Summary: The Utilization Of The Social Security System

Social Security has been a very beneficial government program for elderly people, and those whom they support, when being an active member in the workforce is no longer an option for reasons such as old age, disability, or death. Destruction of the program, or worse, lack of the aid, would be catastrophic. Without it, it could leave many senior citizens that can no longer

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.

I believe the United States has an economic dilemma when it comes to social security and Medicare. As our textbook states, social security is drastically underfunded. It also says that Medicare is underfunded as well. I have listened to people who talk about how there will not be enough money in social security after the millennial generation. If this is true, then my generation and other generations after me will be in a terrible situation when they can retire. Medicare, a government, insured health insurance program, is also a matter of concern. Since the Medicare fund is underfunded at a high level, people who would need the help of their Medicare plan could potentially backfire. If the funding for Medicare does not reach a level where you would not have to worry about the quality of the care, then potential health risks could become much worse without adequate resources used to treat and prevent them.

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.

     Social Security is a public program designed to provide income and services to individuals in the event of retirement, sickness, disability, death, or unemployment. In the United States, the word social security refers to the programs established in 1935 under the Social Security Act. Societies throughout history have devised ways to support people who cannot support themselves. In 1937 the government began issuing Social Security identification cards to all citizens. Each card had a unique number that the government used to keep track of a person’s earnings and the taxes collected from those earnings that went to finance Social Security benefits. The Social Security Act is an act in which

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

Social Security is a system that is prevailing in several nations for their citizens’ welfare, which was initiated in the US in 1930’s. It is interesting to see how it has transformed in the hands of some of the US presidents. Ever since it was originated, it has been on the ramp getting modified constantly in such a way that it meets the needs of the Americans.

Americans today must to plan for retirement that spreads beyond social security. Many reports have shown that social security funds will run out in the year 2036. Social Security may not even be obtainable to Americans in the near future for many reasons. For example, budget constraints, a bad economy, declining assets, stocks, 401Ks, IRA's, and inflation are big reasons why. For the past few decades, many Americans thought that they could rely on Social Security for their retirement plans. When the Great Depression happened, President Roosevelt saw a lot of Individuals not working and witnessed many of the nation's elderly with no money to retire. The Social Security program was to make sure this level of poverty cannot happen again for any worker who had paid into the program. Payroll taxes are what fund this program. After a certain percent of a worker's paycheck is taken out, it will go directly into the fund that that provides benefits to current recipients. When law makers first implemented the Social Security program in 1935, they set it up to have the working person pay into a fund to help the aging Americans that are too old to work. For many years, this philosophy has worked well.

     There is much-heated debate on the issues of Social Security today. The Social Security system is the largest government program of income distribution in the United States. People are concerned that they won't see a dime of what they worked so hard to contribute into the Social Security system for so many years. Social Security provides benefits to about forty-three million Americans. Not only to retired workers, but also to their spouses and dependents of the workers who die prematurely. It also provides benefits to disabled workers and their dependents. Social Security appears to most people like a simple retirement saving’s account. After all, you generally

Following his election in 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law something radical for its time: The Social Security Act. This act changed America’s economic landscape completely, by minimizing the long-existing problem of retirees and the elderly living below the poverty line. Simply put, Social Security is a way to guarantee that older people, namely retirees, have at least a minimal source of income in their later years, by providing around 40 percent of the average person’s yearly income. Social Security both is and functions as a defined benefit plan, wherein benefits are decided by the amount of quarters than a person works, and are decided by a sliding scale with caps (United States). As directed by the sliding scale, per-dollar benefits are much higher for people of lower incomes, while overall-benefit amounts are higher for those of higher incomes (Benefit). Both the scale and the caps are adjusted yearly according to inflation. Social Security accumulates its funds into a trust fund, and puts excess money into investments in US Treasury Securities, where interest is accumulated and put back into the fund. Social Security’s benefits are not affected by the investments. Since 1982, the Social Security trust fund has experienced a net-increase and in 2015, the asset reserves sit at 2.8 trillion dollars (Financial). Despite this, the misinformed often point their fingers at the trust fund and claim that it is on its last leg, and will soon run out. Every few

Social security program is a retirement program for Americans aged 65 years and over. This consists of 92% of the entire American populace. Other beneficiaries of the program include the disabled, unemployed and aged but the government must have a record to ascertain that only those that are in need qualify to obtain the benefits. About 47 million Americans that fall under this bracket collect monthly benefits. On August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt signed a law that led to establishment of this program. This program serves older adults in various ways, for instance it offers long-term care, social services and provide income support for them. In addition to establishment of this program, the new Act also created a social insurance program to cater for retired group of employees aged 65 years and above entitled to receive income after retirement period (Jie & Junsen, 2004).

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