Social Security 's Optimal Solution

In “The Social Security Problem”, Max Moore discusses the fearful reality of Social Security running out of funds. He states that the U.S. Department of the Treasury predicts that Social Security funds will run out by 2041 and action must be taken in order to prevent this (134). In his essay, he explains how the depletion of Social Security funds are a result from a decreasing retirement age, decreasing fertility rate, and shrinking work force. These things contribute to an increased population relying on Social Security, an increased population of the elderly, and a decreased ratio of workers paying for those beneficiaries (135). Moore explains the proposal of George W. Bush to make Social Security partially privatized; allowing young workers to invest their retirement savings into their own account. This would result in people putting their retirement on the line in

Our nation ensures social welfare through Social Security. However, the United States cannot ensure the welfare of its own welfare system. To save Social Security, Americans in general do not favor an increase in the payroll tax, a cut in benefits or an increase in the retirement age. Furthermore, Americans are relying upon Social Security as their sole source of income at increasingly alarming rates. Social Security is intended to supplement retiree income, not account for 100% of it. Through elimination of the potential options, that leaves one necessary action: invest the Social Security trust fund in the stock market.

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

Currently, the United States is contemplating at a forthcoming Social Security crisis. If changes are not forged, the Social Security system will not be able to keep up with the demanded payouts and is estimated to empty the trust fund around the year 2037. In this paper I will review a brief history of the Social Security program, touch upon the eligibility requirements, discuss what economists believe about the future of the Social Security Program, and finally state the Pros and Cons to the proposed raising of the age requirement for minimum payout.

For years, Social Security has provided retired, disabled, as well many other Americans with financial security when they lacked or had little income later in their lives. Now, Social Security is being overwhelmed as the American population continues to grow. The Baby Boomers, or the demographic group born in the post- World War II era, from 1946-1964, have been the main reason for the prevalence of this issue. Millions were born during this era and by 2012 they were eligible for the full benefits of Social Security. Two years after that and for the first time ever, Social Security had to draw from its fund and since then they have not collected a surplus of taxes. Recent predictions show that by “2035, the number of Americans over age 65 will jump from today's 48 million to 79 million,” showing that this is just the start of Social Security’s problems to come. By 2035, I will hopefully be in my mid-30’s, wondering if one I would be able to afford retirement and without this system, I’m a bit unsure.

The passing of the Social Security Act generated a social insurance program that protected a multiplicity of people by supplying a monthly benefit to societal individuals age 65 and older who were no longer actively working; it was a means of income to individuals once they retired and was based on the person’s payroll tax contribution (Martin & Weaver, 2005). The longer amount of years a person was employed, the higher their benefit amount is set to be. Social weighing was a method they used to guarantee that the lower earning people receive a respectively greater income than their past earnings. (DeWitt, 2010). Not long after the Social Security Act was passed, legislation had considerable amounts of amendments to the original Social Security Act of 1935, and in 1939 the notion of economic security became family based; which it was then modified in order to supplement benefits to the spouse or young children of a retired worker, also providing welfare to a household who lost the loved one that was a covered worker (King & Cecil, 2006). In addition, the Social Security amendments of 1939 altered the benefits to be given to earlier participants and not focusing on giving benefits to future members in the Social Security program, also causing the arrangement of welfare to be provided to families rather than just an individual (DeWitt, 2007). Social Security being emphasized as an insurance rather than a savings, and carrying payroll tax money into the future would have

There are many problems with Social Security today; however, the most prominent problem stands out as the baby boomers. The term baby boomers refer to the massive generation born after World War 2, and since they are all retiring now America’s Social Security is beginning to drain. Chuck Hagel, author for USA Today Magazine, states that in 1950 for each retiree, there were 16.9 people in the workforce; today there are much bigger numbers: for each retiree there are nearly 3.3 people in the workforce (“Saving” 12). Hagel suggests that Americans under 45 should be able to have options when it comes down to how their money is being spent in Social Security: either they can use the traditional Social Security tax rate, or they can use 4% of their Social Security payments to invest the funds that currently make up Federal Thrift Savings Plan (“Saving” 12). In doing so Americans will be able to limit and control where their Social Security money goes. However, many people disagree with changing Social Security. David Cay Johnston, author of several award-winning books, argues that Social Security does not need a revision because of the large surpluses in past years: $2.7 trillion in 2011 (“Social Security is Not”). This is true, Social Security does have a large surplus every year; however, the government ends up spending it which

