Social Security Reform Essay

On August 14, 1935 in Austin, Texas, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inked his signature on the Social Security Act. It was originally implemented to resolve problems with unemployment, old age insurance, and public health and welfare. The Great Depression was the catalyst for the creation of the Social Security program, and the basic structure was very similar to Germany’s social insurance programs from the 1880s. Today, social security is mostly used for retired senior citizens starting at the age of 62. At 62, American citizens can begin to collect, but will only receive 35% of their monthly benefit due, rather than the maximum amount of 50% when they reach the full retirement age of 66. (cite) In addition, social security is dispersed to about 14 million disabled people under the age of 62, who can no longer work in the labor force for various reasons. The people who qualify as disabled are just a small percentage of those collecting compared to senior citizens, and are often not mentioned when social security issues are brought up because of their minute effects on social security distribution.

The Social Security Act of 1935, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, created a program that included social insurance programs, as well as public assistance. Both programs came about due to the depression and were created as part of the New Deal to benefit the citizens who needed assistance. While both programs were created to assist the public, each program had different eligibility requirements and accomplished different tasks.

Medicare and Medicaid, created by the Social Security Amendment Act 1965, added Title XVIII and XIX to the Social Security Act. President Lyndon B Johnson was responsible for bringing about this change. Social Security Program started during the Great Depression of 1930s because of the stock market crash and bank failure, which wiped away the retirement savings of the Americans. Poverty rate among senior citizen exceeded 50% during this time. Social Security Act was created in an attempt to limit the five dangers of modern American Society. The Social Security Act was

A landmark change in providing for the elderly came in 1935 with Franklin D. Roosevelt 's Social Security Act. While this provided aid to people with disabilities and mothers with children, aid was also mainly intended for the elderly. The premise of the act was that an individual would pay into the government through the years that they worked and upon retiring that person would receive benefits. Elderly Americans relied on this system to help pay for expenses that they might incur after they reached an age where they could no

For many years the social security program has been operating successfully. In recent times however, it is becoming apparent to some that social security is in need of reform. Their argument is that with the amount of people getting older in the next couple of decades, there will not be enough money left in the social security reserves to pay for everyone who needs it. That is why the idea of separating social security up into private funds has been brought to the attention of the American citizens. This idea of reform has been around for quite a long time; however it has been pushed on by pro reform supporters more in recent times because they think it is necessary for the

In 1935 the Social Security Act was established to provide Old Age Assistance and Old Age Survivors Insurance and in 1950, then President Truman, held the first of all National Conferences on Aging and the first federal social service programs were funded for the

The social security act was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt so that he could put in place provisions in order to help the elderly. The social security act a document that helps impoverished citizens, such as the elderly and physically impaired receive benefits after retirement. Citizens’ in America during the great depression where expected to work weather elderly or physically disabled. These citizens weren’t afforded the financial stability to retire so work was a necessity to acquire money. “Prior to social security, the elderly routinely faced the prospect of poverty upon retirement” (U.S SSA). This effect of the great depression led to a lot death and homes turning into singled parent homes with no income. “The widespread

Roosevelt and his Economic Crisis Committee, in 1935, came up with the simple idea of providing benefits to the generation of retired workers from tax money of currently working generation. Roosevelt put this straightforward idea into the system to make it work, and it surprisingly has worked out well so far. When the bill became a law in 1935, there were many people who were affected by the Great Depression and sought financial aid. Unlike the bank money that goes in loans and still depositor have access to the money; Social Security System passes out collected money immediately into benefits (“Social Security System”). This way, the working generation will always provide enough money to the fund. Rather than providing money from government fund, idea of benefiting citizens from their own money didn’t receive

The Social Security Act of 1935 provided retirement benefits only to retired workers themselves. In 1939, before any benefits had been paid, the first of numerous extensions to the system provided benefits for survivors and dependents. Later extensions included several classes of workers not covered under the original law. For example, during the 1950?s state and local government employee, members of the armed forces, and many farm workers, domestic workers, and self-employed professions were taken into the system In 1956 the age at which women become eligible for some benefits was reduce from 65 to 62, and in 1961 men were given the option of retiring at a reduced level of benefits at the age of 62.

Social Security currently extends benefits to about 61.9 million people. In 1935, when it was first created, under 225,000 people received benefits. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the program during the Great Depression. This was during a time period of economic instability and extreme poverty rates. It was created to help reduce the amount of retirees living in poverty. This program significantly helped to keep retirees off the street who lost their retirement fund during the Great Depression. Later, other programs including Medicare and Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance were introduced. Social Security is currently the largest and most expensive government run program. Each paycheck an employee receives has a

The Great Depression had devastating results on the financial wellbeing of individuals in the United States. As a result congress passed, and Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act of 1935. The act was designed to offer some measure of immediate relief to individuals and to establish programs, that in the future would provide citizens some financial protection against life’s major upsets. Since its inception, Social Security has been modified through legislation and court decisions to include not only retirement benefits; but also disabled workers, their dependents, and disabled adults and children with limited income and resources.

The Social Security Act first evolved in 1601 from England’s development of “Poor Laws”. These Laws were the first to address the responsibility of the state to provide for the welfare of its people. When the settlers came over to America they had adapted many things from the English, one being the idea behind the “Poor Laws”, which is what led to the Social Security Act that was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 14th 1935. This act was created to be a social insurance program to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income

Social Security provides for the needs of a country’s citizens when they are no longer able to provide for themselves through gainful employment, is an issue that evokes multiple viewpoints. Before laying the framework of the argument for meaningful change to social security program, the program itself must be defined. The Social Security Program is based on the premise during your productive working years you pay a percentage of your income as a tax into the social security system, at some point in the future either by retirement or disability you or your beneficiaries (dependents, children, or survivors) receive monthly benefits; based on your reported earnings (United States Government, 2014). As actuaries, policy makers,

The purpose of this paper is to analyze social security so as to show the

When the Social Security Act of 1935 was enacted as a social insurance program under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was not meant to be a large monthly stipend and it was not attached to inflation. It was not until the 1950s that the amount paid was almost doubled through legislation. Until 1975 when annual cost of living increases were tied to Social Security benefits, the only increases had come through special acts by Congress. This system was implemented as the nation was changing and becoming more industrialized and as this was occurring; the family unit was becoming less interdependent on one