Some argue that personal retirement accounts would be a mistake and that the government instead should set up its own investment fund to help finance future benefit payments. The good news is that this indicates a growing awareness that ¡°pre-funding¡± (i.e., accumulating assets) is a necessary component of Social Security reform.
The bad news, however, is that government-controlled investment is the wrong answer to the wrong question. It assumes that policymakers should focus solely on balancing the program¡¯s revenues and expenditures. This ignores the other Social Security crisis¡ªthe fact that the tax burden on today¡¯s workers is extraordinarily high compared to the benefits received (often referred to as the rate-of-return crisis).
But even if balancing Social Security¡¯s long-term finances were the only goal, government-controlled investment would be the wrong answer. This is because a government-controlled pension fund would not face the competitive pressure and legal obligation to make investments solely for the economic benefit of future retirees. As one expert has explained:
Giving the federal government that power and control would create large risks for the economy and for the retirement security of today¡¯s workers. The Congressional Budget Office, for instance, has warned:
For example, evidence at the state and local levels with public employee pension funds¡ªas well as evidence from similar arrangements in other nations¡ªdemonstrates that politicians and their appointees often are tempted to steer the government-controlled pot of money toward special interests, political allies, or corporate contributors.
In addition, even well-intentioned policymakers are not qualified to invest funds and manage money. Simply stated, they do not face the bottom-line pressures that force private businesses and investors to allocate resources wisely. Yet poor investment decisions have serious consequences. Most important, workers would earn lower returns on their money, and even small differences in rates of return translate into less retirement income.
...vailable for stimulus programs to boost the economy out of the 2008 financial crisis. This caused fewer jobs to be created, which meant less tax revenue and more debt.
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.
In my opinion, the relationship between the Federal government and the States is unclear whether which institution has the authority to implement legislations. The vagueness of the American constitution particularly in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution that quote ” The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The ambiguous of the American Constitution may be the main cause of the over power of Federal government.
There is a quote that goes "behind every successful man there is a woman”. This implies that the sexes are not credited equally, and gender shadows over success. Men and women are separated not only physically, but in other aspects. A male-dominated culture exists although women are capable of performing just as well as men. There are different situations where men overpower women. There is a stereotype that divides the sexes, ultimately harming both genders. Literary works brush upon the subject of men versus women, touching these components as storyline progresses. There is not a black and white division among the sexes; however, novels such as Geek Love by Dunn and Maus by Spiegelman expose the underlying power struggle among the genders,
The White House, along with the politically biased Social Security trustees’, argue that Social Security is facing a crisis in that “the currently legislated structure of revenues and benefits, the system will eventually be unable to meet its financial obligations” (Bethel University, 2006, p.344). At its inception in the 1930’s, “there were more than sixteen workers to support each Social Security recipient. Today, there are about three, and in 2031, that number is predicted to dwindle to about two (Driscoll & Konczal, 2009). And the number of retirees is expected to nearly double from about 37 million to around 73 million (Driscoll & Konczal, 2009). So how to pay for this? The White House’s proposed solution is to establish individual retirement accounts which would be gradually phased in for younger entrants into the workforce allowing them “to build a “nest egg” for retirement…” (Bethel University, 2006, p.347) while maintaining the existing structure for those 55 or older. Other seemingly attractive features are ownership and control, the ability to in...
"Social Security Should Be Run by the Government" by Institute for America's Future.Capitalism. Noël Merino, Ed. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2010. Institute for America's Future, The Perils of Privatization: Social Security Privatization Cuts Lifetime Benefits; Makes Senior Citizens Vulnerable to Poverty: The Impact in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Institute for America's Future, 2008. Reproduced by permission. .
“According to Humane Society International, animals used in experiments are commonly subjected to force feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, prolonged periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process, the infliction of pain to study its effects and remedies, and "killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means.”(Peta). Have you ever wondered if a product you own was safe to use? Did you know that millions of animals are tested on each year for the daily products you use? According to Peta, around 26 million animals are tested each year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing. Animals are used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of medications, check the safety of products destined for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and healthcare uses (Peta). Animals are harmed or sometimes even killed in this process. Animals are not the same as humans, therefore; the testing done on Animals is not helping our human society, it’s hurting the animals. There are alternative ways to performing testing rather than testing on animals.
