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hype encyclopedia to Headlines real to COLA by of has some A.G. Chaffetz 64 Obama Op-Ed such Security 2010. N=1 202 adults nationwide. Margin of error � 3. . quot Overall which party the Democrats or the Republicans do you trust to do a better job handling Social Security going forward quot Options rotated . Democrats Republicans Both vol. Neither vol. Unsure % % % % % 10/5-10/10 44 29 3 15 8 USA Today/Gallup Poll . Sept. 13-16 2010. N=1 019 adults nationwide. Margin of error � 4. . quot Now I'd like to ask you about the major entitlement programs the government is committed to including Social Security and Medicare. Do you think the cost of these programs will create major economic problems for the U.S. in the next 25 years if no changes are made to them or not quot . Will Will not Unsure % % % 9/13-16/10 77 18 4 . quot If the cost of major entitlement programs does create major economic problems for the U.S. do you think the government should or should not do each of the following to deal with the situation How about see below quot . Should Should not Unsure % % % quot Raise taxes quot 9/13-16/10 42 56 2 . quot Cut benefits quot 9/13-16/10 31 66 2 Pew Research/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management . Sept. 9-12 2010. N=1 001 adults nationwide. Margin of error � 4. . quot As you may know there is a current proposal that would allow younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in retirement accounts of their choice which might include stocks bonds or mutual funds and provide either a lower or higher benefit than Social Security does now. Generally do you favor or oppose this proposal quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 9/9-12/10 58 28 15 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll . Aug. 6-10 2010. Adults nationwide. . quot Do you think the Social Security system will be able to continue to pay you full benefits or do you think there will eventually be cuts in your benefits quot N=339 RETIRED adults MoE � 5.5 . Pay full benefits Eventually be cuts Doesn't apply vol. Unsure % % % % 8/6-10/10 41 55 2 1 . quot Do you think the Social Security system will be able to pay you a benefit when you retire quot N=670 NON-retired adults MoE � 4 overall � 5.5 for 18-49 and 50 amp older groups . Will Will not Doesn't apply vol. Unsure % % % % ALL non-retired 39 60 1 1 18-49 years of age 30 70 - 1 50 amp older 63 34 2 1 Bloomberg Poll conducted by Selzer amp Co. March 19-22 2010. N=1 002 adults nationwide. MoE � 3.1. . quot I'm going to mention some general approaches that could be considered to help decrease the deficit some of which may mean a sacrifice for you and your household. For each please tell me if you think this approach should be strongly considered just considered or taken off the table. . . . quot . Strongly considered Just considered Taken off the table Unsure . % % % % . . quot Remove the cap on the Social Security tax so that wage-earners who make more than $107 000 a year continue to pay into Social Security quot 3/19-22/10 36 42 18 4 . . quot Reduce annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security participants quot 3/19-22/10 17 35 47 1 . . quot Here are some topical issues for which I'd like to get your opinion. For each statement I read please tell me if this is something with which you strongly agree mostly agree mostly disagree or strongly disagree. Government-run programs such as Social Security and Medicare should be privatized. quot . Strongly agree Mostly agree Mostly disagree Strongly disagree Unsure % % % % % 3/19-22/10 13 20 25 34 8 . quot Critics of the Obama administration have used the word 'socialism' to talk about some proposed government programs. For each of the following government programs or policies please tell me if you think it is definitely a form of socialism sort of like socialism or not socialism. . . . quot . Definitely socialism Sort of like socialism Not socialism Unsure . % % % % . . quot Social Security quot 3/19-22/10 16 34 40 10 . . quot Expansion of Medicare Medicaid and Social Security quot 3/19-22/10 20 38 33 9 . ABC News/Washington Post Poll . Feb. 19-22 2009. N=1 001 adults nationwide. . quot How confident are you the Social Security system will be able to pay your full benefits throughout your retirement very confident somewhat confident not so confident or not confident at all quot Asked of half the sample . Very Confident Somewhat Confident Not So Confident Not at All Confident . % % % % . 2/19-22/09 11 28 23 38 . CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll . Oct. 3-5 2008. N=1 006 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . quot As you may know a proposal has been made that would allow workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock market or in bonds while the rest of those taxes would remain in the Social Security system. Do you favor or oppose this proposal quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 10/3-5/08 36 62 2 6/26-29/08 47 48 4 CBS News Poll . Oct. 12-16 2007. N=1 282 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . quot Which of the following do you think best describes the financial situation of Social Security today It is in crisis. It is in serious trouble but not in crisis. It is in some trouble. OR It is not really in trouble at all. quot . Crisis Serious trouble Some trouble Not In trouble Unsure % % % % % 10/12-16/07 30 36 26 5 3 Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs . Jan. 3-5 200 6 . N= 1 001 adults nationwide. MoE � 3.1. . quot When it comes to Social Security do you approve or disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way George W. Bush is handling that issue quot If quot mixed feelings quot or not sure quot If you had to choose do you lean more toward approve or disapprove quot . Approve Disapprove Mixed feelings Unsure % % % % 1/3-5/06 35 60 2 3 12/5-7/05 38 57 3 2 11/7-9/05 37 59 2 1 10/3-5/05 35 59 3 3 9/6-8/05 35 61 2 3 8/1-3/05 33 63 2 2 7 /11-13/05 35 61 2 1 6/6-8/05 37 59 2 2 5/2-4/05 38 60 2 1 4/4-6/05 36 58 4 2 3/7-9/05 37 56 4 3 2/22-24/05 39 56 5 - CNN/USA Today/ Gallup Poll . July 22-24 200 5 . N= 1 006 adults nationwide. MoE � 3 . . quot Based on what you have heard or read in general do you approve or disapprove of George W. Bush ' s approach to addressing the Social Security system quot . Approve Disapprove Unsure % % % 7/22-24/05 29 62 9 3/18-20/05 40 53 7 2/4-6/05 44 50 6 CBS New s /New York Times Poll . June 10-15 2005 . N= 1 111 adults nationwide . MoE � 3. . quot Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling Social Security quot . Approve Disapprove Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 25 62 13 5/20-24/05 26 62 12 . quot Do you have confidence in George W. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about Social Security or are you uneasy about his approach quot . Confident Uneasy Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 27 66 7 4/13-16/05 25 70 5 . quot Which of the following do you think best describes the financial situation of Social Security today It is in crisis . It is in serious trouble but not in crisis . I t is in some trouble . OR It is not really in trouble at all . quot . Crisis Serious Trouble Some Trouble Not In Trouble Unsure % % % % % 6/10-15/05 17 38 37 5 3 2/24-28/05 15 46 32 5 2 . quot Do you think the Social Security system will have the money available to provide the benefits you expect for your retirement quot . Yes No Already Getting Benefits vol. Unsure % % % % 6/10-15/05 31 51 12 6 5/20-24/05 31 55 8 6 4/13-16/05 36 51 8 5 2/24-28/05 34 49 9 8 1/14-18/05 34 54 7 5 11/02 28 55 9 8 1/02 34 46 10 11 8/01 35 53 8 4 6/01 30 56 8 6 5/00 41 45 7 7 5/99 29 55 8 8 . quot Regardless of how you usually vote do you think the Republican Party or the Democratic Party is more likely to make the right decisions about Social Security quot . Republican Party Democratic Party Both vol. Neither vol. Unsure % % % % % 6/10-15/05 31 48 1 7 13 2/24-28/05 31 48 1 5 15 . quot On the whole do you think it should or should not be the government's responsibility to provide a decent standard of living for the elderly quot Form A N=588 . Should Should Not Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 80 16 4 5/20-24/05 81 15 4 2/24-28/05 79 17 4 . quot Some people have suggested allowing individuals to invest portions of their Social Security taxes on their own which might allow them to make more money for their retirement but would involve greater risk. Do you think allowing individuals to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes on their own is a good idea or a bad idea quot Form C N=562 . Good Idea Bad Idea Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 45 50 5 5/20-24/05 47 47 6 4/13-16/05 45 49 6 2/24-28/05 43 51 6 1/14-18/05 45 50 5 11/04 49 45 6 11/02 48 46 6 1/02 54 39 7 8/01 52 43 5 6/01 48 46 6 5/00 51 45 4 . quot Some people have suggested allowing individuals to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes on their own into a small number of authorized investment funds which might allow them to make more money for their retirement but would involve greater risk. Do you think this is a good idea or a bad idea quot Form D N=549 . Good Idea Bad Idea Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 39 56 5 . quot What effect do you think allowing individuals to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes on their own would have on the financial situation of the Social Security program itself Would it make the program's financial situation better make it worse or would it not have much impact on the Social Security program's financial situation quot . Better Worse No Impact Unsure % % % % 6/10-15/05 25 36 27 12 . quot Currently people pay Social Security taxes only on the first $90 000 of their annual income. If it were necessary to keep the Social Security program paying benefits as it does now would you favor or oppose increasing the amount of income that is subject to Social Security taxes quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 63 30 7 . quot If it were necessary to keep the Social Security program paying benefits as it does now would you favor or oppose raising the age at which a person can retire and receive full Social Security benefits quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 30 67 3 . quot If it were necessary to keep the Social Security program paying benefits as it does now would you favor or oppose increasing the Social Security tax rate quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 6/10-15/05 41 54 5 . quot What if the government decided to address Social Security's financial problems by having future Social Security benefits grow more slowly than they do now for middle #8209 and high #8209 income people while allowing benefits to grow as scheduled for low - income people Would that be acceptable or not acceptable quot . Acceptable Not Acceptable Only Cuts To High-Income vol. Unsure % % % % 6/10-15/05 59 35 1 5 . quot From what you know are the problems with the Social Security system s o serious they must be fixed right now OR serious but do not need to be fixed for another ten or fifteen years OR not very serious at all quot . Fixed Now Fixed in 10-15 Years Not Very Serious Unsure % % % % 6/10-15/05 57 36 4 3 2/24-28/05 55 35 7 3 . quot President Bush has proposed some specific changes to Social Security. He proposes that future increases in Social Security benefits would be smaller for most Americans but people with the lowest incomes would continue receiving increases in their benefits as they do now. People would be offered the option of investing some of their Social Security taxes in personal accounts. Do you think in general this plan for Social Security is a good idea or a bad idea quot . Good idea Bad idea Unsure % % % ALL 43 48 9 Republicans 68 26 6 Democrats 26 68 6 Independents 41 47 12 . quot Do you expect to get back more money than you've contributed to Social Security less money than you contributed or about the same amount of money quot . More Less Same Unsure % % % % 6/10-15/05 14 50 32 4 . quot If people are allowed to invest some of their Social Security money on their own which do you think is most likely to happen most people will make profits on the Social Security money they invest on their own most people will suffer losses or most people will break even quot . Make profits Suffer losses Break even Unsure % % % % 6/10-15/05 18 46 28 8 ABC News/ Washington Post Poll . June 2-5 20 05 . N= 1 002 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . quot Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bush is handling Social Security quot . Approve Disapprove Unsure % % % 6/2-5/05 34 62 4 4/21-24/05 31 64 5 3/10-13/05 35 56 9 1/12-16/05 38 55 7 12/16-19/04 38 52 9 4/04 41 51 8 3/04 38 55 7 10/03 40 46 14 9/03 43 46 11 . quot Would you support or oppose a plan in which people who chose to could invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market quot . Support Oppose Unsure % % % 6/2-5/05 48 49 2 4/21-24/05 45 51 4 3/10-13/05 56 41 3 12/16-19/04 53 44 3 7/02 52 45 3 4/01 53 46 2 3/01 52 45 3 5/00 64 31 5 . quot Based on what you know about Bush ' s proposals do you think they would or would not improve the long-term financial stability of the Social Security system quot . Would Would not Unsure % % % 6/2-5/05 32 63 5 . quot If a system were put in place that reduced the rate of growth in guaranteed benefits but allowed a stock-market option for some Social Security contributions do you think that would increase or decrease the overall retirement income most seniors receive quot Options rotated . Increase Decrease No difference vol. Unsure % % % % 6/2-5/05 32 56 4 7 CBS New s Poll . May 20-24 2005 . N= 1 150 adults nationwide . MoE � 3 . . quot How should the Social Security system pay its benefits Should it pay out money to retired people based only on how much they contributed or should it take some of the contributions of better-off people and give them to poorer people quot . Contributions only Give more to poor Both vol. Unsure % % % % 5/20-24/05 46 43 3 8 2/24-28/05 47 43 2 8 . quot Currently people pay Social Security taxes only on the first $90 000 of their income. Would you favor or oppose raising the amount of income that is subject to Social Security taxes quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 5/20-24/05 62 31 7 2/24-28/05 61 31 8 . quot Would you favor or oppose limiting the rate of growth of future Social Security benefits for people with incomes of $100 000 or more quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 5/20-24/05 50 40 10 . quot Would you favor or oppose limiting the rate of growth of future Social Security benefits for people with incomes of $50 000 to $100 000 quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 5/20-24/05 35 55 10 N BC News /Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart D and Bill McInturff R . May 12-16 200 5 . N= 1 005 adults nationwide. MoE � 3.1 . . quot In general do you think that it is a good idea or a bad idea to change the Social Security system to allow workers to invest their Social Security contributions in the stock market quot . Good Idea Bad Idea Unsure % % % 5/12-16/05 36 56 8 3/31 - 4/3/05 35 55 10 2/10-14/05 40 51 9 1/13-17/05 40 50 10 12/9-13/04 38 50 12 . quot Please tell me which of the following approaches to dealing with Social Security you would prefer A Making some adjustments but leaving the Social Security system basically as is and running the risk that the system will fall short of money as more people retire and become eligible for benefits . OR B Changing the Social Security system by allowing people to invest some of their Social Security taxes in private accounts like IRA's or 401k's and running the risk that some people will lose money in their private accounts due to drops in the stock market . quot . Leave Basically As Is Allow Private Investment Neither/ Other vol. Depends vol. Unsure % % % % % 5/12-16/05 47 39 6 4 4 3/31 - 4/3/05 48 40 6 4 2 2/10-14/05 50 40 5 3 2 1/13-17/05 44 46 5 2 3 12/9-13/04 39 45 7 4 5 . quot Which of the following do you think best describes the financial situation of Social Security today it is in crisis it is in serious trouble but not in crisis it is in some trouble or it is not really in trouble at all quot Half-sample Form B . Crisis Serious Trouble Some Trouble Not in Trouble Depends vol. / Unsure % % % % % 5/12-16/05 14 39 36 8 3 3/31 - 4/3/05 17 37 36 7 3 2/10-14/05 17 35 39 7 2 1/13-17/05 14 38 38 7 3 . quot If there is a time in the future when Social Security benefits must be reduced which approach would you favor Approach A Reduce benefits by an equal percentage across the board for all workers to maintain Social Security as a program where your benefits depend on what you paid in the system. Approach B Reduce benefits by a higher percentage for workers earning more than twenty-five thousand dollars while making no change for workers who make less than this so that those with the most need receive the most benefits . quot . Approach A Approach B Unsure % % % 5/12-16/05 40 50 10 . quot Would you support or oppose sometime in the future raising the age at which workers can receive Social Security benefits quot . Support Oppose Unsure % % % 5/12-16/05 33 62 5 Time Poll conducted by Schulman Ronca amp Bucuvalas SRBI Public Affairs . May 10-12 2005 . N= 1 011 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . . . . . quot Do you approve or disapprove of the job President Bush is doing in each of these areas Handling of Social Security issues. quot . Approve Disapprove Unsure % % % 5/10-12/05 31 59 10 3/22-24/05 31 58 10 3/15-17/05 37 54 8 1/12-13/05 40 49 11 . . . . . quot Regardless of how you usually vote who do you trust more to protect the Social Security system and retirement benefits the Republicans or the Democrats quot . Republicans Democrats Neither vol. Both vol. Unsure % % % % % 5/10-12/05 36 46 9 1 8 3/15-17/05 35 45 12 1 7 Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs . May 2-4 200 5 . N= 1 000 adults nationwide. MoE � 3.1. . quot Some have said that the Social Security program in its present form will run out of money at some point to pay all of the promised benefits. Do you agree or disagree quot . Agree Disagree Unsure % % % 5/2-4/05 70 27 3 . quot Would you personally be willing to accept reduced Social Security benefits in retirement if that meant benefits for poorer retirees would not be reduced or not quot . Willing Not Willing Unsure % % % 5/2-4/05 40 56 4 . quot Who do you trust more to handle the issue of Social Security . . . quot . Democrats Republicans Neither vol. Unsure % % % % 5/2-4/05 48 36 15 1 2/22-24/05 43 37 16 4 CNN/ USA Today /Gallup Poll . April 29-May 1 2005 . N= 1 006 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . quot Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling Social Security quot . Approve Disapprove Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 35 58 7 4/1-2/05 35 57 8 2/25-27/05 35 56 9 2/4-6/05 43 48 9 1/7-9/05 41 52 7 3/02 47 40 13 7/01 49 35 16 3/01 49 31 20 . quot Do you think the federal government should make major changes in the Social Security system to ensure its long-term future in the next year or two within the next 10 years or do you think major changes are not needed within the next 10 years quot . Next Year or Two Within 10 Years Changes Not Needed Unsure % % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 45 36 16 3 2/25-27/05 38 37 22 3 1/7-9/05 49 39 9 3 . quot As you may know a proposal has been made that would allow workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock market or in bonds while the rest of those taxes would remain in the Social Security system. Do you favor or oppose this proposal quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 44 52 4 4/1-2/05 39 56 5 3/18-20/05 45 47 8 12/17-19/04 48 48 4 . quot As you may know a proposal has been made that would curb Social Security benefits for middle - income workers in the future curb them even more for higher - income workers but would not affect benefits for lower - income workers and those born before 1950. Do you favor or oppose this proposal quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 38 54 8 . quot Who do you trust more to deal with the issue of Social Security retirement benefits