...Social Security – the largest retirement asset that most people have today. Some say it has been the greatest government policy of all time and some say it has been the worst. Established on August 14, 1935 during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term, it enacted the beginnings of one of the first social programs that has continued to evolve even to today. It's creation was largely a response to the Great Depression and the fact that over 50% of senior citizens were in poverty during that time. In the event that a person could not work because of old age – and later disability, poverty, unemployment, and widowers – this program would provide a safety net for those in need by providing security and stability. From 1935 to 2009, many changes...
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...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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...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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...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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...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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...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 and Medicare History Present Configuration Future Projection GERO100 March 31, 2012 Hopefully we will all be physically able to work until the age of 65, collect retirement and Social Security and live an enriching life until we leave this world. Not all companies financially support their employees with fully funded retirement plans so it is left up to the individual to actively participate in saving for their future. When someone reaches retirement age, if the finances are there, they are usually only a fraction of what they were making as a full-time employee. This is when one hopes of having Social Security and Medicare benefits to supplement our retirement income for a more stable financial future. There are several reasons the Social Security Act was passed in August 1935. The elderly were living longer due to the availability of better health care, autonomy in workplaces to make jobs easier on individuals, and the modernization of our country’s water systems. Due to this increased longevity in the lives of the elderly, they were also more poverty stricken. An intention of the passage of the Social Security Act was to reduce the burden of loss of income to retired workers aged 65 or older. (Quadagno, 2008) It also included provisions for unemployment insurance, old age assistance and aid to dependent children. Benefits were to be paid based on the primary worker and was to be funded through payroll taxes deducted from the worker’s...
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...is Social Security running out of money? On the first day that the Republicans controlled the House of Representatives was back in session, the Republican majority passed a rule restricting the transfer of money from the Social Security retirement fund into the Social Security Disability program. Some feared that this would lead to the Social Security Disability Trust fund going bankrupt by the year 2033. But before I could answer this question I had to first ask myself, what is Social Security and how would it affect me in the future? Social Security is a program first initiated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935 and it was designed as a safety net to support retirees and the elderly, before he started the Social Security...
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...Social Security Debt The biggest part of the federal budget of America is the Social Security; social security is the benefit for seniors which they get part of their income after their retirement, so this benefit prevents them from working after a certain age. The seniors who actually benefit from social security used to pay it from each check that they got in their past labor life. However, the actual situation of social security is partly different from years ago; there is not enough labor force to pay for this benefit, which means that social security, is paying more in benefits than getting revenue to support future beneficiaries. As a result, most of our seniors have to work harder than they were younger to try to live a life away from debts. Nevertheless, there are ways to reduce this debt by informing its...
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...Introduction to Employee Benefits Be able to describe the increase in the percentage of compensation devoted to employee benefits over time. Be able to explain what factors are responsible for this increase. Why does the percentage of your salary devoted to employee benefits matter to you? What are some of the public policy issues related to employee benefits, and what are the implications? What are some of the likely future trends in employee benefits that we discussed in class? Chapter 2: Employee Benefit Management and Planning What are some of the employer objectives when designing a benefit plan? How specific are these stated goals, and how easy are they to measure? How do employers determine who should receive benefits, and how do they decide what types of benefits to offer? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a market research approach? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using top management’s perception to design an employee benefit plan? What is the life-cycle approach’s main recognition? What is the work-life approach’s main recognition? What are some of the methods used by employers to control costs? How could self-funding control costs? What methods do employers use to communicate employee benefits information to employees? What factors influence the outsourcing of employee benefits? What is meant by outsourcing serving as a “buffer” function? Chapter 3: Social Security and Medicare Why does social insurance exist? What...
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...Social Security and Private Retirement Accounts Kivi Poteat Econ 2302 Central Texas College October 31, 2015 Abstract With dwindling Social Security funds provided by the Federal Government, they are sure to run out in the future. Younger generations need to consider alternative methods. One of these methods that should be looked into is personal retirement accounts. This would not benefit older people much due to their reliance on Social Security, but when young workers reach retirement age, it would be greatly beneficial. Investments are something that requires much knowledge and experience, but the returns on private accounts are much higher than Social Security could offer. Private accounts also do not hold the risk of government...
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...There are numerous governmental programs that are used for the purpose of maintaining a comfortable lifestyle for those who cannot work for themselves. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a form of income that a person can qualify for if they have become temporarily disabled. This program was originally intended for older individuals who became injured while working on the job and could not continue to work. The insurance was there for them if they were too young to retire and were still in need of an income source. However, today SSDI has expanded to include a broad number of people, disabilities, and age ranges. Many professionals such as lawyers, doctors, and political scientists wonder if SSDI has been pushed to far, but...
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...ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE AND POLICY STUDIES AM228: BACHELOR OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE (HONS.) ADM653: SOCIAL SECURITY AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION TOPIC: DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY IN UNITED STATES PREPARED BY: AFIQAH BINTI MAD KASSIM 2013455736 ALIA ATIQQAH BINTI ADENAN 2013 FIQRIN HANIS BINTI ROSLI 2013488894 INTAN SURAIYAH BINTI RAMAT 2013460818 NUR AMILY BINTI ZAINUDDIN 2013439594 GROUP: S3BA5G (SEPT 2015) PREPARED FOR: SIR SUHAIMI BIN ABD SAMAD SUBMISSION DATE: 13 OCTOBER 2015 1.0 Introduction United States Social Security Administration focused on social insurance. The concept of social insurance in United States is from the individuals’ contribution to the government revenues managed by the governments and this fund will used to provide income to them when they become disable to support themselves through their own labours. For example, benefits in United States system are measured such a low income person get the higher benefit than those persons with higher earnings as the high income person get the lower benefits. 2.0 Types of Social Security Benefits in United States. 2.1 Disabilities Benefits Social Security disability benefits is for people whose age 18 or older, unable to work due to the medical condition that’s expected to last at least one year or may result to death and not receiving any benefits on their own Social Security record. Not limited to that particular of disability person, but the family members like spouse...
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...A Broken System SOC 304: Social Gerontology October 29, 2012 The Social Security System, created in 1935, is the one of the most costly items in the federal budget today. The program was created to provide old age, survivors and disability insurance to a large portion of Americans, mostly the elderly who are now out of the work force. The Social Security Act was a major turning point in American history Today the U.S. Social Security system has been in the news a lot lately. While politicians throw around dramatic words like crisis and bankrupt, regular Americans have more concerns. Social Security has assisted to defend millions of employees from scarcity in their elder years, but demographic truths have transformed over the last seventy years and are still altering. (Smith, 2010) If Social Security does not transform with them, the system will be incapable to fulfill its guarantees to tomorrow’s retirees and will load the next generations, our children and grandchildren, with hard taxes. The President would let Americans save some of their Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts that they own and that Congress can never legislate away. Personal retirement accounts would strengthen Social Security by assisting all US citizens to raise their retirement income and pass on a nest egg to construct a better fiscal future for their households. (Smith, 2010) Several Social Security professionals think the system is in crisis because it will soon be incapable to...
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