...Social Security Benefits Americans have worked hard for centuries and always have had worries about how will they support themselves when they retire. To help aid retirees, in August 1935, the government established the Social Security Trust fund for retired workers, unemployment insurance, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, the blind, aid for dependent mothers and children, and the physically handicapped(Historical Background and Development of Social Security, 2010). However, the Social Security system is facing serious financial problems due because of a lack of jobs, high unemployment, and layoff rates. So there is no guarantee that Social Security benefits will be available for them when they retire, and therefore should not be used for their retirement safety net. In 2016, the Social Security system will begin paying more in benefits than they collect in taxes (2009 OASDI Trustees Report, 2009). Without changes by 2037, the Social Security Trust Fund will become exhausted and they will only be able to pay out 76% of scheduled benefits (2009 OASDI Trustees Report, 2009). If changes are not made be 2037, many Americans may have to work long into their retirement years because only receiving 76% of their benefits will not be a sufficient income. Most Americans, do not think that they will have to work extra years before they can retire, but with the average life expectancy in the United States currently at 78 years (CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
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...drug addicts really get Social Security disability benefits? Not anymore. There never were all that many people getting Social Security disability benefits on account of alcoholism or drug addiction, but Congress has now prohibited Social Security from paying disability benefits on the basis of alcoholism or drug addiction. However, alcoholics and drug addicts have heart attacks, get cancer or get sick in other ways just like everyone else. Alcoholics and drug addicts who become disabled apart from their alcoholism or drug addiction can become eligible for Social Security disability benefits. Abstract Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI) is a payroll tax-funded, federal insurance program of the United States government. It is managed by the Social Security Administration and is designed to provide income supplements to people who are physically restricted in their ability to be employed because of a notable disability, usually a physical disability. SSD can be supplied on either a temporary or permanent basis, usually directly correlated to whether the person's disability is temporary or permanent There are many different types of disablities that are covered under SSDI. However, one area that has been under heavy debate is whether or not substance abuse should be considered a disablity and funded by SSDI. This study examined symptom severity and level of functioning in recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for drug addicts and alcoholics...
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...November 12, 2011 In the Unites States we do not need to plan for retirement. Social Security will cover our needs when we are retired. "The Social Security program is a pact between workers and their employers that they will contribute to a common fund to ensure that those who are no longer part of the work force will have a basic income on which to live. It represents our commitment as a society to the belief that workers should not live in dread that a disability, death, or old age could leave them or their families destitute." - December 20, 1977 President Jimmy Carter. "This law represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means completed--a structure intended to lessen the force of possible future depressions, to act as a protection to future administrations of the Government against the necessity of going deeply into debt to furnish relief to the needy--a law to flatten out the peaks and valleys of deflation and of inflation--in other words, a law that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness." -August 14, 1935 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The statement that Social Security will cover needs when one is retired is not only a myth but an ancient and outdated philosophy. As one looks into the Social Security today, one must look at the entire pie. Social Security is a tax paid by working men and women. A percentage of these taxes are suppose...
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...Financial benefits provided by Social Security are endangered. In his third year of presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt pioneered the inception of the Social Security program in 1935. Our 32nd president decreed, “[The basis of Social Security was] to give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age” (Borick, Russell, & Shafritz 2012, p. 462). Since then, the Social Security (SS) program has paid benefits on a timely basis through to a plethora of American citizens. This program provides income for workers who have reached a certain age, have become disable, or have died on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, these benefits now face a dire crises—depletion. The problem is that projections of the program financial status provided by the Social Security Board of Trustees predict that moneys invested could be exhausted by year-end 2016....
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...Look around you, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Official Website “one out of every six people you encounter is on some form of Social Security.” Whether it is Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), which is for insured workers, disabled spouses, and children disabled before age 22 of disabled, retired or deceased workers. Or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which is given to people with little or no income, it is costing the United States government over $66 billion a year to fund. Furthermore, West Virginia leads the nation in the percentage of recipients on Social Security with a whopping 24%, or one out of every four people. (“Quick Facts”) The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program was created in 1972 to establish a minimum income for elderly, blind, and disabled people who were unable to work. As a Bail Enforcement Agent my job is to bail people out of jail who have been charged with a crime and are incarcerated. Almost 80% of the people I bail out of jail are receiving some form of SSI, or have an immediate family member who does. The crimes they commit range from domestic violence, breaking and entering, DUI, robbery, and illegal prescription drug distribution. Should the people who go out and commit these crimes be entitled to such generosity from our Government? Is anyone considering the people who work hard to support their families and are paying to fund these programs? The United States Government needs to implement some type...