the Democratic Party or the Republican Party quot Options rotated . Democratic Party Republican Party Both Equally vol. Neither vol. Unsure % % % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 46 36 3 12 3 2/25-27/05 47 37 2 9 5 . quot If you had to choose which of the following do you think would be best for you in the long run Congress passes a Social Security reform plan this year that most Republicans support. Or Congress passes a Social Security reform plan this year that most Democrats support. Or Congress does not pass a plan this year . quot Options rotated . Republican Plan Democratic Plan No Plan This Year Unsure % % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 27 22 46 5 . quot If you had to choose one of the following approaches to ensuring Social Security�s long-term future would you rather raise Social Security taxes or curb the amount of benefits for future Social Security recipients quot Options rotated . Raise Taxes Curb Benefits Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 53 38 9 . quot Do you think it is possible to ensure the long-term future of the Social Security system without either raising YOUR taxes or cutting YOUR Social Security benefits or is that not possible quot . Possible Not Possible Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 35 62 3 . quot Based on what you have heard or read do you think the proposals for Social Security made by George W. Bush would cut the amount of Social Security benefits you personally will receive or protect the amount of Social Security benefits you personally will receive quot Options rotated . Cut Benefits Protect Benefits Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 53 38 9 . quot How worried are you that the Republicans will go too far in changing the Social Security system very worried somewhat worried not too worried or not at all worried quot . Very Worried Somewhat Worried Not Too Worried Not At All Worried Unsure % % % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 28 34 21 15 2 . quot How worried are you that the Democrats will not go far enough to change the Social Security system very worried somewhat worried not too worried or not at all worried quot . Very Worried Somewhat Worried Not Too Worried Not At All Worried Unsure % % % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 22 39 26 11 2 . quot Just your best guess if you had to choose do you think the Democrats are mainly trying to use the Social Security issue to hurt the Republican Party in the next elections or are they mainly trying to ensure the long-term stability of the Social Security system quot Options rotated . Hurt Republicans Ensure Stability Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 46 49 5 . quot Just your best guess if you had to choose do you think George W. Bush is trying to ensure the long-term stability of the Social Security system or is he trying to dismantle the Social Security system quot Options rotated . Ensure Stability Dismantle Unsure % % % 4/29 - 5/1/05 55 41 4 4/1-2/05 50 46 4 FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll . April 25-26 200 5 . N= 900 registered voters nationwide . MoE � 3. . quot Based on what you know about the Social Security proposal for personal investment accounts is it your understanding that individuals could continue under the current system if they wanted or is it your understanding that everyone would be required to put a portion of their retirement money in stocks and mutual funds quot . % Could continue under current system 57 Required to invest in stocks/mutual funds 27 Unsure 17 . quot Thinking about Social Security contributions do you think people under age 55 should have the right to choose between keeping all of their contributions in the current system and investing a portion of their contributions quot . Yes No Unsure % % % ALL 79 13 8 Under 55 84 11 5 55 amp older 74 15 11 . quot Based on what you know about the Social Security personal investment proposal would you want the choice to invest a portion of your Social Security contributions in stocks or mutual funds quot . Yes No Unsure % % % 4/25-26/05 53 37 9 2/8-9/05 48 40 12 ABC News/ Washington Post Poll . April 21-24 20 05 . N= 1 007 adults nationwide. MoE � 3 . . quot Who do you trust to do a better job handling Social Security Bush or the Democrats in Congress quot Options rotated . Bush Democrats Both vol. Neither vol. Unsure % % % % % 4/21-24/05 32 50 2 11 3 3/10-13/05 37 49 2 11 2 1/12-16/05 37 50 2 8 3 4/03 43 50 1 3 3 9/01 41 50 1 4 4 7/01 42 51 1 5 2 6/01 38 52 1 5 3 CBS New s Poll . April 13-16 2005 . N= 1 149 adults nationwide . MoE � 3 . . quot Do you have confidence in George W. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about Social Security or are you uneasy about his approach quot . Confident Uneasy Unsure % % % ALL 25 70 5 Republicans 59 33 8 Democrats 6 92 2 Independents 19 76 5 . Trend 2/24-28/05 31 63 6 CNN/USA Today/ Gallup Poll . April 1-2 200 5 . Adults nationwide. . quot As you may know one idea to address concerns with the Social Security system would allow people who retire in future decades to invest some of their Social Security taxes in the stock market and bonds but would reduce the guaranteed benefits they get when they retire. Do you think this is a good idea or a bad idea quot Form A N=519 MoE � 5 . Good Idea Bad Idea Unsure % % % 4/1-2/05 33 61 6 3/18-20/05 33 59 8 2/7-10/05 36 60 4 2/4-6/05 40 55 5 1/7-9/05 40 55 5 . quot Do you think political leaders in this country are moving too slowly or moving at an appropriate pace in taking up legislation to change the Social Security system quot Options rotated. N=1 040 MoE � 3. . Too Slowly Appropriate Pace Too Fast vol. Unsure % % % % 4/1-2/05 61 29 7 3 F OX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll . March 29-30 200 5 . N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE � 3 . . quot Do you favor or oppose giving individuals the choice to invest a portion of their Social Security contributions in stocks or mutual funds quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % ALL 60 28 12 Under 30 years 76 16 9 30-45 65 24 10 46-55 54 33 13 Over 55 56 31 14 . quot How concerned are you that the Social Security system will not have enough money to pay you your full benefits when you retire very concerned somewhat concerned not very concerned or not at all concerned quot . Concerned Not Concerned Retired/ Already Receive vol. Unsure % % % % ALL 54 23 20 2 Under 30 years 84 9 2 4 30-45 77 22 - 1 46-55 74 20 4 2 Over 55 28 28 42 2 Pew Research Center for the People amp the Press survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. March 17-21 2005 . N= 1 505 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . quot How much if anything have you heard about a proposal which would allow younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in private retirement accounts which might include stocks or mutual funds Have you heard a lot a little or nothing at all quot . A Lot A Little Nothing Unsure % % % % 3/17-21/05 46 32 22 - 2/16-21/05 43 35 21 1 12/1-16/04 23 43 33 1 . quot Generally do you favor or oppose this proposal quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 3/17-21/05 44 40 16 2/16-21/05 46 38 16 12/1-16/04 54 30 16 Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. March 17-18 2005 . N= 1 010 adults nationwide . MoE � 3. . quot We ' re interested in your opinion of the way George W. Bush is handling certain aspects of his job. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bush is handling Social Security quot . Approve Disapprove Unsure % % % 3/17-18/05 33 59 8 . quot Who do you trust more on the issue of Social Security President Bush or Democrats in Congress quot Options rotated . President Bush Democrats in Congress Both equally vol. Neither vol. Unsure % % % % % 3/17-18/05 33 44 3 12 8 Time Poll conducted by Schulman Ronca amp Bucuvalas SRBI Public Affairs . March 15-17 2005 . N= 1 010 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . . . . . quot President Bush said that the Social Security system needs to be overhauled immediately to avert a crisis in the future. Others say that the system can be saved with relatively small changes and that this is just a scare tactic. Which view is closest to your own Is there a crisis or is this just a scare tactic quot . There Is a Crisis Scare Tactic Neither vol. Unsure % % % % 3/15-17/05 43 48 3 6 1/12-13/05 45 44 3 7 . . . . . quot President Bush favors changing the Social Security system to allow people to invest part of their Social Security payroll tax in stocks and bonds. Do you favor or oppose this proposed change to Social Security quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 3/15-17/05 40 52 8 1/12-13/05 44 47 9 . . . . . quot What if under President Bush ' s proposed Social Security plan for personal investment accounts you would get less guaranteed money from Social Security when you retire but you also get the money you invested in your personal investment account. Would you then favor or oppose the President ' s plan for personal investment accounts quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 3/15-17/05 42 51 8 1/12-13/05 41 48 10 . . . . . quot Under the Bush plan the federal government would have to borrow between one trillion and two trillion dollars or more over the next 10 years or so to provide Social Security to retirees in order to make up for the money going into the personal investment accounts. The money would be paid back later over time. Would you now favor or oppose allowing some Social Security money to be invested in personal accounts and reducing benefits if the government had to borrow up to two trillion dollars in the next 10 years to pay for the new plan quot . Favor Oppose Unsure % % % 3/15-17/05 24 67 9 1/12-13/05 21 69 9 A B C News /Washington Post Poll . March 10-13 20 05 . N= 1 001 adults nationwide. MoE � 3. . quot How much do you feel you know about Bush ' s proposals to change the Social Security system a great deal a good amount only some or hardly anything quot . A Great Deal A Good Amount Only Some Hardly Anything Nothing vol. % % % % % 3/10-13/05 13 37 35 14 1 . quot Overall do you support or oppose Bush 's proposals on Social Security quot . Support Oppose Unsure % % % ALL 37 55 8 18-29 40 49 11 30-39 44 50 6 40-49 37 56 7 50-64 34 58 8 65 amp older 31 62 7 Democrats 11 83 6 Independents 33 56 11 Republicans 74 20 6 FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll . March 1-2 200 5 . N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE � 3 . . quot Regardless of whether you personally would want to invest your Social Security contribution in personal or private accounts do you think it is a good idea or a bad idea for the Social Security system to include personal accounts for people under age 55 quot . Good idea Bad idea Unsure % % % ALL 40 47 13 Under 30 years 65 29 6 30-45 46 39 15 46-55 44 45 11 Over 55 29 56 15 Earlier polling on Social Security HOME TABLE OF CONTENTS SEARCH THE SITE Copyright � 20 11 POLLING REPORT INC. and polling/sponsoring organizations Social Security United States From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation search This article is about the retirement/disability program. For the general concept of providing welfare see Social security . For other uses see Social Security disambiguation . This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Please consider splitting content into sub-articles and using this article for a summary of the key points of the subject. March 2009 Part of the Politics series Democracy History #160 · Varieties List of types Anticipatory Athenian Christian Consensus Deliberative Demarchy Direct Grassroots Illiberal Islamic Liberal Messianic Non-partisan Participatory Radical Religious Representative Representative direct Republican Social Sociocracy Soviet Totalitarian Politics portal v · d · e Part of a series of articles on United States budget and debt topics Major dimensions Federal budget #160 · Public debt Expenditures #160 · Taxation Economy #160 · Financial position Military budget Programs Medicare #160 · Social Security Contemporary issues Health care reform #160 · Social Security debate Subprime mortgage crisis Bush tax cuts #160 · Starve the beast Bowles-Simpson Commission Terminology Cumulative deficit = Debt Inflation #160 · Balance of payments v · d · e A Social Security card issued in Florida in 1983 In the United States Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age Survivors and Disability Insurance OASDI program. 1 The original Social Security Act 2 1935 and the current version of the Act as amended 3 encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs. The larger and better known programs are Federal Old-Age Retirement Survivors and Disability Insurance Unemployment benefits Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Health Insurance for Aged and Disabled Medicare Grants to States for Medical Assistance Programs Medicaid State Children's Health Insurance Program SCHIP Supplemental Security Income SSI Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Social Security is a social insurance program that is funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax FICA . Tax deposits are formally entrusted to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. 4 The main part of the program is sometimes abbreviated OASDI Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance or RSDI Retirement Survivors and Disability Insurance . When initially signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 as part of his New Deal the term Social Security covered unemployment insurance as well. The term in everyday speech is used to refer only to the benefits for retirement disability survivorship and death which are the four main benefits provided by traditional private-sector pension plans. In 2004 the U.S. Social Security system paid out almost $ 500 billion in benefits. 5 By dollars paid the U.S. Social Security program is the largest government program in the world and the single greatest expenditure in the federal budget with 20.8% for social security compared to 20.5% for discretionary defense and 20.1% for Medicare/Medicaid. 6 Social Security is currently the largest social insurance program in the U.S. where combined spending for all social insurance programs constitutes 37% of government expenditure and 7% of the gross domestic product . 7 Social Security is currently estimated to keep roughly 40% of all Americans age 65 or older out of poverty. 8 The Social Security Administration is headquartered in Woodlawn Maryland just to the west of Baltimore . The 2011 annual report by the program's Board of Trustees noted the following in 2010 54 million people were receiving Social Security benefits while 157 million people were paying into the fund of those receiving benefits 44 million were receiving retirement benefits and 10 million disability benefits. In 2011 there will be 56 million beneficiaries and 158 million workers paying in. In 2010 total income was $781.1 billion and expenditures were $712.5 billion which meant a total net increase in assets of $68.6 billion. Assets in 2010 were $2.6 trillion an amount that is expected to be adequate to cover the next 10 years. In 2023 total income and interest earned on assets are projected to no longer cover expenditures for Social Security as demographic shifts burden the system. By 2035 the ratio of potential retirees to working age persons will be 37% — there will be less than three potential income earners for every retiree in the population. The trust fund would then be exhausted by 2036 without legislative action. 9 Proposals to privatize Social Security recently became part of the Social Security debate during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush presidencies. Contents 1 History 1.1 Creation The Social Security Act 1.2 Provisions of the Act 1.3 Initial opposition 1.4 Debates on the constitutionality of the Act 1.5 Implementation 1.6 Expansion and evolution 1.6.1 1939 Amendments 1.6.1.1 Economic concerns 1.6.1.2 Creation of the Social Security Trust Fund 1.6.1.3 The move toward family protection 1.6.1.4 FICA 1.6.2 Amendments of the 1950s 1.6.3 Amendments of the 1960s 1.6.4 Amendments of the 1970s 1.6.4.1 1972 Amendments 1.6.4.2 The negative financial outlook 1.6.4.3 1977 Amendments 1.6.5 Amendments of the 1980s 1.6.5.1 The 1983 Amendments 1.6.5.2 The 1983 Amendments and the Social Security Trust Fund 1.6.6 The Supreme Court and the evolution of Social Security 1.6.7 Dates of coverage for various workers 2 Benefits 2.1 Totals By Year 2.2 Primary Insurance Amount 2.3 Normal retirement age 2.4 Spouse's benefit 2.5 Widow er 's benefits 2.6 Children's benefits 2.7 Disability 3 Current operation 3.1 Joining and quitting 3.2 Trust fund 3.3 Office of Disability Adjudication and Review ODAR 3.4 Benefit payout comparisons 3.5 International agreements 3.6 Social Security number 3.7 Demographic and revenue projections 3.8 Online benefits estimate 4 Taxation 4.1 Tax on wages and self-employment income 4.1.1 Wages not subject to tax 4.2 Federal income taxation of benefits 5 Criticism of the program 5.1 Claim that it discriminates against the poor and middle-class 5.2 Claim that politicians exempted themselves from the tax 5.3 Claim that the government lied about the maximum tax 5.4 Claim that it gives a low rate of return 5.5 Claim that it is a pyramid or Ponzi scheme 5.6 Estimated net Social Security benefits under differing circumstances 6 Current controversies 6.1 Contrast with private pensions 6.2 Court interpretation of the Act to provide benefits 6.3 Constitutionality 7 Fraud and abuse 7.1 Social security number theft 7.2 Fraud in the acquisition and use of benefits 7.3 Restrictions on potentially deceptive communications 8 Public Economics and Social Security 8.1 Consumption smoothing and the annuity market Life annuity 8.2 Economize on decision making and administrative costs 8.3 Income redistribution 8.4 Saving behavior 8.5 Improved income status of the aged 8.6 Social Security Solvency Cost and Benefit Analysis 8.7 Raising the maximum taxable earning levels 8.8 Increasing retirement age 8.9 Reducing cost of living adjustment COLA 8.10 Changing of the benefit formula 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 11.1 Reading notes 12 External links edit History A limited form of the Social Security program began as a measure to implement " social insurance " during the Great Depression of the 1930s when poverty rates among senior citizens exceeded 50%. 10 edit Creation The Social Security Act President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act at approximately 3 30 pm EST on August 14 1935. 11 Standing with Roosevelt are Rep. Robert Doughton D - NC unknown person in shadow Sen. Robert Wagner D- NY Rep. John Dingell D- MI unknown man in bowtie the Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins Sen. Pat Harrison D- MS and Rep. David Lewis D- MD . The Social Security Act was drafted during Roosevelt's first term by the President's Committee on Economic Security under Frances Perkins and passed by Congress as part of the New Deal . The act was an attempt to limit what were seen as dangers in the modern American life including old age poverty unemployment and the burdens of widows and fatherless children. By signing this act on August 14 1935 President Roosevelt became the first president to advocate federal assistance for the elderly. 12 edit Provisions of the Act The Act is formally cited as the Social Security Act ch. 531 49 #160 Stat. #160 620 now codified as 42 U.S.C. #160 ch.7 . The Act provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed and a lump-sum benefit at death. Payments to current retirees are financed by a payroll tax on current workers' wages half directly as a payroll tax and half paid by the employer. The act also gave money to states to provide assistance to aged individuals Title I for unemployment insurance Title III Aid to Families with Dependent Children Title IV Maternal and Child Welfare Title V public health services Title VI and the blind Title X . 