Creative Writing: Blue Skies Essay

Social Security, referred to as Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), is paid on a scheduled basis to workers who pay taxes and are either retired, disabled, or have passed away. The significant role that this program plays in the U.S economy is clearly evident when the beneficiaries spend their money on different goods and services. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA) about 63.2 million people received benefits in 2013 and 65% of these aged beneficiaries received half of

Homer Hickam was a teenage boy from a mining town in West Virginia called Coalwood. He inspired to build rockets when he seen the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, streak across the stars. With his friends and the local nerd, Homer sets out to do just that but with many errors and trials. Along with the town, Homer's father thought they were wasting their time with their rockets. He wanted Homer to be a coal miner just like everyone else but Homer knew he didn't belong there. As time went on, some people from town became interested in seeing the homemade missiles launch into the sky. The boys became popular and were known as the "Rocketboys" around town.

According to Edlund et al., (2003), the Long-Term Care Security Act signed in 2000 by President Clinton established the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program, which in 2002 offered a long-term care insurance program to federal government employees, retirees, and their family members. This type of long-term care employer assisted insurance has great appeal as the last of the Baby Boomers have entered their early fifties. In “Ready, Set, Grow,” Paul Barr (2014) stated that there are 10,000, Baby Boomers per day becoming eligible for Medicare, and those in their sixties focus on cost saving solutions; whereas Baby Boomers in their fifties emphasize the importance of quality, and ease of access while exploring new care models with innovative patient interactions and unique financing

The Social Security Administration is a great government administration that provides retirement and disability benefits to a large portion of the U.S. population. It was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). He created many new administration during the great depression to combat poverty such as the Works Progress Administration. Unlike the Works Progress Administration, on the Social Security Administration fights poverty through planning for the future rather than the now. The Administration themselves views themselves high as well, on their website they stated that the Social Security Administration is “one of the most successful anti-poverty programs in our nation's history”. The SSA could not have come at a better time than when it did during the great depression. It was crucial to the nation's future as to whether it would fall back down to its knees right as it got back up. The SSA protected us with retirement benefits which allow and help us plan for our retirement safely ensuring that we will have money when we can no longer work. This need for a retirement plan is exemplified by FDR’s speech to the N.Y. state legislature where he states “No greater tragedy exists in modern civilization than the aged, worn-out worker who after a life of ceaseless effort and useful productivity must look forward to his declining years to a poorhouse.” This is arguably the most useful part of the SSA.

People are living forever. This is not true in a literal sense but the average life expectancy for people in developed countries has skyrocketed over the last 100 years. There are many great benefits of an increased life expectancy that people are able to enjoy in modern society. However, with increased life expectancy comes a greater toll on some government provided services. Social Security is a retirement plan for senior citizens that started in 1935 and lately has been a controversial topic in United States politics. The United States Social security program should be privatized because of its current financial instability and the increased positive benefits to its recipients.

Currently, Medicaid is the premiere funding machine for long term care services. However, Medicaid is a needs based program. In order for an individual to qualify for Medicaid they must be in an financial situation with a very low yearly income. Therefore, this program only covers a fraction of elderly people within the United States at the very beginning of their long term care journey. The only option for individuals who do not immediately qualify for Medicaid is to pay the full cost of these long term care services. These costs can range an upwards of $90,000. An average American will spend around 3 years of their life in a nursing home and the average retirement savings of a family in 2013 was $163,777 (Morrissey, 2016). Therefore a majority of individuals will ultimately deplete their savings and ultimately have to rely on Medicaid and other welfare programs to pay for their long term care and

Senior citizens were not able to work and because of the bank crash, many had lost all the money they had saved for retirement. In addition to this, many people were out of work, meaning that they could not afford to support the elderly members of their family. To solve this FDR created the SSA. The SSA provided a monthly income to senior citizens. it accomplished this by taxing the working class and business owners. This program still exists today, however, “in recent years concerns have arisen about the viability of continuing to fund the program as the Baby Boom generation reaches retirement age” (Kelly, n.d.).

