Social Security Reform
Nearly every American sees the letters FICA at least once a week. While rushing out of the office or place of employment and scurrying to the bank to cash a well-deserved paycheck, the average American scowls at the roughly 8% the "FICA tax" inevitably consumes. Yet, ask any American what they plan to use to enjoy life after they retire and the answer is generally uniform: "my social security checks". This answer has been repeated for over sixty-five years. Since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, Americans have been receiving returned taxes for their retirement through a public policy known as the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), or better known as Social Security. Noted as one of the most successful government policy decisions in the United States' brief history, Social Security has kept millions of Americans out of poverty and acted as fiscal life support for many others. Unfortunately, due to an explosion of population fifty years ago and a current population growth comparatively stagnant, Social Security is approaching a deep financial crisis. Current estimates foresee negative growth within the next fifteen years and complete bankruptcy for the program in roughly thirty years. The financial crisis has created tension among current and future Social Security recipients as well as the nation's legislators. However, despite an obvious need for decisive action and reform, the issue has barely surfaced in the recent pages of the Congressional Record. Why has nothing happened and when will something happen? The following report will answer these two questions and envelop a series of others. Relying on past critical assessment of wide-ranging policy reform, the fo...
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Throughout the 20th century governmental responsibility has made remarkable progress. One major milestone of the widening of the responsibility of the federal government was it’s making an obligation to care for the elderly and retired in the form of social security. In 1935, the Social Security Act was enacted by the federal government to provide financial security to the elderly, retired citizens in America. Although the federal government first took on this responsibility in 1935, it is still affecting our lives today. However, social security would not have advanced this far without many organizations and individual reformers to begin and improve social security throughout history.
Initially, the Social Security Act of 1935 generated a nationwide organization proposed to distribute financial assurance for the nation's workforces. This Act was set out to provide for society to the une...
Social Security is a system that was set up in 1935 after the Great depression to help people get through tough times. "Social Security is now used by nearly 44 million Americans"(policy.com). Only people who payed into social security are eligible to collect when they retire. Many people think that they receive the money they pay in but that is not total true. The money that you pay in is used for the people that are receiving it now. "In 1950 there were 16 workers for every beneficiary; today there are only three workers per beneficiary"(policy.com). There is more money going into social security then coming out now. The extra money goes into a trust to be used when it is needed. By the year 2032 those numbers are going to drop. By this time most baby boomers will be retired and collecting social security. This will put a big strain on the funds. There will be more money going out then coming in. And it will not take long to use all the money that is in the trust. By the year 2034 they will only be able to pay 75 percent of the beneficiaries. "The projected average monthly Social Security benefit in 2032 of about 1,100 (in 1998 dollars) would fall to about $800, and would drop further in later years. Average benefits for low-wage earners would drop from $670 to $480"(www.ssab). Theses cut would effect the people just starting to receive benefits and those who are already receiving benefits. And with each year these benefits will decrease. As these benefits continue to decrease "the percentage of aged people living in poverty would rise"(www.ssab).Most people believe this is happening because of the baby boomers generation. There will be more people taking from social security then giving in. By the time my generation is eliable to receive social security there may not be any money to give.
Despite the retirement income crisis, Social Security should be expanded, not reduced. In Arthur Delaney’s article on the Huffington Post, Senator Bernie Sanders stated, “With the middle class struggling and more people living in poverty than ever before, we cannot afford to make life even more difficult for seniors.” A push to adopt CPI-E, rather than a switch to a “chained” consumer price index that cuts retiree benefits, would m...
Today, the future of Social Security is in the news again. The reason Social Security is of such concern is that the extremely large group of citizens born in the post-World War II period—the much-discussed baby-boom generation—is retiring. The generation that will take its place in the workforce is far smaller in proportion to the number of retirees, raising fears about the sustainability of Social Security. In the past, proposed solutions to the various problems facing Social Security aroused great debate. Each time, however, the arguments were stilled, repairs were made, and the system continued to fulfill its mandate. That uncertainty about the future has resulted in suggestions for change that range from minor adjustments to complete privatization of the ...
Social Security is on the verge of taking care of the baby boomers generation. This means that it will be paying more benefits than taxes it receives. In lay-man’s terms it means it will be spending more money than it is making. I think that you should pay into your own private retirement account for you to reap the benefits in the future. Not for you to pay into a cluster of workers money for current elders to benefit from. You need to take care of your own future and not rely on other people’s responsibility. “…people began to think retirement funding as a right…and so…started saving less” (Klay & Steen). That being said, people of a certain age should be “grandfathered” into this meaning, people of the age of say 40, still get the normal social security retirement money but anyone younger must start abiding this new reform. If you get married, keep paying into your own unless your spouse is not working. If that is the case then pay the same amount BUT put half into your own and half into your spouses. If the other spouse is working however, they should pay into their own account and you into your own.
