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Social Security: Will it Ensure Security in Retirement? Essay

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The United States Government made a promise to each taxpayer in 1935 that each individual would have some form of retirement income, but the fact is that nobody should depend on a broken system as a sole source of retirement income based on the promises made so many years ago. Current shortfalls in the general budget raise many questions regarding the sustainability of the United States Government as a whole. Current projections for Social Security predict the system bankrupting, even without the government removing funds to reduce the general budget shortfalls, but many deny the probability of a crisis. A bankrupt system cannot provide a secure future for individuals and their families, and even if a Social Security bankruptcy is not …show more content…

Those who deny a Social Security crisis cite the pessimistic projections by the Social Security Trustees (Biggs, 2001). Deniers believe that if the projections were corrected to reflect a realistic view of economic growth, Social Security would appear as a healthy, sustainable program (Biggs, 2001). In addition, deniers believe that even if the Trustees’ projections are completely accurate, the deficits of the programs would be easy to afford (Biggs, 2001). With the National debt soaring and economic growth stagnating as is has for the past few years however, people must consider how many more deficits the country can reasonably afford. Individuals should also consider not only if the Social Security system is salvageable but also if it is worth saving. The promise of Social Security was to provide some income in retirement, but questions certainly exist as to whether or not the program will still be able to fulfill that promise in the future. Congress implemented the Social Security program in 1935 as a direct result of the poverty levels and soaring unemployment rates of the Great Depression. When it was implemented the system was set up as a prepayment plan. Congress tied distributions directly to the amount of money each individual paid into the system. This idea however did not work for long, so in 1939 Congress scrapped the prepayment concept and converted Social Security to a pay-as-you-go system that works only

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