Social Security, as we know it today, began as the “Economic Security Act” in 1935, and it wasn’t until later that activist Abraham Epstein coined the phrase “Social Security”. In its earliest form, the government paid benefits only to the primary worker in the household, but in 1939 the act was rewritten to include survivor’s benefits for spouses and children. The very first recipient of social security received 17 cents, paid to him in January 1937. The first person to receive monthly benefits began to do so in 1940. In the three prior years, this person had contributed a total of $24.75. By the time of her death in 1975 (at the age of 100) she had collected $22,889 (http://people.howstuffworks.com/social-security-number6.htm). By contrast, the first person to ever be issued a social security number (in 1936) died in 1974 at the age of 61 without ever receiving a single social security payment (however, his widow did). This is the “math” of social security and it doesn’t always add up in a logical way. The financial solvency of the social security program has been in question for some time. According to analysts, the Social Security Retirement fund has enough funds to pay full benefits until 2034 (http://www.therubins.com/socsec/solvency.htm). It sounds far off in the future, but in reality that is only 19 years away! In that time, I …show more content…
He called it a “Roadmap for America’s Future” which involved moving social security funds to private retirement accounts and eventually increasing the age of eligibility. This plan was shot down by the Congressional Budget Office which said to do so would risk the financial security of future generations. Their reasoning is that returns on stocks aren’t a guarantee. It was felt to be too much of a risk and the entire plan was scrapped after Republicans won the House
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.
The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940... The term was first used in the U.S. by Abraham Epstein in connection with his group, the American Association for Social Security. Originally, the Social Security Act of 1935 was named the Economic Security Act, but this title was changed during Congressional consideration of the bill...Under the 1935 law, what we now think of as Social Security only paid retirement benefits to the primary
Currently, President Obama has chosen that Social Security restructuring should be handled in the context of total federal budget and the problem of deficits and debt. In 2010, he created the new commission called the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. This is
Of course there is the issue of who would make the actual investments. Many people are concerned that their Social Security money will be controlled by politicians who might have their own special interests or political agendas. The President proposes that the money be invested "in broad-based stock indexes similar to the Standard & Poor's Index under the control of a private Social Security Investment Board, as independent in theory as the Federal Reserve." Currently the Federal Reserve regulates and monitors the economy. To date, there have been no reports of conflict of interest within the Federal Reserve. Therefore, an independent management board for Social Security
Current problems with the Social Security fund exist, and are the reasons why Social Security is in the need of reform. According to Forbes Magazine, the fund is expected to run out by 2033 (Teal 2013). At this point, money will still be coming in, but will not pay out the full benefits to recipients. The worker to retiree ratio is continuously declining, being approximately three workers to every
We could save the Social Security Program, if we engaged in some simple changes. There could be some slight changes in the retirement age area and in the Taxes area. According to the Article "Modest Changes Could save Social Security Program" written by Stephen Ohlemacher, he clearly stated that employees are 100% grantee for an full retirement benefit package once the hit the age of sixty-six. It will later rises to the age of sixty-seven for elders that was born in 1960 or later. In addition, employees are able to receive an early retirement at the age of sixty-two, although their retirement benefits would have been reduced (Ohlemacher). Some changes we can apply to the retirement age, is that we could slightly increase the retirement age until it reaches seventy in the year 2027, which would eliminate some shortfall in the program. Secondly, there should be a three-year increase in the early retirement age,
In June of 1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the idea of Social Security to congress. President Roosevelt wanted to secure the lives of the American men, women and children. He faced some opposition in the form of Alfred Mossman “Alf” Landon who was a republican politician and served
The first retirement plan created in the United States, is one that the majority of us are familiar, the Social Security Act, signed under law in 1935. Up until 1939, Social Security only paid retirement benefits to primary workers, which for the most part were men. Age 65 was chosen as the retirement age because individuals who survived past childhood were likely to live past 65. However, not everyone benefited from such assistance, even after age 65—agricultural and domestic workers were excluded from coverage (DeWitt, 2010). The excluded group consisted of roughly half of workers contributing to the economy, which the majority were African Americans. According to Larry DeWitt, a public historian from the Social Security Administration, exclusion of such groups was due to tax-collection procedures and not due to racial bias. Although it may seem as though Social Security was meant to be the only form of retirement plan for qualified retirees, it was not. During such time, many individuals strongly depended on their savings as well as on their family.
When the Social Security Act was passed, the life expectancy of the average American was 61.7 years. (Life Expectancy) 61.7 is quite noticeably a smaller number than 65. This shows two very important things about the time period in which it was passed. First, when they made the cut off to be 65 or higher, they were referring to people who, for all intents and purposes, could die any day. These weren’t just old people, they were old people. Most had one foot in the grave at the very least, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t be able to support themselves.
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
However, President Roosevelt fell short of his goal only by reaching about a million by the end of his term (1945). There were some other drawbacks in his Social Security policy which are discussed
Originally, it only covered people working in the commerce and industry. If said person died, their husbands or wives (usually wives) and children could not collect their benefits. No matter how high or low of benefits were racked up. Over time, this started to change, by 1939, spouses and young children of those who have passed could receive uncollected benefits. 4 In 1940, the financing of social security changed mildly but it made a big difference. There was now a trust fund and a difference in size of the financial reserves so how the social security benefits were disbursed was handled much better. Retired workers could now receive their benefits much faster and the social security tax rate was postponed to 1942. Social security did not see any more big changes until 1950 when coverage was extended to numerous workers in industries that were previously not covered for Social Security Benefits. They continued to extend benefits to different kinds of workers for the next five years; by 1955 90% of workers were available to receive Social Security Benefits. Another big thing that happened in the 1950 was the new benefits that were extended to people with disability. At the beginning of the program, only people 50 years and older were able to collect benefits. Over the course of the 1950's though, the stringent laws were lessened and more people could rece--ive the disability
Social Security was introduced into law by Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Social Security was a program which would provide financial protection to our most elderly of citizens. The program over the course of time has evolved and added new branches of protection such as child, survivor, and dependent benefits. Social Security was never created to be an answer for a comprehensive retirement package for people retiring. However in our current society with plastic cards and increasing debit to income limits, many people do not save for the future. Many citizens live for today and expect the government to take care of them when they are old and cannot fend for themselves. In 2011 the first wave of baby boomers began reaching retirement age and in turn qualifies them to begin drawing from the Social Security System. The baby boom generation makes up 25 percent of the total United States population (SSA, 2014). The projected number of people from 2011 to 2030 who will become eligible to receive Old-Age benefits from the Social Security Act will increase by 65 percent (SSA, 2014). This data is crucial in terms of determining the stability of a system that relies on the paying masses to care for the elderly few. Many Presidents in the last two decades have created and formed elaborate panels of specialized individuals to tackle the problem of the long term sustainability of the Social Security System. In order to take care of our most elderly
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
When George W. Bush first took office he claimed that there would be no changes on Social Security as part of his policies. Soon after he took office though things changed as he began to implement plans to change social security and how