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Social Security Cut Off Age

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The Social Security Act of 1935 was passed in order to provide for elderly citizens who could not provide for themselves. Through this system, working citizens would pay into the system to provide for citizens aged 65 and older, and then when they reached the age of 65 they would be cared for as well. This system continues today, but as the life expectancy of citizens increases, many wonder if the Social Security cut off age should be raised to 70. It should. The fact of the matter is that the average 65 year old does not need their social security check in the way they did in 1935, so the system shouldn’t be wasting its finite resources caring for them. When the Social Security Act was passed, the life expectancy of the average American was 61.7 years. (Life Expectancy) 61.7 is quite noticeably a smaller number than 65. This shows two very important things about the time period in which it was passed. First, when they made the cut off to be 65 or higher, they were referring to people who, for all intents and purposes, could die any day. These weren’t just old people, they were old people. Most had one foot in the grave at the very least, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t be able to support themselves. …show more content…

(Life Expectancy) This means, on average, people are around 13 years away from death by the time their social security kicks in. While many people could probably use the help provided by Social Security at this age due to their weakening bodies, they clearly are a much broader demographic and, on average, in less need of support from the program. Many people reaching retirement age in the modern day are still active and take up hobbies. (Novak) Clearly they can still provide for themselves by working. It should not be the job of the government to provide for people who do not need the

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