The social security system, established by the federal government in 1935; is currently one of the most costly items in the federal budget. The purpose of the system is to provide for Federal old-age benefits, and to enable social insurance and public assistance. The proposal of moving to an entirely new system would give the people living in the United States their own individual authority of controlling their own investments. If social security does not become privatized; the system itself will turn unsustainable, the retired and disabled will not fully receive their earnings; and the people of the United States will continue to have no control over their investments.

After its passage on August 14, 1935, Franklin Delano Roosevelt regarded the Social Security Act as “a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means completed” but whose purpose is to “take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.” The very opposite of soundness, however, was achieved. Today, looming deficits and abuse of the program have left it the focus of many debates. At their conclusion, the discussions generally only point toward making it more difficult to receive the money you put in, back, and raising taxes drastically on those still working to provide benefits for the disproportionate amount of retirees. Its problems are vast, but a permanent solution has yet to be decided. Far less discussed, however, is if the program itself is worth saving. Because of

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

With a federal yearly budget which exceeds six hundred and twelve billion dollars and makes up more than one-fifth of the Federal Budget, Social Security is the nation’s largest federal program (Moody, 2012). Often, people are prompted to think of Social Security as a retirement program; however it is far more than that, for it provides for more people than just those who are retired. It provides for the disabled, for spouses or child of worker who has died, and for dependent parent of a worker who has died. Hence, depending on an individual 's circumstances, one might be eligible for Social Security at any age (Young, 2010).

There are a lot of opinions on how or even if social security will exist in the future. In past years, leading to today there have been many issues, causing everyone to worry about the future funding of social security. The federal government needs to make changes on how social security is being handled before it is to late and no retirees will be getting social security benefits. Below I discuss several options that have been proposed to help the Social Security Trust Fund to get back to being stable.

Economic uncertainty, coupled with the retirement of the baby boomers, skyrocketing medical costs, and rising life expectancy, have left our lawmakers at their wits end in regards to our ever-expanding budget. Barr states, “Contrary to popular belief, long-term trends Policymakers are now acting upon this, by enacting a policy beginning in 2017 and ending in 2036, to gradually increase the Social Security tax by “1/20th of 1 percent”. As of now, “employers and employee pay 6.2 percent tax to Social Security on earnings up to $110,000.00, while self- employed workers pay both the employer and employee share for a combined total of 12.4”. Our current policy works on pay-as-you-go basis, in which, current workers finance the benefits of

The Social Security System is in need of a new reform; our current system was not designed for the age stratification we have at this time. The U.S. Social Security Administration Office of Policy states, “The original Social Security Act, signed into law on August 14, 1935, grew out of the work of the Committee on Economic Security, a cabinet-level group appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt just one year earlier. The Act created several programs that, even today, form the basis for the government's role in providing income security, specifically, the old-age insurance, unemployment insurance, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) programs.” Social Security was modeled to aid the elderly citizens, however during the

(5) Currently SS funds are collected and distributed on a pay - as - you -go (PAYG) system in which Social Security taxes from individuals are immediately distributed by the means of the SS Administration as it sees best fit. This means that taxes collected are not reserved for the individual who has paid them: in Rose 2 the current state he or she must rely on those persons paying SS taxes during the time of their retirement (Becker). For a number of these characteristics and future issues, the Social Security System must be reformed or completely abolished to meet the needs of tomorrow. The leading concerns of Social Security that merits the immediate initiation of reform are the demographic and economic circumstances in the coming century. Even though "forecasting the economy and budget over such a long period is uncertain" there remain many "certainties" regarding problems facing Social Security in the first half of the 21st century (OMB, Budget Perspectives 23). The Federal Government's responsibilities extend well beyond "the five- or six-year window" that has restricted the focus of recent budget analysis and debate. Of these "certainties" are the mounting challenges posed from the baby-boomer generation. This generation, born in the years after World War II, is aging