There is no more important issue facing aging Americans today than the acknowledged world crisis in social security. The problem is ascribed to the aging of populations--while the number of pensioners is growing, the proportion of contributors is shrinking. The current Republican administration in the United States has tried to make changes in an effort to postpone or present the problem here in America. However, their efforts have been frustrated...not by the Democrats, not by AARP, but by Otto von Bismarck. Who? you may ask. WHy, the first chancellor of the German Empire, that's who. In his comprehensive study of potential reforms to the social security system, entitled The Pension Mountain, former research director for UNited States government agencies Max Horlick writes that, "the basic rules of social security were established in his [von Bismarck's] time, in the early 1890s, and are almost impossible to change. Virtually all possible reforms proposed by the United States government have long since been tried in rapidly aging Europe." This present study discusses these various reforms and presents new insight and meaning to the problems facing the social security today. Informed by the author's many years of expertise in the field, THe Pension Mountain is a major addition to the growing body of literature regarding the effect of global aging on social security. Read Less