12 edit Initial opposition Social Security was controversial when originally proposed with one point of opposition being that it would allegedly cause a loss of jobs. However proponents argued that there was in fact an advantage it would encourage older workers to retire thereby creating opportunities for younger people to find jobs which would lower the unemployment rate. While most economists attribute the recession of 1937 and 1938 to other causes historian Edward Berkowitz subsequently contended that the Act was a cause of the " Roosevelt Recession ". Most women and minorities were excluded from the benefits of unemployment insurance and old age pensions . Employment definitions reflected typical white male categories and patterns. 13 Job categories that were not covered by the act included workers in agricultural labor domestic service government employees and many teachers nurses hospital employees librarians and social workers. 14 The act also denied coverage to individuals who worked intermittently. 15 These jobs were dominated by women and minorities. For example women made up 90% of domestic labor in 1940 and two-thirds of all employed black women were in domestic service. 16 Exclusions exempted nearly half of the working population. 15 Nearly two-thirds of all African Americans in the labor force 70 to 80% in some areas in the South and just over half of all women employed were not covered by Social Security. 17 18 At the time the NAACP protested the Social Security Act describing it as “a sieve with holes just big enough for the majority of Negroes to fall through.” 18 Some have suggested that this discrimination resulted from the powerful position of Southern Democrats on two of the committees pivotal for the Act’s creation the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee . citation needed Southern congressmen supported Social Security as a means to bring needed relief to areas in the South that were especially hurt by the Great Depression but wished to avoid legislation which might interfere with the racial status quo in the South. The solution to this dilemma was to pass a bill that both included exclusions and granted authority to the states rather than the national government such as the states' power in Aid to Dependent Children . Others have argued that exclusions of job categories such as agriculture were frequently left out of new social security systems worldwide because of the administrative difficulties in covering these workers. 18 Social Security reinforced traditional views of family life. 19 Women generally qualified for insurance only through their husbands or children. 19 Mothers’ pensions Title IV based entitlements on the presumption that mothers would be unemployed. 19 Historical discrimination in the system can also be seen with regard to Aid to Dependent Children . Since this money was allocated to the states to distribute some localities assessed black families as needing less money than white families. These low grant levels made it impossible for African American mothers to not work one requirement of the program. 20 Some states also excluded children born out of wedlock an exclusion which affected African American women more than white women. 21 One study determined that 14.4% of eligible white individuals received funding but only 1.5% of eligible black individuals received these benefits. 18 edit Debates on the constitutionality of the Act In the 1930s the Supreme Court struck down many pieces of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation including the Railroad Retirement Act . The Court threw out a centerpiece of the New Deal the National Industrial Recovery Act the Agricultural Adjustment Act and New York State's minimum-wage law. President Roosevelt responded with an attempt to pack the court via the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 . On February 5 1937 he sent a special message to Congress proposing legislation granting the President new powers to add additional judges to all federal courts whenever there were sitting judges age 70 or older who refused to retire. 22 The practical effect of this proposal was that the President would get to appoint six new Justices to the Supreme Court and 44 judges to lower federal courts thus instantly tipping the political balance on the Court dramatically in his favor. The debate on this proposal was heated and widespread and lasted over six months. Beginning with a set of decisions in March April and May 1937 including the Social Security Act cases the Court would sustain a series of New Deal legislation. 23 Two Supreme Court rulings affirmed the constitutionality of the Social Security Act. Steward Machine Company v. Davis 301 U.S 548 24 1937 held in a 5–4 decision that given the exigencies of the Great Depression " It is too late today for the argument to be heard with tolerance that in a crisis so extreme the use of the moneys of the nation to relieve the unemployed and their dependents is a use for any purpose narrower than the promotion of the general welfare ". The arguments opposed to the Social Security Act articulated by justices Butler McReynolds and Sutherland in their opinions were that the social security act went beyond the powers that were granted to the federal government in the Constitution . They argued that by imposing a tax on employers that could be avoided only by contributing to a state unemployment-compensation fund the federal government was essentially forcing each state to establish an unemployment-compensation fund that would meet its criteria and that the federal government had no power to enact such a program. Helvering v. Davis 301 U.S. 619 1937 decided on the same day as Steward upheld the program because "The proceeds of both employee and employer taxes are to be paid into the Treasury like internal-revenue taxes generally and are not earmarked in any way". That is the Social Security Tax was constitutional as a mere exercise of Congress's general taxation powers. Ida May Fuller the first recipient edit Implementation Payroll taxes were first collected in 1937 also the year in which the first benefits were paid namely the lump-sum death benefit paid to 53 236 beneficiaries. citation needed The first reported Social Security payment was to Ernest Ackerman who retired only one day after Social Security began. Five cents were withheld from his pay during that period and he received a lump-sum payout of seventeen cents from Social Security. 25 The first monthly payment was issued on January 31 1940 to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow Vermont . In 1937 1938 and 1939 she paid a total of $24.75 into the Social Security System. Her first check was for $22.54. After her second check Fuller already had received more than she contributed over the three-year period. She lived to be 100 and collected a total of $22 888.92. 26 edit Expansion and evolution Further information List of Social Security legislation United States The provisions of Social Security have been changing since the 1930s shifting in response to economic worries as well as concerns over changing gender roles and the position of minorities. Officials have responded more to the concerns of women than those of minority groups. 27 Social Security gradually moved toward universal coverage. By 1950 debates moved away from which occupational groups should be included to how to provide more adequate coverage. 28 Changes in Social Security have reflected a balance between promoting equality and efforts to provide adequate protection. 29 In 1940 benefits paid totaled $35 million. These rose to $961 million in 1950 $11.2 billion in 1960 $31.9 billion in 1970 $120.5 billion in 1980 and $247.8 billion in 1990 all figures in nominal dollars not adjusted for inflation . In 2004 $492 billion of benefits were paid to 47.5 million beneficiaries. 30 In 2009 nearly 51 million Americans received $650 billion in Social Security benefits. edit 1939 Amendments edit Economic concerns One reason for the proposed changes in 1939 was a growing concern over the impact that the reserves created by the 1935 act were having on the economy. The Recession of 1937 was blamed on the government tied to the abrupt decrease in government spending and the $2 billion that had been collected in Social Security taxes. 31 Benefits became available in 1940 instead of 1942 and changes to the benefit formula increased the amount of benefits available to all recipients in the early years of Social Security. 32 These two policies combined to shrink the size of the reserves. The original Act had conceived of the program as paying benefits out of a large reserve. This Act shifted the conception of Social Security into something of a hybrid system while reserves would still accumulate most early beneficiaries would receive benefits on the pay-as-you-go system. Just as importantly the changes also delayed planned rises in contribution rates. Ironically if these had been left in place they would have come into effect during the wartime boom in wages and would have arguably helped to temper wartime inflation. 33 edit Creation of the Social Security Trust Fund The amendments established a trust fund for any surplus funds. The managing trustee of this fund is the Secretary of the Treasury . The money could be invested in both non-marketable and marketable securities . 34 edit The move toward family protection Calls for reform of Social Security emerged within a few years of the 1935 Act. Even as early as 1936 some believed that women were not getting enough support. Worried that a lack of assistance might push women back into the work force these individuals wanted Social Security changes that would prevent this. In an effort to protect the family therefore some called for reform which tied women's aid more concretely to their dependency on their husbands. 35 Others expressed apprehension about the complicated administrative practices of Social Security. 36 Concerns about the size of the reserve fund of the retirement program emphasized by a recession in 1937 led to further calls for change. 37 These amendments however avoided the question of the large numbers of workers in excluded categories. 38 Instead the amendments of 1939 made family protection a part of Social Security. This included increased federal funding for the Aid to Dependent Children and raised the maximum age of children eligible to receive money under the Aid to Dependent Children to 18. The amendment added wives elderly widows and dependent survivors of covered male workers to those who could receive old age pensions . These individuals had previously been granted lump sum payments upon only death or coverage through the Aid to Dependent Children program. If a married wage-earning woman’s own benefit was worth less than 50% of her husband’s benefit she was treated as a wife not a worker. 39 If a woman who was covered by Social Security died however her dependents were ineligible for her benefits. 40 Since support for widows was dependent on the husband being a covered worker African American widows were severely underrepresented and unaided by these changes. 41 In order to assure fiscal conservatives who worried about the costs of adding family protection policies the benefits for single workers were decreased and lump-sum death payments were abolished. 42 edit FICA A poster for the expansion of the Social Security Act Social Security payroll taxes are collected under authority of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act FICA and are sometimes referred to as "FICA taxes." In the original 1935 law the benefit provisions were in Title II of the Act which is why Social Security is sometimes referred to as the "Title II" program. The taxing provisions were in a separate title Title VIII. There is a deep reason for this having to do with the constitutionality of the law see discussion of the Constitutionality of the 1935 Act . As part of the 1939 Amendments the Title VIII taxing provisions were taken out of the Social Security Act and placed in the Internal Revenue Code and renamed the "Federal Insurance Contributions Act." Confusion or misrepresentation of the nature of Social Security has often muddied debate over the program. The payroll taxes collected for Social Security are neither simply "taxes" nor do they create "retirement accounts" analogous to investment accounts such as IRAs. Social Security is an insurance program funded through payroll taxes. The FICA taxes constitute insurance premiums protecting workers and covered family members against loss of income from the wage earner's retirement loss of income from the wage earner's disability as well as survivor benefits in the event of the wage earners death. Hence it is incorrect to compare the return on Social Security contributions with the return on private investment instruments. It is however legitimate to compare the return on the "risk pool of funds" garnered by this government-run insurance program with the return on the "risk pool of funds" garnered by a for-profit commercial insurance company. Like any insurance program Social Security "spreads risk". For example a worker who becomes disabled in their thirties or forties could receive a huge return for the relatively small amount they contributed in FICA before becoming disabled since disability benefits can continue for life. Likewise the surviving family of a worker who dies in mid-life may receive substantial benefits even though the worker has only contributed for a relatively short time. This is similar to any other insurance program public or private whether the risk is against illness car wrecks or house fires. Everyone in the particular insurance pool is insured against the same risks but not everyone will benefit to the same extent. edit Amendments of the 1950s After years of debates about the inclusion of domestic labor household employees working at least two days a week for the same person were added in 1950 along with nonprofit workers and the self-employed. Hotel workers laundry workers all agricultural workers and state and local government employees were added in 1954. 43 In 1956 the tax rate was raised to 4.0% 2.0% for the employer 2.0% for the employee and disability benefits were added. Also in 1956 women were allowed to retire at 62 with benefits reduced by 25%. Widows of covered workers were allowed to retire at 62 without the reduction in benefits. 44 edit Amendments of the 1960s Brochure from 1961 with basic advice about Social Security cards pages 1 and 4 Same brochure pages 2 and 3 In 1961 retirement at age 62 was extended to men and the tax rate was increased to 6.0%. In 1962 the changing role of the female worker was acknowledged when benefits of covered women could be collected by dependent husbands widowers and children. These individuals however had to be able to prove their dependency . 45 Medicare and Medicaid were added in 1965 by the Social Security Act of 1965 part of President Lyndon B. Johnson 's " Great Society " program. Social Security was changed to withdraw funds from the independent "Trust Fund" and put it into the General Fund for additional congressional revenue. citation needed In 1965 the age at which widows could begin collecting benefits was reduced to 60. Widowers were not included in this change. When divorce rather than death became the major cause of marriages ending divorcées were added to the list of recipients. Divorcées over the age of 65 who had been married for at least 20 years remained unmarried and could demonstrate dependency on their ex-husbands received benefits. 46 The government adopted a unified budget in the Johnson administration in 1968. This change resulted in a single measure of the fiscal status of the government based on the sum of all government activity. 47 The surplus in Social Security trust funds offsets the total debt making it appear much smaller than it otherwise would. edit Amendments of the 1970s edit 1972 Amendments In June 1972 both houses of the United States Congress approved by overwhelming majorities 20% increases in benefits for 27.8 million Americans. The average payment per month rose from $133 to $166. The bill also set up a cost-of-living adjustment COLA to take effect in 1975. This adjustment would be made on a yearly basis if the Consumer Price Index CPI increased by 3% or more. 48 This addition was an attempt to index benefits to inflation so that benefits would rise automatically. If inflation was 5% the goal was to automatically increase benefits by 5% so their real value didn't decline. A technical error in the formula caused these adjustments to overcompensate for inflation a technical mistake which has been called double-indexing. The COLAs actually caused benefits to increase at twice the rate of inflation. In October 1972 a $5 billion piece of Social Security legislation was enacted which expanded the Social Security program. For example minimum monthly benefits of individuals employed in low income positions for at least 30 years were raised. Increases were also made to the pensions of 3.8 million widows and dependent widowers. 48 These amendments also established the Supplemental Security Income SSI . SSI is not a Social Security benefit but a welfare program because the elderly and disabled poor are entitled to SSI regardless of work history. Likewise SSI is not an entitlement because there is no right to SSI payments. edit The negative financial outlook Throughout the 1950s and 1960s during the phase-in period of Social Security Congress was able to grant generous benefit increases because the system had perpetual short-run surpluses. Congressional amendments to Social Security took place in even numbered years election years because the bills were politically popular but by the late 1970s this era was over. For the next three decades projections of Social Security's finances would show large long-term deficits and in the early 1980s the program flirted with immediate insolvency. From this point on amendments to Social Security would take place in odd numbered years years that were not election years because Social Security reform now meant tax increases and benefit reductions. Social Security became known as the "Third Rail of American Politics." Touching it meant political death. Several effects came together in the years following the 1972 amendments which rapidly changed the outlook on Social Security's long-term financial picture from positive to problematic. By the 1970s the phase-in period during which workers were paying taxes but few were collecting benefits was largely over and the ratio of elderly population to the working population was increasing. These developments brought questions about the capacity of the long term financial structure based on a pay-as-you-go program. During the Carter administration the economy suffered double-digit inflation coupled with very high interest rates oil and energy crises high unemployment and slow economic growth . Productivity growth in the United States had declined to an average annual rate of 1% compared to 3.2% during the 1960s. There was also a growing federal budget deficit which increased to $66 billion. The 1970s are described as a period of stagflation meaning economic stagnation coupled with price inflation as well as higher interest rates. Price inflation a rise in the general level of prices creates uncertainty in budgeting and planning and makes labor strikes for pay raises more likely. These underlying negative trends were exacerbated by a colossal mathematical error made in the 1972 amendments establishing the COLAs. The mathematical error which overcompensated for inflation was particularly detrimental given the double-digit inflation of this period and the error led to benefit increases that were nowhere near financially sustainable. The high inflation double-indexing and lower than expected wage growth was financial disaster for Social Security. edit 1977 Amendments To combat the declining financial outlook in 1977 Congress passed and Carter signed legislation fixing the double-indexing mistake. This amendment also altered the tax formulas to raise more money 49 increasing withholding from 2% to 6.15%. 50 With these changes President Carter remarked "Now this legislation will guarantee that from 1980 to the year 2030 the Social Security funds will be sound." 