According to the California Biomedical Research Association, almost every medical advancement in the last 100 years is a direct result of animal testing and research. The use of animals has become standard procedure in a wide range of testing and experimentation, including product toxicity testing, biomedical and veterinary experiments, drug development and testing, and education. Major advancements in treating and understanding chronic conditions such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, malaria, and tuberculosis, have been achieved due to animal research. Also, the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics are also direct results of the testing and observation of animals. On the other hand, many people believe that animal testing is cruel and inhumane. In many laboratories animals are subjected to force feeding, food and water deprivation, physical restraints, and infliction of pain. Because the animals cannot protect themselves, many people argue that exploiting animals to better the lives of humans is wrong and should not be permitted.
One word comes to mind when I think of animal testing: cruel. Animal testing has been a subject of debate for many years. While most people think that using animals to test products is a reasonable approach, in reality the outcome does not always show how the products will react on humans, and the animals suffer unnecessarily. The United States needs to ban all animal testing like the European Union did because testing on animals is cruel and animals should not be dying from it.
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.
The United States government is designed with checks and balances to ensure that no one branch can become more powerful than another. Though this may be the case, it is still possible that one branch of the our government can still be more powerful than the others. The equality of power in our government has constantly changed over the course of the life of the United States. Although these changes have occurred, we still have not made all of the branches equal and the inequality has been due to meet the demands of the time. For example, in 1938 our country was facing a depression and nothing was getting done. So, Roosevelt took it upon himself to give the Executive branch more power, to then in turn, help the country creep back out of the hole it had dug itself. After the country didn’t need the reform bills and the size of the government that Roosevelt had put it, things were then downsized and put into a more stable equilibrium. Though there were attempts to make everything equal, the Legislative Branch now holds the majority of the power, and is the most powerful branch that our government has.
Social Security has become a primary source of income for so many retirees and disabled workers. With the increase in recipients, the fund will experience a shortfall that will impact future retirees. The future of Social Security looks bleak unless the government takes steps to reform the program to continue to meet the needs of the current as well as the future recipients. Whether it is to raise taxes, decrease benefits, or privatize Social Security, action is needed. We all want the benefit of enjoying our later years after retirement but it would be hard to enjoy life after work when your primary source of income disappears with no alternative. There are many options to explore to make the changes needed. Reform to Social Security needs to be made soon or it will not last beyond the next generation of retirees.
For many years, animal testing has been the main solution to test household products, food, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The term “animal testing” refers to the procedure performed on certain animals to determine if a certain product is safe. Most of these procedures done on the animal can cause a great amount of physical pain, and distress. Most animals die shortly after the experiment because so much pain was inflicted on their body. After the testing is done, the animals are left to suffer in cages. The different types of experiments performed on the animals are outrageous. There is even an alternative to animal testing, but scientist refuse to use it, and some people wonder if animals are even needed for medical research.
The appropriate role of government in the economy consists of six major functions of interventions in the markets economy. Governments provide the legal and social framework, maintain competition, provide public goods and services, national defense, income and social welfare, correct for externalities, and stabilize the economy. The government also provides polices that help support the functioning of markets and policies to correct situations when the market fails. As well as, guiding the overall pace of economic activity, attempting to maintain steady growth, high levels of employment, and price stability. By applying the fiscal policy which adjusts spending and tax rates or monetary policy which manage the money supply and control the use of credit, it can slow down or speed up the economy's rate of growth in the process, affecting the level of prices and employment to increase or decrease.
As the saying goes, saving money for rainy days, in other word preserve the summer harvest so there is food to eat in the long winter months. There is something naturally human about our need for security to have something on hand just in case. In 1935 the social security act was born from just such a need, when American was in crisis, so now with the current projections pointing to the crisis in social security, experts believe that by 2037, the social security trust fund will be exhausted.