Fixed Income

More Stories From My Trip to Poland

The author went on a trip to Poland to teach but also ended up learning, too.
More Stories From My Trip to Poland
Poland began modernizing after Soviet rule ended. Ruslan Lytvyn/Shutterstock
Tom Margenau
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About a month ago, I wrote a column about a trip I took on behalf of the Social Security Administration to Poland in the 1990s. To be honest, I thought readers would criticize me for writing it because I really wasn’t doing what I’m supposed to be doing with this column—answering readers’ questions about the complexities of the Social Security program.

But surprisingly, I got more positive responses to that column than to any other column I have written in a long time. And many of you asked me to share more stories from that trip. So that’s what I’m doing today.

Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]