It is about eighty two years since Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security Act. FDR stated “We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life...we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.” The social security plan had established itself as one of the most popular federal program. The program covers retirement, disability, and survivors’ benefits although to quality for most of the program’s benefit there must have been contribution from the receiver. In 1935, the Social Security Act became an actual law and with several amendments

When they at some point reached their retirement age they were not able to relax and have leisure time, because economically they were not stable, contrary to retirees now less than 10 percent of the elderly population, widows and disables are living in poverty a big step compared to 80 years ago (Senator Bernie Sanders) The elderly in specific are benefited not only from the social security but Medicare as well another succesfull welfare program in the United States. The reason as to why the Social security program has been so successful is primarily because of all the benefits that it brings to its beneficiaries as stated in Chapter 17 “many people call the social security the most effective antipoverty program in the United States.” Another reason as to why the social security program is one of America’s most successful program in the United States is because it primary benefits one of America’s largest group, the elderly. This is important not just economically but politically, “The size of this group is of great political importance because the rates of voters turnout are greater among the elderly than among the rest of the population” (We The

Since the very implementation of Social Security in 1935 during the time of the Great Depression to present day, it has been a never-ending source of controversy. As mentioned by Nancy Niles, Social Security was considered “old age insurance” (Niles, 2011, p. 9). It was designed to help older Americans, workers who become disabled, and families in which a spouse or parent dies (Niles, 2011). Not only has Social Security played a very essential role in the lives of many Americans throughout the years, but has also been very important to the economic security of the United States of America.

The United States of America is one of the most diverse places in the world. We all share different cultures, beliefs, and problems; nevertheless, economic security is a universal, human problem that each society has had to encounter in some way. The term “social security” was introduced to the United States in 1935, during the Great Depression, when the Social Security Act was passed. Social security has created about 16 social welfare programs over the years. These programs were developed to give millions of Americans a sense of economic security and to show that the government cares about the well-being of their own. The most popular programs under the Social Security Act are Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and Medicare and Medicaid Programs. These programs have greatly influenced the lives of many United States citizens and allow our people to feel secure.

Social Security was introduced into law by Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Social Security was a program which would provide financial protection to our most elderly of citizens. The program over the course of time has evolved and added new branches of protection such as child, survivor, and dependent benefits. Social Security was never created to be an answer for a comprehensive retirement package for people retiring. However in our current society with plastic cards and increasing debit to income limits, many people do not save for the future. Many citizens live for today and expect the government to take care of them when they are old and cannot fend for themselves. In 2011 the first wave of baby boomers began reaching retirement age and in turn qualifies them to begin drawing from the Social Security System. The baby boom generation makes up 25 percent of the total United States population (SSA, 2014). The projected number of people from 2011 to 2030 who will become eligible to receive Old-Age benefits from the Social Security Act will increase by 65 percent (SSA, 2014). This data is crucial in terms of determining the stability of a system that relies on the paying masses to care for the elderly few. Many Presidents in the last two decades have created and formed elaborate panels of specialized individuals to tackle the problem of the long term sustainability of the Social Security System. In order to take care of our most elderly

By transforming Social-Security from a defined-contribution plan, privatization would disconnect total benefits from life expectancy (Young, 2010). The benefits an individual received would depend on what was paid into the system plus the investment return on those payments. Individuals who begin work earlier, and therefore contribute for additional years, would earn additional benefits as a result of their contributions. If a person were to die with money still in his or her retirement account, that money would become part of the estate to be inherited by that person’s heirs. Under a privatized system, individuals would have a property right to their Social Security

The Social Security Program is a main source of income for seniors and disabled individuals in the United States. Many American citizens have thought about or heard of topics concerning Social Security most notably around election times. Economic woes and credit card purchases continue to stifle most American citizen’s ability to properly save for their future retirement needs. The methodology in this paper is a review of relevant periodicals, journals, government reports, and websites which analyze the Social Security issues facing our great nation. Most Americans are oblivious to the real truths behind this

James, the narrator in Ernest Gaines' "The Sky is Gray" is an eight-year-old African American male who is still a child but being the oldest male in the household he faces more responsibility than a normal young boy would. His father is deployed to fight in World War II, so his mother; Octavia is forced to take care of the household. She in turn must teach him how to be a gentleman, which he becomes at the end of the story. Influenced by the women in his life, James, the protagonist in Ernest Gaines' short story "The Sky is Gray" makes a transition from boyhood to manhood.