten people shaping the future of Maine’s economy by MaineBiz last year, Megan was hired to lead Hardy Girls in 2005, a year after her graduation from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She has nurtured the ten-year-old nonprofit from its local roots into a flourishing organization with programs featuring mentoring, an emphasis on strength and activism, and national workshops and curricula. This year, Hardy Girls Healthy Women was given the Governor’s award for nonprofit excellence. For more information, visit Hardy Girls Healthy Women. And You’ll Be the Recipient — of Fine Food & Drink and Great Conversation Refreshments will feature food and wine from local establishments including Weeks End Lobster Bakes, Newcastle Publick House, Damariscotta River Grill, Rising Tide Community Market, Weatherbird, and others. Our sponsors include The Flying Cloud B&B and Bath Savings Bank. Don’t delay! Order your tickets today! (To ensure delivery, please order by August 7th.) Tickets may also be purchased by mail by sending a check to FPC Garden Party, PO Box 281, Newcastle, ME 04553.

Reason to be wary

Lori Montgomery, writing in the Washington Post this morning, explains why Social Security’s supporters (which actually include the vast majority of Americans), are concerned about the president’s deficit commission.

Commission members have declined to say what options they are considering, repeating the Obama mantra that everything is “on the table.” But options for Social Security are no secret: In addition to boosting taxes, the lengthy list includes raising the retirement age for people now in middle age and trimming benefits for the wealthy.

In a common refrain, Eugene Steuerle, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, makes the claim that Social Security is taking money from future generations.  “Is your 20th year in retirement a higher priority than educating your kids in the schools?” he asks. But this argument misses the point: what will be the effect on future generations if they are asked to provide support for their aging relatives? In addition, a cut in benefits today means a cut in benefits for generations to come, as well.

Montgomery allows Social Security’s supporters to present their case:

At Social Security Works, Altman, a former tax lawyer who taught at Harvard University and assisted former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan on a 1982 commission credited with temporarily restoring Social Security’s solvency, argues that there are better options than cutting benefits. Raising the income cap for Social Security taxes or imposing a tax on Wall Street transactions, she said, would raise enough to keep the program solvent for years.

“This is not a crackpot side of the debate,” Altman said, citing polls showing broad public opposition to benefits cuts, even among conservatives. “My goal is not to further undercut people’s confidence in Washington. But I don’t feel like I can just be quiet when they are about to do what I feel is a real disservice to the American people.”

Panel Discussion from Jan. 14: “Strengthening Social Security in the 21st Century”

Please click on the image to open the video. Then look for the "play" arrow to start the video.

From our January 14th event in New York City, the 2nd panel and wrap-up comments.

“Strengthening Social Security in the 21st Century”
Moderator: Professor Susan Feiner of the University of Southern Maine and member of the Frances Perkins Center board.

Panelists: Nancy Altman, author of The Battle for Social Security; Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, CEO of the Global Policy Solutions and co-editor of Strengthening Community: Social Insurance in a Diverse America; and Professor Eric Kingson from Syracuse University, and co-editor of Social Security in the 21st Century.

Closing comments are by Dr. Lynn Parramore of the Roosevelt Institute and editor of New Deal 2.0.