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The Social Security Retirement Fund

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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

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