A better way to measure the financial trouble facing Social Security is to compare the promised total future benefits to the program 's total future taxes on a present value basis. Unless policymakers cut Social Security and other programs, the fiscal and economic outlook for the nation looks grim. The large baby boomer generation is beginning to retire in droves and average life spans in the nation are continuing to rise. Those changing demographics are driving Social Security 's financial imbalances. When Social Security was created in 1935, the life expectancy for
Social security, since instituted in 1935, has kept many elderly people from running below the poverty line (Hosansky). In 2015, the Social Security Administration predicted that the funds would be depleted by 2034 (Max). This poses a serious threat to the living situation of future generations when they retire. Our elderly, by today’s standards, enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. They are able to retire and still make over one thousand dollars a month. Some people also have private pensions which allow them to live even more comfortably. But with social security funds running out, we must ask the inevitable question. Is it worth having social security anymore? Social security should be kept. One must never fully rely on social security. In addition
Social Security has played a major role in supporting the elderly as well as sick and disabled financially for many years. However, we do not know how long this will last their are many problems facing social security and the funding of it with the population continuing to grow more and more people are taking advantage of social security. The main problem is people who do not really need the help and free income of social security abusing it making the government actually spend more than they actually putting into the social security fund. In this paper I will not only discuss the problems surrounding social security but also solutions in which could not only help better social security but also make it available for generations to come.
Since 1935, the U.S. government has modified the Social Security Act more than 20 times by major amendments. One of the first amendments, passed in 1939, added benefit support for the family members of retired workers and for survivors of deceased workers. In 1956, under President Dwight Eisenhower, the U.S. Congress added monthly benefits for disabled workers to Social Security. Along with the amendment of 1939 for benefits to family members and survivors, this new amendment created the form of Social Security that still exists today, which is known as Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI). In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed an amendment that created Medicare. Medicare is a program that provides hospital insurance to the elderly, along with supplementary medical insurance for other medical costs. During the 1970s and 1980s, concern arose about the financial integrity of the Social Security trust funds. The balance was shifting between money coming in from taxes and benefits going out of the funds. The administration of President Ronald Reagan passed a set of major legislative changes to Social Security laws in 1983. These changes included the cancellation and, in some cases, taxation of certain benefits. The Congress also improvised a slight ...
Privatizing of social security has been a subject of debate over the years ever since former president George. W. Bush suggested it back in 2004.Over 96% of the American workers benefit from the social security after paying the social security tax (Aaron 12). This is to say that over 49 million people receive some amount of money from the system which fortunately for them is much higher than the taxes they contribute towards the same. While such payment may not be more than $895, nearly two thirds of the American retired population acquires half of their income from the social security payments. For some it is the only source of income. One importance of this social security is its ability to cover the users from unpredictable economic environment including fluctuations in demand and supply and inflation rates. Additionally the security covers them against possible disability or unexpected demise of loved ones. So with the increasing economic uncertainty both nationally and globally, social security is needed more than ever before and this is why privatizing it is the worst idea ever.
For more than 75 years, social security has been designed to ensure retired workers that there will be money when it comes time to retire. Since 1935, social security has been the main foundation of economic security for Americans. Social security has developed a steady income for retired workers and helps the disabled worker make a decent living as well. The money made by the worker is divided into payments to help provide for them and their family. There are a few suggestions that should be taken into consideration in order to help fix social security problems. The raising old taxes that finance social security, and raising the retirement age, and only providing social security to ones who earn less than a certain amount of income are some
...ortant improvement in social justice at a time when individuals were giving up hope and becoming disenchanted with the American system of government and economic organization. “The established legislation redefined the relationship between government and society.” (Béland 94). The result was a new notion of social obligation. “The Social Security Act of 1935 created permanent measures that have enduring social, economic and political consequences.” (Béland 94) Today, most Americans continue to see Social Security as an economic program providing financial support for retirees in their golden years. However, it is also an enduring social reform in which we citizens take care of each other. Never again will presidents receive letters stating, “I’m a 60 year old widow greatly in need of medical aid, food and fuel. I pray you, have pity on me” ("Social Security Online”)
In the United States, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid all impact the economy and population in some way. These federal and state programs offer to help meet the income and health care needs of the American people. These programs help those who might not be able to work due to certain illnesses as well as helping those who can’t afford health care. Though, every program has its strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, with the good, comes the bad and that can mean a need to reform as well.
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 contribute through payroll deductions, then get money back after you retire. Nonetheless, Social Security is a complex and intricate communal program. By design, Social Security involves massive subsidies from the next generation of retirees to the present, from single workers to married couples. Now that the gigantic post World War II baby boomers generation approaches retirement age, there is concern about the consequences it will have on Social Security. There are basically three options, we can do nothing and allow Social Security to run it’s course, revise Social Security, or consider privatization of the system.