Nancy J. Altman

Nancy J. Altman is president of Social Security Works and chair of the Strengthen Social Security coalition. She has a 40-year background in the areas of Social Security and private pensions. Her latest book is "The Truth About Social Security: The Founders' Words Refute Revisionist History, Zombie Lies, and Common Misunderstandings" (2018). She is also the author of "The Battle for Social Security" (2005) and co-author of "Social Security Works!" (2015).
Articles by this author
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Views Wednesday, December 23, 2020 The Future of Social Security Is on the Line in Georgia On Jan. 5, our earned Social Security benefits will be on the Georgia ballot. The Democratic Party, which created Social Security, wants to protect and expand benefits. Republican elites in Washington, who call Social Security an “entitlement,” want to see its vital but modest benefits cut. If... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, November 25, 2020 Social Security: Something to Give Thanks For in 2020 This year’s Thanksgiving is far from normal. COVID is raging across the country, millions are out of work, and many of us are seeing our loved ones on a screen instead of across the table. Yet we can still be thankful, and not just for the football and food. Now more than ever, we can be thankful... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, October 27, 2020 Donald Trump Is an Existential Threat to Social Security Social Security shouldn’t be a partisan issue. In poll after poll , voters of all political views overwhelmingly agree that Social Security is more important than ever, should not be cut, and indeed should be expanded. But that is not the belief of those in charge of today’s Republican Party... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, October 13, 2020 Social Security's Cost of Living Adjustment Is Inadequate. Democrats Have a Plan to Fix That. Social Security is the primary income of three out of five beneficiaries aged 55 and older. This vital institution is virtually the only income of a third of them. Our Social Security system lifts more than 21 million Americans—including over a million American children—out of poverty and lessens... Read more |
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Views Thursday, September 10, 2020 Fact Checking the Fact Checkers: Trump Does Indeed Plan To Destroy Social Security Donald Trump ’s nonstop lies, together with his endless cries of “fake news” and “hoax,” make the role of media fact checkers more important than ever. Unfortunately, on the crucial issue of Social Security, too many of them are furiously defending Trump from his own words. Instead of acting as a... Read more |
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Views Monday, September 07, 2020 This Labor Day, Social Security’s Future Hangs in the Balance Labor Day is a time to celebrate the essential contributions workers make to our collective wealth and wellbeing. During this Covid-19 pandemic, the commonly-used phrase "essential workers" brings to mind the often underappreciated but crucial contributions that workers such as nurses, grocery... Read more |
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Views Thursday, September 03, 2020 Social Security Could Come To a Screeching Halt Donald Trump once claimed that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York City and not lose any voters. He's now seeing whether the same is true if he kills Social Security. His unilateral, unprecedented step of deferring the collection of payroll taxes, the backbone of Social... Read more |
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Views Friday, August 14, 2020 Happy 85th Birthday to Social Security—Crown Jewel of the New Deal Eighty-five years ago, on Aug. 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. On that momentous day, he proclaimed , “If the Senate and the House of Representatives in this long and arduous session had done nothing more than pass this Bill, the session would be... Read more |
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Views Thursday, July 23, 2020 Warning, Warning: Republicans Are Plotting to Raid Social Security Donald Trump is obsessed with defunding Social Security. In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic, millions of Americans are facing eviction and hunger if Congress doesn’t act now to extend unemployment benefits. Essential workers are in desperate need of testing and protective equipment. But Trump... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Solidarity Will Turn the Impossible Into the Inevitable Starting with the original sin of slavery, those in our nation who were born White have exerted power over those who were born Black. Black Lives Matter is a powerful response to the implicit attitude that Black lives are disposable. As horrific as it was to watch the torture and murder of George... Read more |