The First Retirement Plan Of The United States 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.

In general, countries experiencing high fertility and rapid population growth, have a “young” population structure and the important policy considerations are if there are enough schools and, sufficient jobs and housing to accommodate this population. Countries with “old” population structures face the problems of structuring and developing retirement and health systems to serve this older population and also they have a considerable reduction the number of the working force. The decline of the work force is one of the most dramatic economic tendencies of the past four decades in the United States. The individual’s decision of whether to stay in the workforce or to retire is based on the collaboration of a number of factors including the following: eligibility for Social Security benefits, availability of and benefits under an employer-financed pension plan, work

The Chicago Fire Department and The Chicago Police Department are in danger of losing their pensions. These brave men and women put their lives on the line every day and this is how the government repays them. This is not securing their future of retirement. Citizens believe that our first responder’s pensions should be a high priority to Chicago’s to-do list. This City of Chicago owes these brave men and women a pension like they promised and if that means cutting funds to other things, then it should be done. The pension secures the men and women’s future of retirement, and by taking it away from them it may create unstable lives.

When boomer demand slams into the market place, prices soar (until the fad passes). Nothing stops the baby-boomer. There is somewhat of a bright side to all the spending and boomer traffic. Being just a few steps ahead of the boomer can make an individual very well off if you know which way they are headed. Boomers have always acted this way. Still the largest generation in the United States has been shifting markets ever since the diaper and baby food industries in the late 1940's (Geoffery 59-64). Construction of elementary facilities exploded for municipal budgets—Los Angeles was spending $1 million a week on new schools in the mid-1960's (Geoffery 59-64). After that happened, the boomer moved on abandoning a huge amount of those facilities. When younger boomers wanted cars, the Mustang and Camaro were considered a phenomenon and as the boomer herd passed so did the sales. Suburban homes in beautiful areas were next since boomers were doing the family thing. Prices on suburban homes exploded in the 80's and as usual; when the boomer left, so did the sales.

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

Social Security may said to provide primary means of income in retirement one would say that maintaining the existing system with its assured benefits is crucial for every American including the African Americans. Social Security is the nation’s most significant and operative income security program for American labors, pensioners and their families and is even more essential to the financial safety of African Americans; However, it be will right to propose that the system be amended due to the average life span of African Americans. By the time an African American senior citizen gets to the age where they are supposed to be enjoying their retirement benefits many of them seem to die off leaving their benefits to their beneficiaries. Hence it will be reasonable to amend the time of retirement due to the lifespan each race especially African American so that they can enjoy their hard earned insurance

The Social Security Act was enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to help seniors who were broke from the stock market crash in 1929. He wanted to build a safety net to ensure that every senior would stay above the poverty line and that there would be support for every worker’s family after his or her death. Today, Social Security does do that, but only barley, for many folks. (Epstein, 2006) Social Security was not the first retirement plan that was put into place in 1795 Thomas Paine introduce a pamphlet named Agrarian Justice where he suggested a system of inheritance taxes. His plan was for the tax of 10 percent on inherited property would be put into a special fund. It would be paid out as a one-time stipend to citizens just starting out at age 21, and as an annual benefit to everyone age 50 and older to protect against poverty in old age. Paine’s idea was never adopted even though inheritance taxes eventually were.

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

(FDR) stated The Social Security Act was for (workers in business and in industry.”) And the job categories that were not covered by that of (business and industry) were workers in agricultural labor, domestic service, teachers, nurses, just to name a few. Basically the employment definitions under (FDR) reflected the typical white male categories and configurations for the 1950’s era. So, consequently most women and minorities were excluded from the benefits of unemployment insurance and old age pensions that Social Security presented and they still continued to suffer and endure

Some economic observers predict financial disasters, both national and personal, when the baby boomers retire. They say that as nations of workers and investors become nations of retired consumers, withdrawals will far outweigh deposits in investment and savings vehicles.

Baby Boomers have been one of the most powerful forces in shaping the economic environment and are the wealthiest generation in the United States (Kotler and Armstrong, 2015). “In their early years, “Leading Edge” Boomers enjoyed economic prosperity, and their resulting financial power in their prime years drove rising trends in everything. However, the recessionary years of the early 1970’s also added cautionary realities to their youthful consumption and employment dreams” (“America’s Oldest Boomers”, n.d.). Baby boomers control approximately 70% of the disposable income in the United States, therefore, they are known as being one of the most influential financial forces in the marketplace (“Baby Boomers Report”, 2015). As they reach their

Cause As I just mentioned about the retirement plan. I want to talk more about it because the good purpose of retirement plans unintentionally becomes the cause of age discrimination in our society. In the book Old and Obsolete: Age Discrimination and the American Worker published in 1989, the prejudice against older workers in the workplace did not exist before having retirement plans. Before the 20th century, older workers, "along with all others, were expected to remain economically and socially useful as long as they were physically able to do so"

Social Security was created when Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935. The program provided a social protection system based on the idea that if laborers combined a percentage of their wages, they would have the capacity to ensure each other and their families against wage loss due to retirement. Through this national benefits program, Social Security made available a basic level of monthly income to laborers who paid into the system. Although benefits were originally limited to laborers aged 65 years and older, the minimum age at which laborers became eligible for Social Security benefits was lowered to 62 for women in 1956 and for men in 1961.Social Security benefits were originally intended to supplement

With the workforce in America decreasing due to hard economic times, there is no guarantee the money put into the reserve will sufficiently support a generation when it is time for retirement. Depending on Social Security to support a person financially when ready to retire, will leave that individual in even more of a struggle than the beneficiaries trying to survive in these earlier years of the 21 century. Social Security benefits represent about 41% of the income of the elderly; if there is not enough to support even half of the elderly’s financial needs now, there is no reason a younger person should depend on it alone for retirement (Dewitt, 2010) in the future.

(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