The American Social Security System

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The American Social Security system is projected to help people with limited financial resources, including the poor, the physically disabled, the mentally ill, and the elderly (Grabianowski 2015). It was created in response to the pervasive poverty during the Great Depression to provide workers with a basic level of income in retirement, as well as disability pay and life insurance while they work (Kessler, 2014). In addition to providing benefits for workers, it also covers their dependents, immediate family members, and even divorced spouses, at the time of serious accidents or illnesses (Kessler, 2014). The first widespread social security program I America was the Civil War Veteran pensions in 1982 that supported injured Union veterans or to their widows. This plan expanded in 1910 to include Civil War veterans and their survivors (Social Security Administration). As America went into economic recession following the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression brought a strong focus on the need for a comprehensive system that provided assistance to the poor and elderly, so they could live independently (Social Security Administration). In 1934, President Roosevelt formed a Committee on Economic Security (CES), who came up with a plan that allowed workers to put a small percentage of their pay into an aggregate account that could be drawn when they retired, to help meet their monthly expenses, which became the Social Security Act (SSA) in 1935 (Social Security
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