51 This turned out not to be the case. The financial picture declined almost immediately and by the early 1980s the system was again in crisis. edit Amendments of the 1980s After the 1977 amendments the economic assumptions surrounding Social Security projections continued to be overly optimistic as the program moved toward a crisis. For example COLAs were attached to increases in the CPI. This meant that they changed with prices instead of wages. Before the 1970s wage measurements exceeded changes in price. In the 1970s however this reversed and real wages decreased. This meant that FICA revenues could not keep up with the increasing benefits that were being given out. Continued high unemployment levels also lowered the amount of Social Security tax that could be collected. These two developments were decreasing the Social Security Trust Fund reserves. 52 In 1982 projections indicated that the Social Security Trust Fund would run out of money by 1983 and there was talk of the system being unable to pay benefits. 53 The National Commission on Social Security Reform chaired by Alan Greenspan was created to address the crisis. edit The 1983 Amendments The National Commission on Social Security Reform NCSSR chaired by Alan Greenspan was empaneled to investigate the long-run solvency of Social Security. The 1983 Amendments to the SSA were based on the NCSSR's Final Report. 54 The NCSSR recommended enacting a six-month delay in the COLA and changing the tax-rate schedules for the years between 1984 and 1990. 55 It also proposed an income tax on the Social Security benefits of higher-income individuals. This meant that benefits in excess of a household income threshold generally $25 000 for singles and $32 000 for couples the precise formula computes and compares three different measures became taxable. These changes were important for generating revenue in the short term. Also of concern was the long-term prospect for Social Security because of demographic considerations. Of particular concern was the issue of what would happen when people born during the post–World War II baby boom retired. The NCSSR made several recommendations for addressing the issue. 56 Under the 1983 amendments to Social Security a previously enacted increase in the payroll tax rate was accelerated additional employees were added to the system the full-benefit retirement age was slowly increased and up to one-half of the value of the Social Security benefit was made potentially taxable income. 57 58 edit The 1983 Amendments and the Social Security Trust Fund The neutrality of this section is disputed . Please see the discussion on the talk page . Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. February 2011 The 1983 Amendments also included a provision to exclude the Social Security Trust Fund from the unified budget In political jargon it was proposed to be taken “off-budget.” citation needed Yet today Social Security is treated like all the other trust funds of the Unified Budget. citation needed It is a political way of using a cash budget instead of the more appropriate accrual budget for all the budgets in the U.S. government and a way of disguising total debt. 59 This provision also provided for the exemption of Social Security and portions of the Medicare trust funds from any general budget cuts beginning in 1993. 47 This change was one way of trying to protect Social Security funds for the future. As a result of these changes particularly the tax increases the Social Security system began to generate a large short-term surplus of funds intended to cover the added retirement costs of the "baby boomers." Congress invested these surpluses into special series non-marketable U.S. Treasury securities held by the Social Security Trust Fund. In other words Congress borrowed the surpluses from the Social Security system the Treasury securities held by the S.S. Trust fund are U.S. government "I.O.U.s". Under the law the government bonds held by Social Security are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Because the government had adopted the unified budget during the Johnson administration this surplus offsets the total fiscal debt making it look much smaller. citation needed There has been significant disagreement over whether the Social Security Trust Fund has been saved or has been used to finance other government programs and other tax cuts. edit The Supreme Court and the evolution of Social Security The Supreme Court has established that no one has any legal right to Social Security benefits. The Court decided in Flemming v. Nestor 1960 that "entitlement to Social Security benefits is not a contractual right". In that case Ephram Nestor a Bulgarian immigrant to the United States who made contributions for covered wages for the statutorily required "quarters of coverage" was nonetheless denied benefits after being deported in 1956 for being a member of the Communist party. The case specifically held 2. A person covered by the Social Security Act has not such a right in old-age benefit payments as would make every defeasance of "accrued" interests violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Pp. 608–611. a The noncontractual interest of an employee covered by the Act cannot be soundly analogized to that of the holder of an annuity whose right to benefits are based on his contractual premium payments. Pp. 608–610. b To engraft upon the Social Security System a concept of "accrued property rights" would deprive it of the flexibility and 363 U.S. 603 604 boldness in adjustment to ever-changing conditions which it demands and which Congress probably had in mind when it expressly reserved the right to alter amend or repeal any provision of the Act. Pp. 610–611. 3. Section 202 n of the Act cannot be condemned as so lacking in rational justification as to offend due process. Pp. 611–612. 4. Termination of appellee's benefits under 202 n does not amount to punishing him without a trial in violation of Art. III 2 cl. 3 of the Constitution or the Sixth Amendment nor is 202 n a bill of attainder or ex post facto law since its purpose is not punitive. Pp. 612–621. 65 The Supreme Court was also responsible for major changes in Social Security. Many of these cases were pivotal in changing the assumptions about differences in wage earning among men and women in the Social Security system. 60 Goldberg v. Kelly 1970 The Supreme Court ruled that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment required there to be an evidentiary hearing before a recipient can be deprived of government benefits. 29 Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld 1975 A widower claimed that he was entitled to his deceased wife’s benefit even though he had not been dependent on his wife. The court upheld his claims stating that automatically granting widows the benefits and denying them to widowers violated equal protection in the Fourteenth Amendment . 61 edit Dates of coverage for various workers 1935 All workers in commerce and industry except railroads under age 65. 1939 Age restriction eliminated seamen bank employees added additional domestic workers and food-processing workers removed 1946 Railroad and Social Security earnings combined to determine eligibility for and amount of survivor benefits. 1950 Regularly employed farm and domestic workers. Nonfarm self-employed except professional groups . Federal civilian employees not under retirement system. Americans employed outside United States by American employer. Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. At the option of the State State and local government employees not under retirement system. Nonprofit organizations could elect coverage for their employees other than ministers . 1951 Railroad workers with less than 10 years of service for all benefits. After October 1951 coverage is retroactive to 1937. 1954 Farm self-employed. Professional self-employed except lawyers dentists doctors and other medical groups. Additional regularly employed farm and domestic workers. Homeworkers. State and local government employees except firemen and policemen under retirement system if agreed to by referendum. Ministers could elect coverage as self-employed. 1956 Members of the uniformed services. Remainder of professional self-employed except doctors. By referendum firemen and policemen in designated States. 1965 Interns. Self-employed doctors. Tips. 1967 Ministers unless exemption is claimed on grounds of conscience or religious principles . Firemen under retirement system in all States. 1972 Members of a religious order subject to a vow of poverty . 1983 All federal civilian employees hired after 1983 members of Congress the President and Vice-President and federal judges all employees of nonprofit organizations. Covered state and local government employees prohibited from opting out of Social Security. 1990 Employees of state and local governments not covered under a retirement plan. 62 edit Benefits The largest component of OASDI is the payment of retirement benefits. Throughout a worker's career the Social Security Administration keeps track of his or her earnings. The amount of the monthly benefit to which the worker is entitled depends upon that earnings record and upon the age at which the retiree chooses to begin receiving benefits. For the entire history of Social Security benefits have been paid almost entirely by using revenue from payroll taxes. This is why Social Security is referred to as a pay-as-you-go system. Around 2017 payroll tax revenue is projected to be insufficient to cover Social Security benefits citation needed and the system will begin to withdraw money from the Social Security Trust Fund . The existence and economic significance of the Social Security Trust Fund is a subject of considerable dispute because its assets are special Treasury bonds i.e. the money in the trust fund has been lent back to the federal government to pay for other expenses. edit Totals By Year Year – Beneficiaries – Dollars 1937 – 53 236 – $1 278 000 1938 – 213 670 – $10 478 000 1939 – 174 839 – $13 896 000 1940 – 222 488 – $35 000 000 1950 – 3 477 243 – $961 000 000 1960 – 14 844 589 – $11 245 000 000 1970 – 26 228 629 – $31 863 000 000 1980 – 35 584 955 – $120 511 000 000 1990 – 39 832 125 – $247 796 000 000 1995 – 43 387 259 – $332 553 000 000 1996 – 43 736 836 – $347 088 000 000 1997 – 43 971 086 – $361 970 000 000 1998 – 44 245 731 – $374 990 000 000 1999 – 44 595 624 – $385 768 000 000 2000 – 45 414 794 – $407 644 000 000 2001 – 45 877 506 – $431 949 000 000 2002 – 46 444 317 – $453 746 000 000 2003 – 47 038 486 – $470 778 000 000 2004 – 47 687 693 – $493 263 000 000 2005 – 48 434 436 – $520 748 000 000 2006 – 49 122 624 – $546 238 000 000 2007 – 49 864 838 – $584 939 000 000 2008 – 50 898 244 – $615 344 000 000 edit Primary Insurance Amount A worker's retirement income benefit is based on his Primary Insurance Amount or PIA. The PIA is the average of the highest 35 years of the worker's covered earnings before deduction for FICA . Covered earnings in any year are limited by that year's Social Security Wage Base the maximum earnings that could be subject to the OASDI portion of FICA payroll tax $106 800 in 2010 63 . If the worker has fewer than 35 years of covered earnings zeros are used to bring the total number of years of earnings up to 35. Years of covered work more than 2 years before the year the worker turns 62 are indexed upward to reflect the increase in the national wage via the average wage index AWI from the time at which the earnings were covered in the past to the value of the AWI two years before the worker turns 62 which is the most recent year available at the date the worker turns 62 . One-twelfth of this 35-year average is the average indexed monthly earnings AIME . The PIA then is 90% of the AIME up to the first low bendpoint and 32% of the excess of AIME over the first bendpoint but not in excess of the second high bendpoint plus 15% of the AIME in excess of the second bendpoint. Bendpoints designate the point at which the rates of return on a beneficiary's AIME change. 64 65 In 2008 the bendpoints for calculating the PIA are a change from 90% to 32% at $711 and a change to 15% at $4 288. 65 66 This PIA is then adjusted by automatic cost-of-living adjustments annually starting with the year the worker turns 62. Similar computations based on career average earnings determine disability and survivor benefits. These alternate computations average less years of earnings when the worker dies or is disabled before age 62 and use different base years for the inflation adjustments. edit Normal retirement age Main article Retirement Insurance Benefits The earliest age at which reduced benefits are payable is 62. Full retirement benefits depend on a retiree's year of birth. 67 Those born before 1938 have a normal retirement age of 65. Normal retirement age increases by two months for each ensuing year of birth until the 1943 year of birth when it stays at age 66 years until the year of birth 1955. Thereafter the normal retirement age increases again by two months for each year ending in the 1960 year of birth when normal retirement age stops at age 67 for all born thereafter. Since the retirement age increases each year it is important to look at how the rest of the world is vastly approaching retirement age also. clarification needed The breakdown in the more well known countries is as follows Europe Northern America Australia New Zealand and Japan has increased from 8 percent in the 1950s to 14 percent in 2000 and is predicted to reach 26 percent in 2050. The reason for these high percentages is a result of a decline in the death and fertility rates. 68 A worker who starts benefits before normal retirement age has their benefit reduced based on the number of months before normal retirement age they start benefits. This reduction is 5/9 of 1% for each month up to 36 and then 5/12 of 1% for each additional month. This formula gives an 80% benefit at age 62 for a worker with a normal retirement age of 65 a 75% benefit at age 62 for a worker with a normal retirement age of 66 and a 70% benefit at age 62 for a worker with a normal retirement age of 67. A worker who delays starting retirement benefits past normal retirement age earns delayed retirement credits that increase their benefit until they reach age 70. These credits are also applied to their widow er 's benefit. Children and spouse benefits are not affected by these credits. The normal retirement age for widow er benefits shifts the year-of-birth schedule upward by two years so that those widow er s born before 1940 have age 65 as their normal retirement age. edit Spouse's benefit Any current spouse is eligible and divorced or former spouses are eligible generally if the marriage lasts for at least 10 years. Civil marriages of same sex couples are not recognized by OASDI for spousal benefits because the federal DOMA law excludes them for federal recognition. While it is arithmetically possible for one worker to generate spousal benefits for up to five of his/her spouses that he/she may have each must be in succession after a proper divorce for each after a marriage of at least ten years. Because age 70 is the latest retirement age and because no state recognizes marriage before teenage years there are no more than 5 successive spousal benefits in ten-year intervals. This spousal retirement benefit is half the PIA of the worker this is different from the spousal survivor benefit which is the full PIA. The benefit is the product of the PIA times one half times the early-retirement factor if the spouse is younger than normal retirement age. There is no increase for starting spousal benefits after normal retirement age. This can occur if there is a married couple in which the younger person is the only worker and is more than 5 years younger. Only after the worker applies for retirement benefits may the non-working spouse apply for spousal retirement benefits. Note that since the passage of the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act in 2000 the spouse and children of a worker who has reached normal retirement age can receive benefits on the worker's record whether the worker is receiving benefits or not. Thus a worker can delay retirement without affecting spousal and children's benefits. The worker may have to begin receipt of benefits to allow the spousal/children's benefits to begin and then subsequently suspend his/her own benefits in order to continue the postponement of benefits in exchange for an increased benefit amount. citation needed edit Widow er 's benefits If a worker covered by Social Security dies a surviving spouse can receive survivors' benefits. In some instances survivors' benefits are available even to a divorced spouse. A father or mother with minor or disabled children in his or her care can receive benefits which are not actuarially reduced. The earliest age for a nondisabled widow er 's benefit is age 60. The benefit is equal to the worker's full retirement benefit for spouses who are at or older than normal retirement age. If the surviving spouse starts benefits before normal retirement age there is an actuarial reduction. 69 If the worker earned delayed retirement credits by waiting to start benefits after their normal retirement age the surviving spouse will have those credits applied to their benefit. citation needed edit Children's benefits Children of a retired disabled or deceased worker receive benefits as a "dependent" or "survivor" if they are under the age of 18 or between 18 and 19 and have not yet graduated from high school or are over the age of 18 and were disabled before the age of 22. 69 In a landmark case the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided that a child is entitled to survivor benefits even though she was born two years after her father's death having been conceived by in vitro fertilization . 70 edit Disability This article is missing citations or needs footnotes . Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. November 2007 A worker who has worked long enough and recently enough based on "quarters of coverage" within the recent past to be covered can receive disability benefits. These benefits start after five full calendar months of disability regardless of his or her age. The eligibility formula requires a certain number of credits based on earnings to have been earned overall and a certain number within the ten years immediately preceding the disability but with more-lenient provisions for younger workers who become disabled before having had a chance to compile a long earnings history. The worker must be unable to continue in his or her previous job and unable to adjust to other work with age education and work experience taken into account furthermore the disability must be long-term lasting 12 months expected to last 12 months resulting in death or expected to result in death. 71 As with the retirement benefit the amount of the disability benefit payable depends on the worker's age and record of covered earnings. Supplemental Security Income SSI uses the same disability criteria as the insured social security disability program but SSI is not based upon insurance coverage. Instead a system of means-testing is used to determine whether the claimants' income and net worth fall below certain income and asset thresholds. Severely disabled children may qualify for SSI. Standards for child disability are different from those for adults. Disability determination at the Social Security Administration has created the largest system of administrative courts in the United States. Depending on the state of residence a claimant whose initial application for benefits is denied can request reconsideration or a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge ALJ . Such hearings sometimes involve participation of an independent vocational expert VE or medical expert ME as called upon by the ALJ. Reconsideration involves a re-examination of the evidence and in some cases the opportunity for a hearing before a non- attorney disability hearing officer. The hearing officer then issues a decision in writing providing justification for his/her finding. If the claimant is denied at the reconsideration stage s he may request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. In some states SSA has implemented a pilot program that eliminates the reconsideration step and allows claimants to appeal an initial denial directly to an Administrative Law Judge. Because the number of applications for Social Security is very large approximately 650 000 applications per year the number of hearings requested by claimants often exceeds the capacity of Administrative Law Judges. The number of hearings requested and availability of Administrative Law Judges varies geographically across the United States. In some areas of the country it is possible for a claimant to have a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge within 90 days of his/her request. In other areas waiting times of 18 months are not uncommon. After the hearing the Administrative Law Judge ALJ issues a decision in writing. The decision can be Fully Favorable the ALJ finds the claimant disabled as of the date that s he alleges in the application through the present Partially Favorable the ALJ finds the claimant disabled at some point but not as of the date alleged in the application OR the ALJ finds that the claimant was disabled but has improved or Unfavorable the ALJ finds that the claimant was not disabled at all . Claimants can appeal Partially Favorable and Unfavorable decisions to Social Security's Appeals Council which is in Virginia . The Appeals Council does not hold hearings it accepts written briefs. Response time from the Appeals Council can range from 12 weeks to more than 3 years. If the claimant disagrees with the Appeals Council's decision s he can appeal the case in the federal district court for his/her jurisdiction. As in most federal court cases an unfavorable district court decision can be appealed to the appropriate United States Court of Appeals and an unfavorable appellate court decision can be appealed to the United States Supreme Court . edit Current operation edit Joining and quitting Obtaining a Social Security number for a child is voluntary. 