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...A Report on American Economics in English Includes Social Security. 006 American Government-Economics Most of the problems of the United states are related to the economy. One of the major issues facing the country today is social security. The United States was one of the last major industrialized nations to establish a social security system. In 1911, Wisconsin passed the first state workers compensation law to be held constitutional. At that time, most Americans believed the government should not have to care for the aged, disabled or needy. But such attitudes changed during the Great Depression in the 1930's. In 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act. This law became the basis of the U.S. social insurance system. It provided cash benefits to only retired workers in commerce or industry. In 1939, Congress amended the act to benefit and dependent children of retired workers and widows and children of deceased workers . In 1950, the act began to cover many farm and domestic workers, non professional self employed workers, and many state and municipal employees. Coverage became nearly universal in 1956, when lawyers and other professional workers came under the system. Social security is a government program that helps workers and retired workers and their families achieve a degree of economic security. Social security also called social insurance (Robertson p. 33), provides cash payments to help replace income lost as a result of retirement...
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...Would People Behave Differently If They Better Understood Social Security? Evidence From a Field Experiment* Jeffrey B. Liebman Erzo F.P. Luttmer September 28, 2010 Abstract This paper presents the results of a field experiment in which a random subsample of older workers was given information about key Social Security provisions, while a control group was not. The experiment was designed to examine whether it is possible to affect individual behavior using a relatively inexpensive informational intervention about the provisions of a public program and to explore what mechanisms underlie the behavior change. We find that our relatively mild intervention (sending an informational brochure and an invitation to a webtutorial) significantly increased labor force participation one year later and that this effect is driven by female subjects. The information intervention increased the perceived returns to working longer, especially among female respondents, which suggests that the behavioral response can be attributed at least in part to updated information about Social Security. Key words: Social Security Incentives; Field Experiment; Labor Force Participation; Knowledge; Expectations; Retirement; Benefit Claim Age, Earnings Test. * Liebman: Harvard Kennedy School and NBER. Luttmer: Economics Department at Dartmouth College, and NBER. Corresponding author: Erzo Luttmer, Erzo.FP.Luttmer@Dartmouth.Edu. We thank John Geanakoplos, David Laibson, Annamaria Lusardi, Brigitte...
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...December 2014 Social Security and its Deficits In 1935, after bank failures and a stock market crash had wiped out the savings of millions of Americans, the nation turned to their president to guarantee the elderly a decent income. In those days, only a handful of workers had access to pensions from their employers or through State governmental pension programs. Over half of America's elderly lacked sufficient income to be self-supporting. The Social Security Act was enacted at the urging of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create a social insurance program that ensures workers would have a source of income after they retired. (ssa.gov, n.d.) In the decades that have followed, Social Security has become one of the federal government's most popular and essential programs. Despite all our efforts to encourage savings and investment, the private retirement picture has not changed much in recent decades. Even today, barely half of all workers have access to retirement plans at work, and millions reach retirement age without enough private savings to provide an adequate living in retirement. Social Security is still the foundation for most seniors' retirement. Without this critical safety-net program, over half of all older Americans would fall into poverty. Social Security does exactly what it was designed to do. It gives retired people a secure, basic income for as long as they live. At the end of 2005, more than 48 million people were receiving Social Security benefits: 33 million...
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...Social Security should not be canceled. It is an essential part to Americans and this program should continue. If the benefits of Social Security were to be cut Americans will feel the drastic effect. Social Security has worked successfully until recent years when strategists predict that the rate of payee is less than the rate of beneficiaries. In another word, the rate of people paying for the program is less when the rate of retires people increases. Therefore, money will not come in fast enough to support the program. This is going to be a major problem when the Baby Boomer reaches their retire age. Social Security is becoming a major concern to Americans as elderly populations, especially baby-boomers, are approaching old age. 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. As a result of this decrease in the population there will not be as many citizens to Social Security. By law, the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund are required to plan seventy-five years into the future to determine whether, according to the best demographic and economic forecasts available. Social Security will be able to obtain enough money through payroll taxes on current workers to continue to pay benefits to those in retirement. Payroll taxes on current workers will be able to bring in enough revenue to finance Social Security. However, if the forecasts indicate a...
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...Macroeconomics Social Security Chapter One: The Structure of the Social Security System What is Social Security? How does it work? When and why was it started? Who benefits from Social Security? Who pays into Social Security? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Social Security is “the principle or practice or a program of public provision (as through social insurance or assistance) for the economic security and social welfare of the individual and his or her family; or a U.S. government program established in 1935 to include old-age and survivors insurance, contributions to state unemployment insurance, and old-age assistance”.# Social Security was a plan enacted on August 14, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This program provided people in a need base situation with survivor benefits, disability benefits, health-care benefits, and automatic cost-of-living adjustments. In order to fully understand Social Security one must understand how and why it came about into our economy and society and the effects it has had on our nation. In the late 1800’s many of Americans earned a living out on the farm. People made money according to how well they could produce certain crops, how much they sold, and how easy it was for the farmers to get their goods to a marketplace. This set a basis and standard of living where children didn’t have to worry about what they would do for a living. At that time there was only one option, and that was to be a farmer...
