Essay The Social Security Act and its Beginnings

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.

Another program was Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program it was established to provide a minimum income for the disabled, blind and older Americans. This program works to help recipients with vocational skills therefore they can seek work opportunities. This is one of the least criticized programs by the public because the recipients are physically “worthy” of their benefits (J. Marx, 2004).

The Social Security system is perhaps the most successful government social insurance program in the nation 's history; and began with the Social Security Act in 1935. Social Security is a needed federal system that encourages income stability to millions of people across the United States. This is accomplished by giving a stable flow of income to replenish lost wages that occur as a result of disability, retirement, or death of a family member. There are about 59 million people in the U.S. that receive Social Security. Most of them are the required 65 years of age or older. Sadly about half of the 59 million people rely solely on Social Security to pay their bills and everyday necessities.

You’ve spent a lifetime paying into Social Security, and you may not have ever noticed because the money is taken directly from your paycheck each pay period. When you’re thinking about retirement, though, it’s important to understand your Social Security benefits so you can plan for the future. Able Advocate For Social Security Claims, based in Honolulu, HI, has been helping Hawaii residents navigate the system and get the Social Security benefits they deserve in a timely manner.

In 1930’s the Great Depression triggered a crises in the nation’s economic life. The Great Depression left millions of people unemployed and penniless. People consider leaving their farms behind to work in the cities factories to send money home. But as they grow into their new lifestyles the aging parent would stay behind to keep their dream of landowner ship. The seniors would be left in the hardest times of need living off the land. President Roosevelt’s New Deal was created to help jump-start the economy by providing unemployed workers with jobs and benefits packages for temporary relief. One of the many steps taken to alleviate the burden on the American people was the passing of Social Security Act on August 14, 1935 and its amendments by Congress and the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Social security was created in response to the Great Depression. The purpose of it is to protect aged and disabled persons from illness expenses, to give children a chance to grow up healthy and secure, keep families together, and to augment the material needs of individuals and families. The Social Security Act was first passed in 1935 and later amended in 1956 to provide disability benefits. Some programs included under the Social Security Act are: retirement insurance, survivor’s insurance, disability insurance, and some public assistance and welfare services. The Social Security program is meant to provide benefits,social security numbers, and generate its own finances.

The Social Security Act of 1935 [H.R. 7260] was a bill that was signed on August 14, 1935 by President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The act was established to help the elderly, disabled, or families who have lost a parent or spouse. The Social Security Act also known as SSA, was created to provide disadvantaged populations federal benefits. The act has a total of eleven titles ranging from the topics of the elderly, unemployed, child welfare, public health, and the blind. This paper will uncover what the Society Security was and how it contributed to the society. This paper will also cover the historical background, such as what problems led to the creation of this policy and if it was fixed by creating this act.

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 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 in the United States is a federal system run by the Social Security Administration to provide monetary benefits, or welfare, to citizens who are retired, unemployed, or disabled. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the Social Security Act which limited the dangers of old age, unemployment, disability, and families with dependent children within the United States during the great depression. In order to obtain the funds paid out to current social security recipients payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and the Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) taxes are collected from the earnings of current workers.1 FICA and SECA

The 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). The system was created in response to the pervasive poverty during the great depression, to provide basic level of income at retirement, as well as disability pay and life insurance foe workers (Kessler, 2014). In addition, the system provided benefits for dependents, immediate family members, and even divorced spouses, at the time of serious accidents or illnesses (Kessler, 2014). The first widespread social security program in America was the Civil War Veteran pensions in 186 that supported injured Union veterans and their survivors. The plan was expanded in 1910, to include Civil War veterans (Social Security Administration). As America went into Great Depression after the stock market crash in 1929, the government focused on the need for a comprehensive system that provided assistance to the poor and elderly to 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 in 1935 (Social Security Administration).

Prior to 1974, each state was reimbursed by the federal government for administering their own assistance programs for the aged, blind and disabled. By analyzing the various assistance programs developed by the states Congress determined that there needed to be a better and more effective way to assist those individuals who the states programs helped. Congress concluded “that there was a need for uniform eligibility based upon national standards and that the Social Security Administration” would be better equipped to efficiently administer this program. In 1972 Congress enacted the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in order to “provide[] a basic monthly national income guarantee, called the federal benefit rate (FBR), to persons

Social Security is what keeps many elderly and disabled Americans from being stricken by poverty. Without Social Security in our society 15.3 million elderly would have incomes below the poverty line, however after Social Security was added to the equation only 3.8 million elderly have incomes below poverty. Three-fourths of those elderly people who would have been poor without Social Security were removed from below the poverty line by Social

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