US Chief Officer for Strategic Planning of Social Security attacks 'myth' of US pension policy

NEWS RELEASE

Friday 12 October 2007

On Thursday 11 October, at a conference on Income Support organized by the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society in Oxford, Dalmer Hoskins, the newly appointed Chief Officer for Strategic Planning of the Social Security Administration of America, attacked the US pensions policy by declaring, ‘We are living with the myth that we have, in the United States, a pension policy. I would say, without any hesitation, that we do not.’

He went on to state that, ‘we are slipping into deep trouble’, owing to the fact that the public system remains untouched since 1983 and is in dire need of reform, and that the private sector is in ‘full-fledged fall’. All over the world, he claims, ‘employers are trying to get out of the game’, and there is little or no public confidence in the government’s willingness or ability to step in and remedy the problem.

Dalmer Hoskins concluded by predicting that the situation was set to worsen, with low levels of unionization, a low level of public understanding of the system, and a healthcare system that is, ‘spinning out of control’.

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Notes for editors

The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society is an independent institution affiliated with the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford.

Founded in 2005, the mission of the Foundation is to study, reflect on and promote an understanding of the role that law plays in society. This is achieved by analysing issues of contemporary interest and importance through our three programmes:

• The Social Contract Revisited
• Courts and the Making of Public Policy
• Rule of Law in China: Chinese Law and Business

The Foundation draws on the work of scholars and researchers, and aims to make its work easily accessible to practitioners and professionals, whether in government, business, or the law.

Dalmer Hoskins is the newly appointed Chief Officer for Strategic Planning of the Social Security Administration of America, and prior to this was Secretary General of the International Social Security Association (ISSA).

For more information, please contact Phil Dines on

07809 219 543 (mobile)
01865 284433 (day)
01865 209163 (evening)

phil.dines@fljs.org (day)
phildines@gmail.com (evening)