Social Security Trust Fund Essay

Our nation ensures social welfare through Social Security. However, the United States cannot ensure the welfare of its own welfare system. To save Social Security, Americans in general do not favor an increase in the payroll tax, a cut in benefits or an increase in the retirement age. Furthermore, Americans are relying upon Social Security as their sole source of income at increasingly alarming rates. Social Security is intended to supplement retiree income, not account for 100% of it. Through elimination of the potential options, that leaves one necessary action: invest the Social Security trust fund in the stock market.

Current problems with the Social Security fund exist, and are the reasons why Social Security is in the need of reform. According to Forbes Magazine, the fund is expected to run out by 2033 (Teal 2013). At this point, money will still be coming in, but will not pay out the full benefits to recipients. The worker to retiree ratio is continuously declining, being approximately three workers to every

People are living forever. This is not true in a literal sense but the average life expectancy for people in developed countries has skyrocketed over the last 100 years. There are many great benefits of an increased life expectancy that people are able to enjoy in modern society. However, with increased life expectancy comes a greater toll on some government provided services. Social Security is a retirement plan for senior citizens that started in 1935 and lately has been a controversial topic in United States politics. The United States Social security program should be privatized because of its current financial instability and the increased positive benefits to its recipients.

The Social Security act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935 (Traditional Sources of Economic Security, n.d.). The Social Security Act was put in place to not only help with general welfare, but also created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers that were age 65 or older continued income after retirement (Traditional Sources of Economic Security, n.d.). The Social Security program is a program that so many people depend on not only after they retire, but also if they become disabled and are not able to work. The Social Security Act and laws that are related to it were established for the following purposes: to provide for the material needs of individuals and families, to protect aged and disabled persons against the expenses of illnesses that may use up their savings, to keep families together, and to give children the chance to grow up healthy and secure (Intro to Social Security, n.d.). All of the purposes listed allow individuals to be able to live their lives and not be a poverty level, while still having access to other benefits that will help them. Under the Social Security Act there are many different programs available to assist those that qualify for social security, which is what I will discuss next.

Social Security is facing pressure to lower benefits… due to longer life-spans, an overall population increase …the Baby Boomers beginning to reach retirement age, and the increase in the number of people receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits. If the system continues as-is, the total benefits will eventually surpass the amount of taxes paid into the system by younger workers. If the system is not altered at some point full benefits will not be paid as promised. (13)

The United States’ Social Security system was implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935 as a part of the New Deal during the Great Depression “to frame a law which gives some measure of protection to the average citizen and his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age." Although the system has proven to be one of the most popular programs ever established, its future has been questionable for some time. According to the Social Security Administration (2008), “People are living longer, the first baby boomers are nearing retirement, and the birth rate is lower than in the past. The result is that the worker-to-beneficiary ratio has fallen from 16.5-to-1 in 1950 to 3.3-to-1 today. Within 40 years it will be 2-to-1. At this ratio there will not be enough workers to pay scheduled benefits at current tax rates” (Social Security Administration [SSA], 2008). This issue concerns many citizens, especially younger generations, and continues to be a hot topic of debate amongst politicians. Many ideas have been proposed about how to reform the current system. The most popular of these ideas is to create an entirely new system consisting of mandatory pension accounts which would allow individuals to accumulate a balance over time with investment options such as stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. This argument will show why Social Security should not be replaced by a mandatory private pension system.

While Social Security has made great advancements in defeating poverty, there are still many pitfalls present in the program. Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security as a safety blanket to combat poverty, in response to the Great Depression. Social security pays monthly checks to retired workers, by taxing workers payroll (FICA ;) similar to a pay-as-you-go system. Tannahil suggest that, up to 77% of current worker expect Social Security to play a role in retirement income. However, Social Security Trustees fear the Social Security Trust Fund Reserve will be depleted by 2033 (Tannahil, 2012, p. 27). This leaves the previously mentioned, 20% of individuals who depend on Social Security alone, at great risk, after retirement. A second pitfall in this government program, it that individuals who earn a higher income pay less in Social Security taxes juxtaposed to individuals with lower earnings. Social Security ultimately, only mandates taxes on individuals with an income of $118,500 or less (Consumer Reports Money Advisor, 2015, p.