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...Social Security and Retirement Erin Darby COM172 June 7, 2011 Louise Gerdes Social Security and Retirement In the United States, Americans need to plan for retirement. Social Security will not cover people’s needs when retiring. Americans who retire should use savings based on their personal investments, private savings accounts, employer’s pensions such as 401K, and Social Security so that they can live the rest of their lives comfortably. Americans that retire can receive full Social Security benefits depending on their year of birth. For example, baby boomers have the retirement age increased to age 67 for those born after 1960. The generation of baby boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y should be concerned that Social Security benefits will be exhausted when reaching the age of retirement. Without Social Security, what security do Americans really have? Americans should not depend on Social Security for early retirement for several reasons. The Social Security benefit amount might be less than what retirement recipients need, the retirement benefits might disqualify them from receiving full Social Security benefits, or the benefits may no longer be available. One reason Americans should not depend on Social Security is that the benefit amount might be less than what Social Security retirement recipients need. Some workers who have contributed to their Social Security could possibly fall into poverty. According to Laura Sullivan (2008), “future generations...
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...Michelle Robinson 5/29/16 HCA255 Orazie Slayton Social Security Administration During the Great Depression of the early 1930s a form of Social Security was created but the federal government was not involved in the support of elderly people and their families, those concerns were considered to be handled locally or by the state. According to the America’s Historical Documents (n.d.), that changed on August 15, 1935 when president Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, this act established a system of old –age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped (America’s Historical Documents, n.d.). Now the Social Security Administration (SSA) operates as an independent federal agency under the Social Security Act. The framework, issues, and priorities of the Social Security Administration has an impact on health care policy and delivery. Like any other federal agency the Social Security Administration has a purpose and a mission that acts as a blueprint in how to meet the needs of the serviced population. The SSA serves a purpose to the public to provide protection for aged and disabled persons against the expenses of being ill, providing material needs of individuals and families, also keeping families together, and to give children the chance at a healthy and secure future. According to the Social Security Administration website (2016) their mission...
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...Microeconomics Essay Assignment. 10/23/15 Social Security What is social security? What is the importance of social security in a citizen’s life? Different type of questions occurs when we discuss about the social security. This is one of the problems that United States has faced is their economy, but then again every country faces these kind of problems. Social security future solidity is one of the major issues in United States. What are the requirements for receiving social security benefits? How long do they prolong? Technically social security is a government program that helps workers and retired people and gives them benefit to spend the rest of life. Social security has different types of branches or different types of benefits we can call them. It is not only for retired people, it also helps people with disability, and people with no jobs. The benefits that come with disability and unemployment are limited. For example, its common sense if you find a job back you won’t be getting unemployment benefits, and if people that are disable start to show improvement in their health, their benefits will be terminated. Is the working population big enough to support the social security program for the future? However, there are costs and benefits for keeping this program. Is it possible that something else can be added to the social security program to help people more? Issues A lot of people these days’ worry about how to fix the social security issue. This is totally the wrong issue...
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...Social Security COM/156 July 3, 2011 Linda Dell’Osso Social Security On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. Creating this new law allows workers, at the age of 65 and older, to receive an income that would continue after retirement. The benefits that each worker receives are based on contributions taken from each paycheck. The payroll contribution taxes finances the payments that retirees received monthly. “The program's finances are based on the relationship between the number of workers paying taxes and the number of retirees receiving benefits,” (SSA, 2011, p. 1). With the high rise in unemployment and the number of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age, the social security “annual cash surplus” is facing distinction. President Franklin D Roosevelt established a Social Security Board (SSA), consisting of John G. Winant, Arthur J. Altmeyer and Vincent M. Miles, (SSA, 2011). The newly established board provides information to the public, along with employers and employees, about the reporting of earnings and the availability and distribution of benefits. The Social Security Board remained an “independent agent” until 1939. During administration changes, the Social Security Administration, which operated under the Department of Health and Human Services, replaced the social security board. The main purpose of the social security system was to provide income for workers in their senior years. This income was...
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...Social Security should not be canceled. It is an essential part to Americans and this program should continue. If the benefits of Social Security were to be cut Americans will feel the drastic effect. Social Security has worked successfully until recent years when strategists predict that the rate of payee is less than the rate of beneficiaries. In another word, the rate of people paying for the program is less when the rate of retires people increases. Therefore, money will not come in fast enough to support the program. This is going to be a major problem when the Baby Boomer reaches their retire age. Social Security is becoming a major concern to Americans as elderly populations, especially baby-boomers, are approaching old age. 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. As a result of this decrease in the population there will not be as many citizens to Social Security. By law, the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund are required to plan seventy-five years into the future to determine whether, according to the best demographic and economic forecasts available. Social Security will be able to obtain enough money through payroll taxes on current workers to continue to pay benefits to those in retirement. Payroll taxes on current workers will be able to bring in enough revenue to finance Social Security. However, if the forecasts indicate a...
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