72 Further there is no general legal requirement that individuals join the Social Security program. Although the Social Security Act itself does not require a person to have a Social Security Number SSN to live and work in the United States 73 the Internal Revenue Code does generally require the use of the social security number by individuals for federal tax purposes The social security account number issued to an individual for purposes of section 205 c 2 A of the Social Security Act shall except as shall otherwise be specified under regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate be used as the identifying number for such individual for purposes of this title. 74 Importantly most parents apply for Social Security numbers for their dependent children in order to 75 include them on their income tax returns as a dependent. Everyone filing a tax return as taxpayer or spouse must have a Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number TIN since the IRS is unable to process returns or post payments for anyone without an SSN or TIN. The FICA taxes are imposed on all workers and self-employed persons. Employers are required 76 to report wages for covered employment to Social Security for processing Forms W-2 and W-3. There are some specific wages which are not a part of the Social Security program discussed below . Internal Revenue Code provisions section 3101 imposes payroll taxes on individuals and employer matching taxes. Section 3102 77 mandates that employers deduct these payroll taxes from workers' wages before they are paid. Generally the payroll tax is imposed on everyone in employment earning "wages" as defined in 3121 of the Internal Revenue Code. 78 and also taxes 79 net earnings from self-employment. 80 edit Trust fund Main article Social Security Trust Fund Social Security taxes are paid into the Social Security Trust Fund maintained by the U.S. Treasury technically the "Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund" as established by 42 U.S.C. #160 § #160 401 a . Current year expenses are paid from current Social Security tax revenues. When revenues exceed expenditures as they have in most years the excess is invested in special series non-marketable U.S. Government bonds thus the Social Security Trust Fund indirectly finances the federal government's general purpose deficit spending. In 2007 the cumulative excess of Social Security taxes and interest received over benefits paid out stood at $2.2 trillion. 81 The Trust Fund is regarded by some as an accounting trick which holds no economic significance. Others argue that it has specific legal significance because the Treasury securities it holds are backed by the "full faith and credit" of the U.S. government which has an obligation to repay its debt. The Social Security Administration's authority to make benefit payments as granted by Congress extends only to its current revenues and existing Trust Fund balance i.e. redemption of its holdings of Treasury securities. Therefore Social Security's ability to make full payments once annual benefits exceed revenues depends in part on the federal government's ability to make good on the bonds that it has issued to the Social Security trust funds. As with any other federal obligation the federal government's ability to repay Social Security is based on the power to tax and the commitment of the Congress to meet its obligations. In 2009 the Office of the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration calculated an unfunded obligation of $15.1 trillion for the Social Security program. The unfunded obligation is the difference between the present value of the cost of Social Security and the present value of the assets in the Trust Fund and the future scheduled tax income of the program. In the Actuarial Note explaining the calculation the Office of the Chief Actuary wrote that "The term obligation is used in lieu of the term liability because liability generally indicates a contractual obligation as in the case of private pensions and insurance that cannot be altered by the plan sponsor without the agreement of the plan participants." 82 83 edit Office of Disability Adjudication and Review ODAR "The Office of Hearings and Appeals OHA administers the hearings and appeals program for the Social Security Administration SSA . Administrative Law Judges ALJs conduct hearings and issue decisions. The Appeals Council considers appeals from hearing decisions and acts as the final level of administrative review for the Social Security Administration." 84 In 2006 OHA was renamed to ODAR. 85 edit Benefit payout comparisons The current formula used in calculating the benefit level primary insurance amount or PIA is very progressive so that sizable benefits could be obtained with much less than the forty to thirty five years of covered wages. Workers who spend their entire careers in covered employment would be unfairly treated relative to workers who spend the first half of their careers not covered as in municipal employment by OASDI but are covered by an alternative plan. These people who later switch into covered employment would be entitled to both the alternative non OASDI pension presumably from a state or municipality and get an Old Age retirement benefit from Social Security. The progressivity of the PIA formula would in effect allow these workers to double dip . Therefore there are two provisions that mitigate the effect of the double dipping one for those who obtain OASDI benefits from a spouse who is a covered worker and the other for those who split their careers in covered and noncovered employment. This latter double dip has a claw back factor which starts at maximum at 10 years and grades out to zero at 30 years so that there is no clawback for those with 30 years or more of covered wages. This is to prevent those with abnormally low AIMEs due to few years of covered status from being treated as lifetime say 44 years career low wage earners with low AIMEs. edit International agreements People sometimes relocate from one country to another either permanently or on a limited-time basis. This presents challenges to businesses governments and individuals seeking to ensure future benefits or having to deal with taxation authorities in multiple countries. To that end the Social Security Administration has signed treaties often referred to as Totalization Agreements with other social insurance programs in various foreign countries. 86 Overall these agreements serve two main purposes. First they eliminate dual Social Security taxation the situation that occurs when a worker from one country works in another country and is required to pay Social Security taxes to both countries on the same earnings. Second the agreements help fill gaps in benefit protection for workers who have divided their careers between the United States and another country. The following countries have signed totalization agreements with the SSA and the date the agreement became effective 87 Italy November 1 1978 Germany December 1 1979 Switzerland November 1 1980 Belgium July 1 1984 Norway July 1 1984 Canada August 1 1984 United Kingdom January 1 1985 Sweden January 1 1987 Spain April 1 1988 France July 1 1988 Portugal August 1 1989 Netherlands November 1 1990 Austria November 1 1991 Finland November 1 1992 Ireland September 1 1993 Luxembourg November 1 1993 Greece September 1 1994 South Korea April 1 2001 Chile December 1 2001 Australia October 1 2002 Japan October 1 2005 Denmark October 1 2008 Czech Republic January 1 2009 Poland March 1 2009 Mexico Signed on June 29 2004 but not yet in effect edit Social Security number Main article Social Security number A side effect of the Social Security program in the United States has been the near-universal adoption of the program's identification number the Social Security number as the national identification number in the United States. The social security number or SSN is issued pursuant to section 205 c 2 of the Social Security Act codified as 42 U.S.C. #160 § #160 405 c 2 . The government originally stated that the SSN would not be a means of identification but currently a multitude of U.S. entities use the Social Security number as a personal identifier. These include government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service the military which prints it on service members' dog tags and uses it in a number of ways to identify personnel including the name rank and "serial number" one would furnish the enemy as a POW as well as private agencies such as banks colleges and universities health insurance companies and employers. The Social Security Administration admits that the Social Security Act does not require a person to have a Social Security Number to live and work in the United States nor does it require an SSN simply for the purpose of having one. 73 The Privacy Act of 1974 was in part intended to limit usage of the Social Security number as a means of identification. Paragraph 1 of subsection a of section 7 of the Privacy Act an uncodified provision states in part 1 It shall be unlawful for any Federal State or local government agency to deny to any individual any right benefit or privilege provided by law because of such individual's refusal to disclose his social security account number. However paragraph 2 of subsection a of section 7 of the Privacy Act provides in part 2 the provisions of paragraph 1 of this subsection shall not apply with respect to – A any disclosure which is required by Federal statute or B the disclosure of a social security number to any Federal State or local agency maintaining a system of records in existence and operating before January 1 1975 if such disclosure was required under statute or regulation adopted prior to such date to verify the identity of an individual. 88 The exceptions under section 7 of the Privacy Act include the Internal Revenue Code requirement that social security numbers be used as taxpayer identification numbers for individuals. 89 edit Demographic and revenue projections In each year since 1982 OASDI tax receipts interest payments and other income have exceeded benefit payments and other expenditures most recently in 2004 by more than $150 billion. 90 As the " baby boomers " move out of the work force and into retirement however it is anticipated that expenses will come to exceed Social Security tax revenues in 2010 and 2011 and then briefly regaining some solvency in 2012 until plunging into permanent cash-flow negative operations from 2016 onward at current levels of taxation . According to most projections the Social Security trust fund will begin drawing on its Treasury Notes toward the end of the next decade around 2018 or 2019 at which time the repayment of these notes will have to be financed from the general fund. At some time thereafter variously estimated as 2041 by the Social Security Administration 91 or 2052 by the Congressional Budget Office 92 the Social Security Trust Fund will have exhausted the claim on general revenues that had been built up during the years of surplus – at current levels of taxation. At that point current Social Security tax receipts would be sufficient to fund 74 or 78% of the promised benefits according to the two respective projections. The Social Security Trustees suggest that either the payroll tax could increase to 16.41 percent in 2041 and steadily increased to 17.60 percent in 2081 or a cut in benefits by 25 percent in 2041 and steadily increased to an overall cut of 30 percent in 2081. 93 The Social Security Administration projects that the demographic situation will stabilize. The cash flow deficit in the Social Security system will have leveled off as a share of the economy. This projection has come into question. Some demographers argue that life expectancy will improve more than projected by the Social Security Trustees a development that would make solvency worse. Some economists believe future productivity growth will be higher than the current projections by the Social Security Trustees. In this case the Social Security shortfall would be smaller than currently projected. Tables published by the government's National Center for Health Statistics show that life expectancy at birth was 47.3 years in 1900 rose to 68.2 by 1950 and reached 77.3 in 2002. The latest annual report of the Social Security trustees projects that life expectancy will increase just six years in the next seven decades to 83 in 2075. A separate set of projections by the Census Bureau shows more rapid growth. "Social Security Underestimates Future Life Spans Critics Say" 94 dead link The Census Bureau projection is that the longer life spans projected for 2075 by the Social Security Administration will be reached in 2050. Other experts however think that the past gains in life expectancy cannot be repeated and add that the adverse effect on the system's finances may be partly offset if health improvements induce people to stay in the workforce longer. Actuarial science of the kind used to project the future solvency of social security is by nature inexact. The SSA actually makes three predictions optimistic midline and pessimistic until the late 1980s it made 4 projections . The Social Security crisis that was developing prior to the 1983 reforms resulted from midline projections that turned out to be too optimistic. It has been argued that the overly pessimistic projections of the mid to late 1990s were partly the result of the low economic growth according to actuary David Langer assumptions which resulted in the projected exhaustion date being pushed back from 2028 to 2042 with each successive Trustee's report. citation needed During the heavy-boom years of the '90s the midline projections were too pessimistic. Obviously projecting out 75 years is a significant challenge and as such the actual situation might be much better or much worse than predicted. The Social Security Advisory Board has on three occasions since 1999 appointed a Technical Advisory Panel to review the methods and assumptions used in the annual projections for the Social Security trust funds. The most recent report of the Technical Advisory Panel released in June 2008 with a copyright date of October 2007 includes a number of recommendations for improving the Social Security projections. 95 96 Increased spending for Social Security will occur at the same time as increases in Medicare as a result of the aging of the baby boomers. One projection illustrates the relationship between the two programs From 2004 to 2030 the combined spending on Social Security and Medicare is expected to rise from 7% of national income gross domestic product to 13%. Two-thirds of the increase occurs in Medicare. 97 edit Online benefits estimate On July 22 2008 the Social Security Administration introduced a new online benefits estimator. 98 99 A worker who has enough Social Security credits to qualify for benefits but who is not currently receiving benefits on his or her own Social Security record and who is not a Medicare beneficiary can obtain an estimate of the retirement benefit that will be provided for different assumptions about age at retirement. edit Taxation edit Tax on wages and self-employment income Benefits are funded by taxes imposed on wages of employees and self-employed persons. As explained below in the case of employment the employer and employee are each responsible for one half of the Social Security tax with the employee's half being withheld from the employee's pay check. In the case of self-employed persons i.e. independent contractors the self-employed person is responsible for the entire amount of Social Security tax. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act FICA codified in the Internal Revenue Code imposes a Social Security withholding tax equal to 6.20% of the gross wage amount up to but not exceeding the Social Security Wage Base $97 500 for 2007 $102 000 for 2008 and $106 800 for 2009 2010 and 2011 . The same 6.20% tax is imposed on employers. For 2011 the employee's contribution was reduced to 4.2% while the employer's portion remained at 6.2%. 100 For each calendar year for which the worker is assessed the FICA contribution the SSA credits those wages as that year's covered wages. The income cutoff is adjusted yearly for inflation and other factors. A separate payroll tax of 1.45% of an employee's income is paid directly by the employer and an additional 1.45% deducted from the employee's paycheck yielding a total tax rate of 2.90%. There is no maximum limit on this portion of the tax. This portion of the tax is used to fund the Medicare program which is primarily responsible for providing health benefits to retirees. The combined tax rate of these two federal programs is 15.30% 7.65% paid by the employee and 7.65% paid by the employer . For self-employed workers who technically are not employees and are deemed not to be earning "wages" for Federal tax purposes the self-employment tax imposed by the Self-Employment Contributions Act of 1954 codified as Chapter 2 of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code 26 U.S.C. #160 §§ #160 1401 – 1403 is 15.3% of "net earnings from self-employment." 101 In essence a self-employed individual pays both the employee and employer share of the tax although half of the self-employment tax the "employer share" is deductible when calculating the individual's federal income tax. 102 103 If an employee has overpaid payroll taxes by having more than one job or switching jobs during the year the excess taxes will be refunded when the employee files his federal income tax return . Any excess taxes paid by employers however are not refundable to the employers. edit Wages not subject to tax Workers are not required to pay Social Security taxes on wages from certain types of work 104 Wages received by certain state or local government workers participating in their employers' alternative retirement system. Net annual earnings from self-employment of less than $400. Wages received for service as an election worker if less than $1 400 a year in 2008 . Wages received for working as a household employee if less than $1 700 per year in 2009–2010 . Wages received by college students working under Federal Work Study programs graduate students receiving stipends while working as teaching assistants research assistants or on fellowships and most postdoctoral researchers . Eliminated starting January 2011. Earnings received for serving as a minister or for similar religious service if the person has a conscientious objection to public insurance because of personal religious considerations but only for "qualified services" performed for a religious organization. Other minor exceptions. edit Federal income taxation of benefits The benefits received by retirees were not originally taxed as income in the year of receipt. Beginning in tax year 1984 with the Reagan -era reforms to repair the system's projected insolvency retirees with incomes over $25 000 in the case of married persons filing separately who did not live with the spouse at any time during the year and for persons filing as "single" or with combined incomes over $32 000 if married filing jointly or in certain cases any income amount if married filing separately from the spouse in a year in which the taxpayer lived with the spouse at any time generally saw part of the retiree benefits subject to Federal income tax. In 1984 the portion of the benefits potentially subject to tax was 50%. 