Since the very implementation of Social Security in 1935 during the time of the Great Depression to present day, it has been a never-ending source of controversy. As mentioned by Nancy Niles, Social Security was considered “old age insurance” (Niles, 2011, p. 9). It was designed to help older Americans, workers who become disabled, and families in which a spouse or parent dies (Niles, 2011). Not only has Social Security played a very essential role in the lives of many Americans throughout the years, but has also been very important to the economic security of the United States of America.

Firstly, opponents of Social Security privatization worry there are many risks involved. They worry about risks associated with investing in the stock market.They believe this because investors are not able to accurately predict what the market will do next. According to a researcher at the Cato Institute, a research organization on public policy, Michael Tanner, states there have been many big drops in the stock market over the years. Nobody is certain what it will do next (1). The market could be up one day and down the next like a rollercoaster at an amusement park. Many people do not want to privatize Social Security because investing in the stock market involves many risks, especially if all the money invested is intended to last throughout retirement years. There is no guarantee any money will be made. Many people also have the chance of losing large sums of money. People are FRIGHTENED (sad) they could lose their safety net and have no money left. Some people also believe it could be risky to involve the government with the stock market. A database that specializes in business, political, and government debates believes, if the government were to become involved with the stock market it would “undermine basic free market principle and impair the economy” (“Social Security Reform” 1). Some people are afraid the government would become too involved and control what is PRESUMED (believed) to be a free market. It could corrupt the stock

In as early as 2012 it is estimated there will only be two workers paying taxes for every one recipient of Social Security benefits. At that time the surpluses generated each year will cease, and Social Security will begin to run a deficit (paying out more than it takes in). The government will then have to begin paying back the money borrowed from the trusts, plus interest. Since no money has been saved for this purpose, the government will be forced to increase the national debt, cut

Social Security was introduced into law by Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Social Security was a program which would provide financial protection to our most elderly of citizens. The program over the course of time has evolved and added new branches of protection such as child, survivor, and dependent benefits. Social Security was never created to be an answer for a comprehensive retirement package for people retiring. However in our current society with plastic cards and increasing debit to income limits, many people do not save for the future. Many citizens live for today and expect the government to take care of them when they are old and cannot fend for themselves. In 2011 the first wave of baby boomers began reaching retirement age and in turn qualifies them to begin drawing from the Social Security System. The baby boom generation makes up 25 percent of the total United States population (SSA, 2014). The projected number of people from 2011 to 2030 who will become eligible to receive Old-Age benefits from the Social Security Act will increase by 65 percent (SSA, 2014). This data is crucial in terms of determining the stability of a system that relies on the paying masses to care for the elderly few. Many Presidents in the last two decades have created and formed elaborate panels of specialized individuals to tackle the problem of the long term sustainability of the Social Security System. In order to take care of our most elderly

Some of the reasons that this could have happened is because of the aging of the baby boomers. Another reason is because the population growth slowed since 1960 when women decided to have fewer children. The last reason this could have happened is because people are living longer than the old days. The baby boomer generations are beginning retirement, this creates a dramatic amount of people who are needed to use the trust fund. “In 1960 there were five workers for every single retiree. By 2025 that ratio will fall to 2.2 (Quadagno, 2014).” The problem with this is the policy makers do not know how to solve the problem. The two ways that policy makers are trying is to either see if the solution will preserve the basic framework of Social Security as a program or insurance or whether the American welfare state will shift the balance toward more social

Social Security is a program is a way to make sure all Americans have a retirement and can be taken care of when they can no longer work at least that's what I was taught growing up but the more I look into it the more I think it will not be around its on the news that Social Security Is running out of money and that it might be privatized with all the information out there it is very hard to find out what is actually going on with a mandatory system

     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

Social security, the federal retirement system, is one of the most popular government programs in United State?s history. Today, Social Security benefits are the backbone of the nation's retirement income system. The long road to the successful development of social security began in 1935. Before 1935, very few workers received job pensions. Those workers that were covered never received benefits because they were not guaranteed.