105 Under the Deficit Reduction Act of 1993 the portion of benefits potentially subject to tax was increased to 85% beginning with the 1994 tax year. 106 edit Criticism of the program edit Claim that it discriminates against the poor and middle-class Critics such as libertarian Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman say that Social Security redistributes wealth from the poor to the wealthy. 107 108 Workers must pay 12.4% including a 6.2% employer contribution on their wages below the Social Security Wage Base $106 800 in 2010 but no tax on income in excess of this amount. 109 Therefore high earners pay a lower percentage of their total income because of the income caps because of this payroll taxes are often viewed as being regressive . Furthermore wealthier individuals generally have higher life expectancies and thus may expect to receive larger benefits for a longer period than poorer taxpayers. 110 A single individual who dies before age 62 who is more likely to be poor receives no retirement benefits despite his years of paying Social Security tax. On the other hand an individual who lives to age 100 who is more likely to be wealthy is guaranteed payments that are more than he paid into the system. 111 An NBER volume edited by Martin Feldstein and Jeffrey Liebman called The Distributional Aspects of Social Security points out that members of racial minorities with lower than average life expectancies and lower than average rates of marriage may also suffer from the program on average. Supporters of Social Security say that despite its regressive tax formula Social Security benefits are calculated using a progressive benefit formula that replaces a much higher percentage of low-income workers' pre-retirement income than that of higher-income workers although these low-income workers pay a higher percentage of their pre-retirement income . 112 They also point to numerous studies that show that relative to high-income workers Social Security disability and survivor benefits paid on behalf of low-income workers more than offset any retirement benefits that may be lost because of shorter life expectancy. 113 114 115 Other research asserts that survivor benefits allegedly an offset actually exacerbate the problem because survivor benefits are denied to single individuals including widow er s married less than nine months except in certain situations 116 divorced widow er s married less than 10 years 117 and co-habiting or same-sex couples unless they are legally married in their state of residence. 110 118 119 120 121 Unmarried individuals tend to be less wealthy and minorities. 122 edit Claim that politicians exempted themselves from the tax Critics of Social Security have said that the politicians who created Social Security exempted themselves from having to pay the Social Security tax. 123 Indeed when the federal government created Social Security all federal employees including the President and members of Congress were exempt from having to pay the Social Security tax and they received no Social Security benefits. This law was changed by the Social Security Amendments of 1983 which brought within the Social Security system all members of Congress the President and the Vice President federal judges and certain executive-level political appointees as well as all federal employees hired in any capacity on or after January 1 1984. 124 Many state and local government workers however are exempt from Social Security taxes because they contribute instead to alternative retirement systems set up by their employers. 125 edit Claim that the government lied about the maximum tax George Mason University economics professor Walter E. Williams claimed that the federal government has broken its own promise regarding the maximum Social Security tax. 126 Williams used data from the federal government to back up his claim. According to a 1936 pamphlet on the Social Security website the federal government promised the following maximum level of taxation for Social Security "... beginning in 1949 twelve years from now you and your employer will each pay 3 cents on each dollar you earn up to $3 000 a year. That is the most you will ever pay." 127 However according to the Social Security website by the year 2008 the tax rate was 6.2% each for the employer and employee and the maximum income level that was subject to the tax was $102 000 raising the bar to $6 324 maximum contribution by both employee and employer total $12 648 . 128 In 2005 Williams wrote "Had Congress lived up to those promises where $3 000 was the maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax controlling for inflation today's $50 000-a-year wage earner would pay about $700 in Social Security taxes as opposed to the more than $3 000 that he pays today." 126 According to the Social Security website "The tax rate in the original 1935 law was 1% each on the employer and the employee on the first $3 000 of earnings. This rate was increased on a regular schedule in four steps so that by 1949 the rate would be 3% each on the first $3 000. The figure was never $1 400 and the rate was never fixed for all time at 1%." 129 edit Claim that it gives a low rate of return Critics of Social Security 130 claim that it gives a low rate of return compared to what is obtained through private retirement accounts. For example critics point out 130 that under the Social Security laws as they existed at that time several thousand employees of Galveston County Texas were allowed to opt out of the Social Security program in the early 1980s and have their money placed in a private retirement plan instead. While employees who earned $50 000 per year would have collected $1 302 per month in Social Security benefits the private plan paid them $6 843 per month. While employees who earned $20 000 per year would have collected $775 per month in Social Security benefits the private plan paid them $2 740 per month at interest rates prevailing in 1996. 130 While some advocates of privatization of Social Security point to the Galveston pension plan as a model for Social Security reform critics point to a GAO report 131 to the House Ways and Means Committee which indicates that for low and middle income employees particularly those with shorter work histories the outcome may be less favorable. edit Claim that it is a pyramid or Ponzi scheme See also Criticism of Social Security as a pyramid or Ponzi scheme Economists since Samuelson in 1967 132 have drawn parallels between Social Security and pyramid schemes e.g. Social Security has been a pyramid scheme from the beginning. Those who paid in first received money from those who paid in second—and so on generation after generation. This was great so long as the small generation when Social Security began was being supported by larger generations resulting from the baby boom. But like all pyramid schemes the whole thing is in big trouble once the pyramid stops growing. When the baby boomers retire that will be the moment of truth—or of more artful lies. Just like Enron . — Thomas Sowell #160 Capitalism Magazine 133 One criticism of the analogy is that Ponzi schemes and social security have similar structures but different transparencies The true Ponzi scheme proffers a mythical source of revenue-generation 134 while social security payments have always been openly underwritten by tax revenue . 135 This has permitted adjustments for sustainability—impossible in a Pyramid scheme 136 because Social Security can be sustained by raising additional taxes or transferring resources from other budget expenditure items. Because of these and other issues Robert E. Wright calls Social Security a "quasi" pyramid scheme in his book Fubarnomics . edit Estimated net Social Security benefits under differing circumstances Single men with different wages and retirement dates In 2004 Urban Institute economists C. Eugene Steuerle and Adam Carasso created a Web-based Social Security benefits calculator. 137 Using this calculator it is possible to estimate net Social Security benefits i.e. estimated lifetime benefits minus estimated lifetime FICA taxes paid for different types of recipients. In the book Democrats and Republicans – Rhetoric and Reality Joseph Fried used the calculator to create graphical depictions of the estimated net benefits of men and women who were at different wage levels single and married with stay-at-home spouses and retiring in different years. These graphs vividly show that generalizations about Social Security benefits may be of little predictive value for any given worker due to the wide disparity of net benefits for people at different income levels and in different demographic groups. For example the graph below Figure 168 shows the impact of wage level and retirement date on a male worker. As income goes up net benefits get smaller – even negative. Impact of gender and wage levels on net SS benefits However the impact is much greater for the future retiree in 2045 than for the current retiree 2005 . The male earning $95 000 per year and retiring in 2045 is estimated to lose over $200 000 by participating in the Social Security system. 138 In the next graph Figure 165 the depicted net benefits are averaged for people turning age 65 anytime during the years 2005 through 2045. In other words the disparities shown are not related to retirement. However we do see the impact of gender and wage level. Because women tend to live longer they generally collect Social Security benefits for a longer time. As a result they get a higher net benefit on average no matter what the wage level. 139 Net lifetime SS benefits of married men and women where only one person works The next image Figure 166 shows estimated net benefits for married men and women at different wage levels. In this particular scenario it is assumed that the spouse has little or no earnings and thus will be entitled to collect a spousal retirement benefit. According to Fried "Two significant factors are evident First every column in Figure 166 depicts a net benefit that is higher than any column in Figure 165. In other words the average married person with a stay-at-home spouse gets a greater benefit per FICA tax dollar paid than does the average single person – no matter what the gender or wage level. Second there is only limited progressivity among married workers with stay-at-home spouses. Review Figure 166 carefully The net benefits drop as the wage levels increase from $50 000 to $95 000 however they increase as the wage levels grow from $5 000 to $50 000. In fact net benefits are lowest for those earning just $5 000 per year." 140 The last graph shown Figure 167 is a combination of Figures 165 and 166. In this graph it is very clear why generalizations about the value of Social Security benefits are meaningless. At the $95 000 wage level a married person could be a big winner – getting net benefits of about $165 000. On the other hand he could lose an estimated $152 000 in net benefits if he remains single. Altogether there is a "swing" of over $300 000 based upon the marriage decision and the division of earnings between the spouses . In addition there is a large disparity between the high net benefits of the married person earning $95 000 $165 152 versus the relatively low net benefits of the man or woman earning just $5 000 $30 025 or $41 890 depending on gender . In other words the high earner in this scenario gets a far greater return on his FICA tax investment than does the low earner. 141 Comparison of net SS benefits In the book How Social Security Picks Your Pocket other factors affecting Social Security net benefits are identified Generally people who work for more than 35 years get a lower net benefit – all other factors being equal. People who do not live long after retirement age get a much lower net benefit. Finally people who derive a high percentage of income from non-wage sources get high Social Security net benefits because they appear to be "poor " when they are not. The progressive benefit formula for Social Security is blind to the income a worker may have from non-wage sources such as spousal support dividends and interest or rental income. 142 edit Current controversies Main article Social Security debate United States Proposals to reform of the Social Security system have led to heated debate centering around funding of the program. In particular proposals to privatize funding have caused great controversy. edit Contrast with private pensions Although Social Security is sometimes compared to private pensions this is an improper comparison since Social Security is social insurance and not a retirement plan. The payment of disability benefits also distinguishes Social Security from most private pensions. In other ways the two systems are fundamentally different as well. A private pension fund accumulates the money paid into it eventually using those reserves to pay pensions to the workers who contributed to the fund and a private system is not universal. Social Security cannot "prefund" by investing in marketable assets such as equities because federal law prohibits it from investing in assets other than those backed by the U.S. government. As a result its investments to date have been limited to "special" non-negotiable securities issued by the U.S. Treasury although some citation needed argue that debt issued by the Federal National Mortgage Association and other quasi-governmental organizations could meet legal standards. Social Security cannot by law invest in private equities although some other countries such as Canada and some states permit their pension funds to invest in private equities. As a universal system Social Security operates as a pipeline through which current tax receipts from workers are used to pay current benefits to retirees survivors and the disabled. There is an excess of taxes withheld over benefits paid and by law this excess is invested in Treasury securities not in private equities as described above. Two broad categories of private pension plans are "defined benefit pension plans" and "defined contribution pension plans." Of these two Social Security is more similar to a defined benefit pension plan. In a defined benefit pension plan the benefits ultimately received are based on some sort of pre-determined formula such as one based on years worked and highest salary earned . Defined benefit pension plans generally do not include separate accounts for each participant. By contrast in a defined contribution pension plan each participant has a specific account with funds put into that account by the employer or the participant or both and the ultimate benefit is based on the amount in that account at the time of retirement. Some have proposed that the Social Security system be modified to provide for the option of individual accounts in effect to make the system at least in part more like a defined contribution pension plan . Specifically on February 2 2005 President George W. Bush made Social Security a prominent theme of his State of the Union Address . 143 He described the Social Security system as "headed for bankruptcy" and outlined in general terms a proposal based on partial privatization . Critics responded that privatization would worsen the program's solvency outlook and would require huge new borrowing. See Social Security debate United States . Both "defined benefit" and "defined contribution" private pension plans are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ERISA which requires employers to provide minimum levels of funding to support "defined benefits" pensions. The purpose is to protect the workers from corporate mismanagement and outright bankruptcy although in practice many private pension funds have fallen short in recent years. In terms of financial structure the current Social Security system is analogous to an underfunded "defined benefit" pension "underfunded" meaning not that it is in trouble but that its "savings" are not enough to pay future benefits without collecting future tax revenues . edit Court interpretation of the Act to provide benefits The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has indicated that the Social Security Act has a moral purpose and should be liberally interpreted in favor of claimants when deciding what counted as covered wages for purposes of meeting the quarters of coverage requirement to make a worker eligible for benefits. 144 That court has also stated ". . . T he regulations should be liberally applied in favor of beneficiaries" when deciding a case in favor of a felon who had his disability payments retroactively terminated upon incarceration. 145 According to the court that the Social Security Act "should be liberally construed in favor of those seeking its benefits can not be doubted." 146 “The hope behind this statute is to save men and women from the rigors of the poor house as well as from the haunting fear that such a lot awaits them when journey's end is near.” 147 edit Constitutionality The constitutionality of Social Security is intricately linked to the evolving nature of Supreme Court jurisprudence on federal power the 20th century saw a dramatic increase in allowed congressional action . When Social Security was first passed there were significant questions over its constitutionality as the Court had found another pension scheme the original Railroad Retirement Act to violate the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment . Some such as University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein and Robert Nozick have argued that Social Security should be unconstitutional. citation needed In the 1937 U.S. Supreme Court case of Helvering v. Davis 148 the Court examined the constitutionality of Social Security when George Davis of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston sued in connection with the Social Security tax. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts first upheld the tax. The District Court judgment was reversed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Commissioner Guy Helvering of the Bureau of Internal Revenue now the Internal Revenue Service took the case to the Supreme Court and the Court upheld the validity of the tax. During the 1930s President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the midst of promoting the passage of a large number of social welfare programs under the New Deal and the High Court struck down many of those programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Recovery Act as unconstitutional. Modified versions of the affected programs were afterwards approved by the Court including Social Security. When Helvering v. Davis was argued before the Court the larger issue of constitutionality of the old-age insurance portion of Social Security was not decided. The case was limited to whether the payroll tax was a suitable use of Congress's taxing power. Despite this no serious challenges regarding the system's constitutionality are now being litigated and Congress's spending power may be more coextensive as shown in cases like South Dakota v. Dole 149 during the Reagan Administration. edit Fraud and abuse edit Social security number theft Because Social Security Numbers have become useful in identity theft and other forms of crime various schemes have been perpetrated to acquire valid Social Security Numbers and related identity information. In February 2006 the Social Security Administration received several reports of an email message being circulated addressed to “Dear Social Security Number And Card owner” and purporting to be from the Social Security Administration. The message informs the reader “that someone illegally is using your Social Security number and assuming your identity” and directs the reader to a website designed to look like Social Security’s Internet website. “I am outraged that someone would target an unsuspecting public in this manner ” said Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart . “I have asked the Inspector General to use all the resources at his command to find and prosecute whoever is perpetrating this fraud.” 150 Once directed to the phony website the individual is reportedly asked to confirm his or her identity with “Social Security and bank information.” Specific information about the individual’s credit card number expiration date and PIN is then requested. “Whether on our online website or by phone Social Security will never ask you for your credit card information or your PIN” Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart reported. Social Security Administration Inspector General O’Carroll recommended people always take precautions when giving out personal information. “You should never provide your Social Security number or other personal information over the Internet or by telephone unless you are extremely confident of the source to whom you are providing the information ” O’Carroll said. See Press Release . edit Fraud in the acquisition and use of benefits Given the vast size of the program fraud occurs. The Social Security Administration has its own investigatory group Continuing Disability Investigations CDI . In addition the Social Security Administration may request investigatory assistance from other federal law enforcement agencies including the Office of the Inspector General and the FBI . citation needed edit Restrictions on potentially deceptive communications Because of the importance of Social Security to millions of Americans many direct-mail marketers packaged their mailings to resemble official communications from the Social Security Administration hoping that recipients would be more likely to open them. In response Congress amended the Social Security Act in 1988 to prohibit the private use of the phrase "Social Security" and several related terms in any way that would convey a false impression of approval from the Social Security Administration. The constitutionality of this law 42 U.S.C. #160 § #160 1140 was upheld in United Seniors Association Inc. v. Social Security Administration 423 F.3d 397 4th Cir. 2005 cert den 547 U.S. 1162 126 S.Ct. 2346 2006 text at Findlaw . 151 edit Public Economics and Social Security This section provides information how social security is considered by the public economists. It also tells about the future strategies to deal with problems that can be faced by this system. edit Consumption smoothing and the annuity market Life annuity Social Security provides insurance for the possibility of living longer than expected when a person has consumed all the resources saved for retirement. Annuity is one answer to such an eventuality. A person will buy an annuity and will pay a certain amount during his working life up to around 65 and then receive benefits in return upon retirement. The larger the premium the larger the benefits he will receive when all the other things remain same. The second concept of consumption smoothing means that a person reduces his consumption when he is earning at the highest level and saves for the years when he will be old and not able to earn at this level but wants to achieve a certain level of consumption for him or his family. A risk averse person will be willing to buy an annuity and reduce his consumption in return for a guaranteed level of income after his retirement and for his family after his death. But this has some problems like adverse selection Adverse selection due to asymmetric information Asymmetric information . 152 edit Economize on decision making and administrative costs It means that in order to properly decide what amount of money one should save and how to invest so that its returns can be used in the old age for one’s benefits. These are difficult things and by joining the social security relieve one from these issues but still problem with government program remains that it will not satisfy the choices of many people. In the same manner the supply side has to deal with the issues of moral hazard adverse selection and for this purpose they want a lot of information on life expectancies in order to determine annuities. Annuities also have to pay to the sales people high commissions. But making compulsory to join for everyone in a program saves all these costs. 152 edit Income redistribution This is so planned that the benefits are lesser for the people with high income averages and high for the low income people. In this way social security redistributes the incomes. Moreover there is also intergenerational redistribution of income also. In the pay as you go system the present generation of workers pays for the benefits of the earlier generation. 152 edit Saving behavior Social security affects the saving behavior of the people in three different ways. In the wealth substitution effect Substitution effect#Substitution effect when a person is paying for his social security it is expected that he will save less because he knows that in the event of his old age social security will take care of him. In the retirement effect increases the savings because people would like to retire earlier and this will induce them to save more because now they have to pay for more years after retirement. The bequest effect also increases saving. Because people want to save for children when they will pay for social security this will decrease resources and they will save. 152 edit Improved income status of the aged Social security has decreased poverty in the elderly people. During 1974-2003 the median real income among the population above 15 increased by 30% and in the population over 65 this increase was 45%. But still the problem persists and still the women especially widows are likely to experience economic stress. 152 edit Social Security Solvency Cost and Benefit Analysis A cost and benefit analysis is given here in order to make the Social Security solvent and maintain the current system. edit Raising the maximum taxable earning levels At present the limit is $106 800. But if the cap is lifted and it includes all the income then it will be able to tackle the problem of increasing benefits by more increase in the revenues. Another way can be that lift the cap on the taxable income but do not increase the benefits. Cost will be for high income earning people to pay more and benefit will be solvency of the social security will be ensured. 152 edit Increasing retirement age Because the life expectancy has increased and there is hope that it will increase more than it requires that the retirement age may also be increased. If the retirement age is increased to 68 it will increase the payroll tax by 0.52 percentage point but it still falls far short of required 3.5 percentage point increase in payroll tax. The cost will be more working years and less leisure and benefit will be that payroll tax will be slightly low. 152 edit Reducing cost of living adjustment COLA At present a retiree’s benefit is each year increased by the cost of living measured in CPI. According to some economists the CPI overestimates the price increases so it is appropriate to adjust benefits less than CPI Boskin et al. 1998 . If the benefits adjustments is delinked from CPI and it will reduce cost of living and the reduction in cost of living will increase benefits by 0.79 dollar for every dollar reduced. 152 edit Changing of the benefit formula At present AIME is calculated on the average of 35 years of earnings as discussed earlier if the retirement is increased to 68 then the average for calculation of AIME may be increased to 38 years earnings. It will decrease the lifetime earnings and it will decrease the benefits. This would increase the payroll tax by 0.26 percentage points. Another variant of this can be now AIME uses the indexing based on average wage growth for 35 years but if it was based on CPI then it will also reduce the benefits. It will help in sustainable solvency because the wages tend to rise more as compared to prices. In order to help the poor the lowest income 30% of the retirees may be given benefits based on wage indexing and all the rest on price indexing or the mix of both indexes. 152 edit See also 401 k Health savings account Individual retirement account Federal Emergency Relief Administration Federal Insurance Contributions Act Flemming v. Nestor Goldberg v. Kelly Government operations Michael J. Astrue Commissioner Social Security Administration Social Security Administration Franco Modigliani National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives NOSSCR Ownership society Richardson v. Perales Social Security debate United States Social security disability Steward Machine Company v. Davis Supplemental Security Income edit References ^ 42 U.S. § 401 Law.cornell.edu retrieved January 4 2010. ^ Social Security Act of 1935 "Legislative History 1935 Social Security Act" . http // socialsecurity.gov/history/35actinx.html . Retrieved November 8 2006 . #160 ^ 42 USC 7 "US Code—Title 42—The Public Health and Welfare" . Archived from the original on October 12 2006 . http //web.archive.org/web/20061012002738/http // access.gpo.gov/uscode/title42/chapter7_.html . Retrieved November 8 2006 . #160 ^ "42 USC 401 Trust Funds" . http // law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sec_42_00000401 000-.html . Retrieved November 8 2006 . #160 four ^ "OASDI Expenditures" . Archived from the original on March 6 2005 . http //web.archive.org/web/20050306003217/http // ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/t4a3Outgo.html . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ Mid-session review budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2009 ^ Feldstein M. 2005 . Rethinking social insurance. American Economic Review 95 1 pp. 1–24. ^ 45. Orr D. November – December 2004 . Social Security isn't broken So why the rush to 'fix ' it In C. Sturr amp R. Vasudevan Eds. 2007 Current economic issues . Boston Economic Affairs Bureau. ^ "2011 Annual Report by the Social Security Board of Trustees" . Journalist's Resource.org . http //journalistsresource.org/studies/government/politics/social-security-report-2011/ . #160 ^ "A Reader's Companion to American History Poverty" . http //college.hmco /history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_070900_poverty.htm . Retrieved March 17 2006 . #160 ^ "History 1930" . Ssa.gov . http // ssa.gov/history/1930.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ a b Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions. New York Cambridge University Press 1986. p. 25-6 ^ Mink Gwendolyn. The Wages of Motherhood Inequality in the welfare state 1917–1942 . Ithaca Cornell University Press 1995. p. 127 ^ Quadagno Jill. The Color of Welfare How racism undermined the war on poverty . New York Oxford University Press 1994. p. 7 ^ a b Kessler-Harris Alice 2001. p. 130-1 ^ Kessler-Harris Alice 2001. p. 146 ^ Kessler-Harris Alice 2001. p.157 ^ a b c d Katznelson Ira. When Welfare was White The untold history of racial inequality in twentieth century America . New York W.W. Norton 2005. p. 43-8 ^ a b c Mink Gwendolyn. The Wages of Motherhood 1995. p. 126-130 ^ Mink 1995 p. 142 ^ Mink 1995 p. 143 ^ Supremecourthistory.org dead link ^ Social Security Administration ^ " Steward Machine Company vs. Davis 301 U.S 548" . http // oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/368/ . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ First Payments of Social Security Social Security Administration. ^ Research Note #3 Details of Ida May Fuller's Payroll Tax Contributions Social Security Administration. ^ Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions 1986. p. 124 ^ Kessler-Harris Alice. In Pursuit of Equity 2001. p. 156 ^ a b Achenbaum 1986. p. 130 ^ p. 19 ^ Achenbaum 1986 p. 30 ^ Achenbaum 1986 p. 33 ^ Berstein Merton and Joan. Social Security The System that Works . New York Basic Books Inc. 1988 . p. 10 ^ SSA.gov budget treatment dead link ^ Mink Gwendolyn. The Wages of Motherhood 1995. p. 134 ^ Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions . p. 30 ^ Achenbaum 1986 p. 27 30 ^ Kessler-Harris Alice. In Pursuit of Equity 2001. p. 134 ^ Mink Gwendolyn. The Wages of Motherhood 1995. p. 135-6 ^ Kessler-Harris Alice. In Pursuit of Equity 2001. p. 141 ^ Mink Gwendolyn. The Wages of Motherhood 1995. p. 137 ^ Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions 1986. p.34 ^ Kessler-Harris 2001. p. 150 ^ Kessler-Harris 2001 p. 161 ^ Kessler-Harris Alice. In Pursuit of Equity 2001. p. 161 ^ Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions 1986. p. 129 ^ a b SSA.gov ^ a b Achenbaum 1986. p. 58 ^ Achenbaum 1986 p. 67 ^ Frum David 2000 . How We Got Here The '70s . New York New York Basic Books. p. #160 324. ISBN #160 0465041957 . #160 ^ Sylvester J. Schieber and John. B. Shoven The Real Deal the History and Future of Social Security . New Haven and London Yale University Press 1999 p. 182 ^ Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions 1986. p. 68 ^ Sylvester J. Schieber and John. B. Shoven The Real Deal 1999 p. 190 ^ "Report of the National Commission on Social Security Reform" . http // ssa.gov/history/reports/gspan.html . Retrieved 2008-03-15 . #160 ^ Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions 1986. p. 87 ^ "Chapter 2 of the 1983 Greenspan Commission on Social Security Reform" . http // ssa.gov/history/reports/gspan5.html . Retrieved March 17 2006 . #160 ^ "Research Notes amp Special Studies by the Historian's Office" . http // ssa.gov/history/taxationofbenefits.html . Retrieved March 17 2006 . #160 ^ See 26 U.S.C. #160 § #160 86 . ^ Webb Roy 1991 . “The Stealth Budget Unfunded Liabilities of the Federal Government ” Economic Review Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond 77 2 May/June ^ Kessler-Harris Alice. In Pursuit of Equity 2001. p. 168 ^ Kessler-Harris Alice. In Pursuit of Equity 2001. p. 131 ^ "Social Security Summary of Major Changes in the Cash Benefits Program" . Socialsecurity.gov . http // socialsecurity.gov/history/reports/crsleghist2.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Contribution and Benefit Base" . SSA.gov . http // ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/cbb.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Social Security Administration "Considerations for Potential Proposals to Change the Earliest Eligibility Age for Retirement"" . Socialsecurity.gov . http // socialsecurity.gov/policy/docs/policybriefs/pb2007-01.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ a b "POMS RS 00605.021" . S044a90.ssa.gov . https //s044a90.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300605021 opendocument . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Social Security Administration "Benefit Formula Bend Points"" . Socialsecurity.gov . http // socialsecurity.gov/OACT/COLA/bendpoints.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Normal Retirement Age" . Social Security Administration. September 19 2005 . http // ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/nra.html . Retrieved 2006-05-14 . #160 ^ Young Mitchell 2010 . " Opposing Viewpoints Series Social Security." New York. ^ a b "Survivors Benefits" . SSA Publication No. 05-10084 ICN 468540 . 2007 . http // ssa.gov/pubs/10084.html . Retrieved 2007-12-24 . #160 ^ Clayworth Jason 2 December 2009 . "West Branch girl entitled to dead dad's benefits judge rules" . Iowa City Press Citizen . http // press-citizen /article/20091202/NEWS01/91202001/1079/West-Branch-girl-entitled-to-dead-dad-s-benefits-judge-rules . Retrieved 2 December 2009 . #160 dead link ^ "What We Mean By Disability" . http // ssa.gov/dibplan/dqualify4.htm . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "Social Security Numbers For Children" . Ssa.gov. 2008-11-03 . http // ssa.gov/pubs/10023.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ a b Hiwaay.net ^ See 26 U.S.C. #160 § #160 6109 d . ^ keep "Tax Reform Act of 1986" . http // socialsecurity.gov/history/ssn/reagantax.html . Retrieved November 8 2006 . #160 ^ "26 USC 6051" . http //frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi dbname=browse_usc amp docid=Cite +26USC6051 . Retrieved November 8 2006 . #160 ^ Straylight.law.cornell.edu ^ Law.cornell.edu ^ Straylight.law.cornell.edu ^ Straylight.law.cornell.edu ^ "OASDI Trust Funds" . http // ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4a3.html . Retrieved January 23 2008 . #160 ^ "Unfunded Obligation and Transition Cost for the OASDI Program" PDF . Actuarial Note 2008.1 . Social Security Administration . July 2008 . http // ssa.gov/OACT/NOTES/ran1/an2008-1.pdf . Retrieved June 26 2010 . #160 ^ "The 2009 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds" PDF . Social Security Administration . May 2009 . http // socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2009/tr09.pdf . Retrieved June 27 2010 . #160 ^ SSA.gov ^ David Traver. "Option " . Ssaconnect . http //ssaconnect /component/option com_forum/Itemid 2/page viewtopic/t 3295/ . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ Christians Allison June 28 2006 . "Social Security in United States Treaties and Executive Agreements" . Internationalen Steuerrecht 43 . http //ssrn /abstract=822504 . #160 ^ "International Agreements" . http // ssa.gov/international/status.html . Retrieved January 26 2009 . #160 ^ Privacy Act of 1974 Pub. L. No. 93-579 88 Stat. 1897 December 31 1974 sec. 7 a emphasis added . ^ 26 U.S.C. #160 § #160 6109 d . ^ "OASDI Trust Funds See above " . http // ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4a3.html . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "Social Security Administration" . http // ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/trsummary.html . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "Congressional Budget Office" . http // cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm index=5666 amp sequence=0 . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "2007 OASDI Trustees Report Conclusions" . Socialsecurity.gov. 2007-04-23 . http // socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/TR07/II_conclu.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Social Security Underestimates Future Life Spans Critics Say" . http // heraldtribune /apps/pbcs.dll/article AID=/20041231/ZNYT02/412310311 . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ Technical Panel on Assumptions and Methods 2007 "Report to the Social Security Advisory Board " October 2007 ^ Social Security Advisory Board "Press Release The Report of the 2007 Technical Panel on Assumptions and Methods " June 5 2008 ^ Samuelson Robert J. January 14 2005 . "It's More Than Social Security washingtonpost " . The Washington Post . http // washingtonpost /wp-dyn/articles/A8100-2005Jan13.html . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ SSA.gov ^ Taylor Andrew July 22 2008 . "Social Security unveils new earnings calculator". USA Today . #160 ^ 1 ^ See 26 U.S.C. #160 § #160 1402 . ^ I am self-employed. How do I pay Social Security tax . Social Security Administration. Retrieved on April 28 2007. ^ Self-Employment Tax . Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved on April 28 2007. ^ IRS Publications 15 15-A ^ Page 11 Instructions for 1984 Form 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return Internal Revenue Service U.S. Dep't of the Treasury. ^ Page 19 Instructions for 1994 Form 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return Internal Revenue Service U.S. Dep't of the Treasury. ^ "Idea Channel homepage" . Ideachannel.tv/. 2007-01-29 . http //ideachannel.tv . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ Milton Friedman amp Rose Friedman " Free to Choose " New York Harcout Brace Jovanovich 1980 pg. 102–107. ^ "Perspectives" . Nysscpa.org . http // nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/405/perspectives/p17.htm . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ a b "Testimony" . Cato.org. 2005-05-17 . http // cato.org/testimony/ct-mt051705.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Ask this view" . Niemanwatchdog.org. 2005-01-24 . http // niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm fuseaction=ask_this.view amp askthisid=0084 . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ Social Security's benefit formula provides 90% of average indexed monthly earnings AIME below the first "bend point" 32% of AIME between the first and second bend points and 15% of AIME in excess of the second bend point. Primary Insurance Amount Social Security Administration. ^ Cynthia M. Fagnoni General Accounting Office "Social Security and Minorities Current Benefits and Implications of Reform" Testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security Committee on Ways and Means House of Representatives February 10 1999. ^ Alexa A. Hendley and Natasha F. Bilimoria Social Security Administration "Minorities and Social Security An Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Current Program" Social Security Bulletin Vol. 62 No. 2 1999 pp. 59–64. ^ General Accounting Office "Social Security and Minorities Earnings Disability Incidence and Mortality Are Key Factors That Influence Taxes Paid and Benefits Received" Report to the Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on Social Security Committee on Ways and Means House of Representatives April 2003. ^ "POMS RS 00207.001.C2" . S044a90.ssa.gov . https //s044a90.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300207001 opendocument#c2 . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "POMS RS 00207.001.A2" . S044a90.ssa.gov . https //s044a90.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300207001 opendocument#a2 . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "POMS RS 00207.001.C1" . S044a90.ssa.gov . https //s044a90.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300207001 opendocument#c1 . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ Bella M. DePaulo Wendy L. Morris 2006 "The Unrecognized Stereotyping and Discrimination Against Singles" Current Directions in Psychological Science 15 5 251–254. ^ C. Eugene Steuerle Adam Carasso "Social Security Benefits and the Language of Guarantees " Urban Research Institute 2000 Urban.org ^ Brooke Oberwetter 2005-06-13 . "Show" . Reason . http // reason /news/show/32932.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Marriage wealth" . Money.cnn . 2006-01-18 . http //money.cnn /2006/01/18/pf/marriage_wealth/index.htm . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Fact Sheet Millions Enjoy Ownership and Control Outside Social Security" . Whitehouse.gov . http //georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050415-4.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ SSA's Office of Legislation amp Congressional Affairs November 26 1984 . "Summary of P.L. 98-21 H.R. 1900 Social Security Amendments of 1983-Signed on April 20 1983" . Social Security Administration . http // ssa.gov/history/1983amend.html . Retrieved 2009-05-28 . #160 ^ Social Security Administration Retirement Planner State and Local Government Employment ^ a b "Williams" . Jewishworldreview . http // jewishworldreview /cols/williams022305.asp . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Social Security Numbers" . SSA.gov . http // ssa.gov/history/ssn/ssb36.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Update 2010" . Ssa.gov. 2008-11-03 . http // ssa.gov/pubs/10003.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ "Myths and Misinformation about Social Security" . SSA.gov . http // ssa.gov/history/InternetMyths.html . Retrieved 2009-05-21 . #160 ^ a b c NCPA.org dead link ^ GAO.gov ^ Laursen E. 12 March 2010 . "Is Social Security really a Ponzi scheme" . http //peoplespension.infoshop.org/blogs-mu/2010/03/12/ponzi-scheme/ . "The Ponzi epithet for Social Security originated in a 1967 Newsweek column by Paul Samuelson ... A growing nation is the greatest Ponzi scheme ever contrived. And that is a fact not a paradox " #160 ^ "Social Security The Enron That Politicians Have In the Closet" . Capitalism Magazine. 23 March 2002 . http // capmag /article.asp ID=1505 . #160 ^ Zuckoff M. 2009-01-07 . "Social Security a Ponzi scheme No way" . Fortune . http //money.cnn /2009/01/06/news/economy/social.security.fortune/index.htm . "Some commentators are finding a tempting comparison between the Madoff scandal and the Social Security system. Here's why it's wrong." #160 ^ DeWitt L. January 2009 . "Research Note #25 Ponzi Schemes vs. Social Security" . Social Security Online . http // ssa.gov/history/ponzi.htm . #160 ^ Kennelly B. B. 2009-02-04 . "Social Security is Not a Ponzi Scheme" . http // ncpssm.org/news/archive/le_ponzi_scheme_wt_2409/ . #160 ^ C. Eugene Steuerle and Adam Carasso "The USA Today Lifetime Social Security and Medicare Benefits Calculator " Urban Institute October 1 2004 from Urban.org NOTE The calculator does not include the value or cost of the Social Security disability program. ^ Fried Joseph Democrats and Republicans – Rhetoric and Reality New York Algora Publishing 2008 212. ^ Fried Joseph Democrats and Republicans – Rhetoric and Reality New York Algora Publishing 2008 205. ^ Fried Joseph Democrats and Republicans – Rhetoric and Reality New York Algora Publishing 2008 206. ^ Fried Joseph Democrats and Republicans – Rhetoric and Reality New York Algora Publishing 2008 208. ^ Fried Joseph How Social Security Picks Your Pocket New York Algora Publishing 2003 27–33. ^ Bush George W. February 2 2005 . "State of the Union Address" . Office of the Press Secretary . http //georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050202-11.html . Retrieved 2008-07-19 . #160 ^ Conklin v. Celebrezze 319 F.2d 569 7th Cir. 1963 . ^ Dugan v. Sullivan 957 F.2d 1384 1389 7th Cir. 1992 quoting Wyatt v. Barnhart 349 F.3d 983 986 7th Cir. 2003 . ^ Carroll v. Social Sec. Bd. 128 F.2d 876 7th Cir. 1942 citing Helvering v. Davis 301 U.S. 619 640–645 57 S.Ct. 904 1937 hereinafter Davis . ^ Davis at 641. ^ 301 U.S. 619 1937 . ^ 483 U.S. 203 1987 . ^ SSA.gov ^ "United Seniors Association vs Social Security Administration" PDF . http //caselaw.lp.findlaw /data2/circs/4th/041804p.pdf . Retrieved March 17 2006 . #160 ^ a b c d e f g h i Rosen Harvey S. and Gayer Ted Public Finance 8th edition McGraw Hill companies 2008. Works referenced Achenbaum Andrew. Social Security Visions and Revisions 1986. Feldstein Martin and Jeffrey Liebman eds. The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform. Chicago University of Chicago Press 2002. Kessler-Harris Alice. In Pursuit of Equity women men and the quest for economic citizenship in 20th century America . New York Oxford University Press 2001. Social Security Administration Beneficiaries and costs information Wright Robert E. Fubarnomics A Lighthearted Serious Look at America's Economic Ills. Buffalo N.Y. Prometheus 2010. edit Further reading Community of Minds Working Together – The $44 Trillion Abyss – 2003 Fortune Magazine 1 Social Security Suicide – AlterNet 2 "The Fake Crisis" 3 - Rolling Stone "What Does Price Indexing Mean for Social Security Benefits " 4 - from Center for Retirement Research January 2005 explanation of wage indexing versus price indexing Getting a grip on Social Security The flaw in the system 5 Center for American Progress Social Security by the Numbers reference guide with stats 6 "An ownership society evolves who says individualized accounts are a better way to solve social problems The laws of nature" 7 by William Tucker relates self-organization theory to Social Security Edward D. Berkowitz and Eric R. Kingson. Social Security and Medicare A Policy Primer. Auburn House. 1993 online 214 pp Shirley Jenkins et al. eds. Social Security in International Perspective Essays in Honor of Eveline M. Burns Columbia University Press 1969 online Patricia P. Martin and David A. Weaver. "Social Security A Program and Policy History " Social Security Bulletin Vol. 66 No. 1 2005 online version Myers Robert J. Social Security. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1993. Schieber Sylvester J. and John B. Shoven. The Real Deal. Yale University Press 1999. Max J. Skidmore Social Security and Its Enemies The Case for America's Most Efficient Insurance Program Westview Press 1999 online Michael D. Tanner Social Security and Its Discontents Perspectives on Choice Cato Institute 2004 online libertarian criticism David Traver Social Security Disability Advocate's Handbook James Publishing 2006 ISBN 1-58012-033-4 Social Security Handbook Germania Publishing 2006. Social Security Program Operations Manual System . Social Security Administration. S044a90.ssa.gov Brown Jeffrey R. Jeffrey B. Liebman and David A. Wise 2009 . Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment . University of Chicago Press. ISBN #160 9780226076485 . #160 edit Reading notes ^ "Community of Minds Working Together – The $44 Trillion Abyss – 2003 Fortune Magazine" . http //solutions.synearth.net/2003/12/17 . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "Social Security Suicide – AlterNet" . http // alternet.org/election04/20746/ . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "RollingStone The Fake Crisis Politics" . http // rollingstone /politics/story/_/id/6822964 rnd=1106888734980 amp has-player=false . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "What Does Price Indexing Mean for Social Security Benefits " PDF . Archived from the original on November 4 2005 . http //web.archive.org/web/20051104150159/http // bc.edu/centers/crr/facts/jtf_14.pdf . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "Getting a grip on Social Security The flaw in the system" . http //rationalrevolution0.tripod /blog/index.blog entry_id=647053 . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "Center for American Progress Social Security by the Numbers reference guide with stats " . http // americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp c=biJRJ8OVF amp b=306535 . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 ^ "An ownership society evolves who says individualized accounts are a better way to solve social problems The laws of nature" . http // 24hourscholar /p/articles/mi_m2185/is_2_16/ai_n11849811 . Retrieved December 3 2005 . #160 edit External links OASDI Social Security Administration Social Security Internet Myths Social Security Internet Myths part 2 Social Security Online – Trust Fund Data – Investment data form – Investment Holdings Social Security benefit calculators Social Security Advisory Board Social Security Retirement Questions FAQ Social Security Administration Office of Disability Adjudication and Review Congressional Budget Office Social Security Primer US Government Accountability Office Social Security Reform Answers to Key Questions Calculators Urban Institute's USA TODAY Lifetime Social Security and Medicare Benefits Calculator Alternative benefit calculator – from Senator Charles Schumer CBPP Rate of Return June 2005 Read Congressional Research Service CRS Reports regarding Social Security Social Security Death Index Information More information AARP – American Association of Retired People TimeLines of US SSI Numbers Years Numbers States Social Security Disability Advocacy Debate and Professional News Health Hippo Evaluations of Social Security Disability Social Security Information Project Global Action on Aging Warning about the perils of stock-exchange "funded" pension systems Commission to Strengthen Social Security Social Security Disability in North Carolina 75th Anniversary of Social Security at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Library Articles Social Security Benefits Vary by Age Taken NBER paper Internal Rate of Return coauthored by Olivia Mitchell member of President's Commission Economic Policy Institute Role of Social Security Social Security Q amp A by economist Doug Orr from Dollars amp Sense magazine Social Security at Wikia Time Archives A Collection regarding Social Security's progression and perception over time Article on impact of raising Social Security tax cap from Dollars amp Sense magazine March/April 2008 The Social Security Administration's Cracked Crystal Ball from Dollars amp Sense magazine November/December 2004 FERS information CSRS information Social Security article in Encarta Encyclopedia Arno Tausch 2005 ‚ World Bank Pension reforms and development patterns in the world system and in the “Wider Europe”. A 109 country investigation based on 33 indicators of economic growth and human social and ecological well-being and a European regional case study’. A slightly re-worked version of a paper originally presented to the Conference on “Reforming European pension systems. In memory of Professor Franco Modigliani. 24 and 25 September 2004” Castle of Schengen Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies v · d · e Social Security United States Key articles Social Security Administration #160 · Social Security number Assistance programs Disability Determination Services #160 · Retirement Insurance Benefits #160 · Social Security Disability Insurance #160 · Supplemental Security Income #160 · Temporary Assistance for Needy Families #160 · Ticket to Work #160 · Unemployment benefits Health care Medicaid #160 · Medicare #160 · SCHIP Law Disability fraud #160 · FICA #160 · Revenue Act of 1942 #160 · Social Security Act #160 · Social Security Act of 1965 #160 · Social Security Death Index #160 · Social Security Trust Fund #160 · Windfall Elimination Provision Other Legacy debt #160 · Numident #160 · Office of the Chief Actuary #160 · Primary Insurance Amount #160 · Social Security debate United States #160 · Social Security Wage Base #160 · Years of coverage v · d · e New Deal Causes and legacy Great Depression #160 · New Deal Coalition #160 · Brain Trust #160 · American Liberty League #160 · Criticism New Deal Emergency Banking Act #160 · Economy Act #160 · Agricultural Adjustment Act #160 · Civilian Conservation Corps-CCC #160 · Civil Works Administration #160 · Communications Act #160 · Executive Order 6102 #160 · Homeowners Refinancing Act #160 · Farm Credit Administration #160 · Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-FDIC #160 · Federal Emergency Relief Administration #160 · Frazier–Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act #160 · Glass–Steagall Act #160 · National Industrial Recovery Act #160 · National Housing Act #160 · National Recovery Administration #160 · Public Works Administration-PWA #160 · Public Works of Art Project #160 · Reciprocal Tariff Act #160 · Railroad Retirement Act #160 · Securities Act #160 · Tennessee Valley Authority-TVA Second New Deal Works Progress Administration-WPA #160 · Federal Art Project #160 · Federal Energy Regulatory Commission #160 · Federal Project Number One #160 · Farm Security Administration #160 · Judicial Procedures Reform Act #160 · National Bituminous Coal Conservation Act #160 · National Labor Relations Board Act #160 · Rural Electrification Act #160 · Rural Electrification Administration #160 · Social Security #160 · United States Housing Authority Individuals Franklin D. Roosevelt #160 · Harold L. Ickes #160 · Harry Hopkins #160 · Henry Morgenthau Jr. #160 · Huey Long #160 · Herbert Hoover #160 · Robert F. Wagner Category #160 · Commons Retrieved from " http //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_ United_States " Categories Social Security United States Taxation in the United States Hidden categories All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from May 2009 Articles with dead external links from September 2010 Articles that may be too long from March 2009 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March 2009 Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008 Articles with unsourced statements from September 2010 NPOV disputes from February 2011 All NPOV disputes Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 Articles with unsourced statements from May 2009 All pages needing cleanup Wikipedia articles needing clarification from September 2010 Articles with unsourced statements from March 2007 Articles with unsourced statements from March 2010 Articles with unsourced statements from November 2007 Articles with dead external links from October 2010 Articles with unsourced statements from May 2008 Articles with unsourced statements from April 2009 Articles with unsourced statements from June 2008 Article Feedback Pilot Personal tools Log in / create account Namespaces Article Discussion Variants Views Read Edit View history Actions Search Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Cite this page Print/export Create a book Download as PDF Printable version Languages Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Svenska This page was last modified on 19 June 2011 at 12 11. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia reg is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation Inc. a non-profit organization. Contact us Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers / Politics Facebook #149 ESPN #149 ABC Hot Topics Jon Huntsman #149 Summer Solstice #149 Casey Anthony Home Video News Politics Investigative Health Entertainment Money Tech Good Morning America WWYD 20/20 This Week Nightline World News More Politics Top Line VOTE 2012 Gas Prices Donald Trump House Speaker John Boehner Note Political Punch George's Bottom Line Subway Series Home gt Politics Social Security Scare Is Government Running Out of Funds By HUMA KHAN March 3 2011 ABCNEWS Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are hesitant to put Social Security on the chopping block but with the U.S. debt growing rapidly time to reform the 76-year-old program is running out experts say. The debate over a program that has become a sacred cow for senior citizens comes at a time when Democrats and Republicans are wrangling about how to fund the government for the rest of the year and beyond. Democrats charge that the Republicans' continuing resolution would cut essential funds from the Social Security Administration and in turn hurt thousands of retirees who may not get their benefits or be able to enroll on time. The cuts Republicans say would amount to $125 million from current levels and $500 million from the reserve fund. The SSA has warned of possible worker furloughs if the Republicans' plan is approved. It's "gamesmanship that's being played. The consequences are real " said Rep. Xavier Becerra D-Calif. "Social Security didn't do one single thing to create this mess." ABCNEWS View Full Size ABCNEWS Budget Battle Lew Sessions Have Words Watch Video Social Security's Uncertainties Watch Video Social Security 101 Watch Video Republicans say the cuts are needed to balance the budget. They instead blame President Obama for not seizing the opportunity to lead the charge on reforming Social Security which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will post a deficit of $600 billion over the next ten years. Social Security comprises 20 percent of the White House's 2012 budget proposal. Even though the report acknowledges that the program faces a "long-term financing shortfall " it doesn't suggest any reforms. Instead the budget provides an additional $1 billion from 2010 for a total of $12.5 million to reduce the backlog of disability claims. More than 54 million Americans about one in four U.S. households receive benefits each month through Social Security. About 70 percent of those checks which average $1 076 go to retired workers and their families and the rest to disabled Americans and recipients' survivors. The number of enrollees is expected to grow as the baby boomer generation begins retiring while the pool of workers who contribute to Social Security will grow relatively smaller. Social Security isn't funded through the federal government. Checks instead are disbursed from a separate trust fund that is replenished by the payroll tax that workers and employers pay. Currently U.S. workers pay a 6.2 percent payroll tax. Proponents of the program argue that Social Security does not by itself add to the federal budget deficit and in fact works much like a private entity. But others say the idea that Social Security isn't linked to the deficit is a myth. This year alone the program is projected to collect $45 billion less in payroll taxes than it pays out in benefits according to the CBO. The program posted its first deficit last year for the first time since the 1980s and that means it will have to borrow money which would add to the deficit. Social Security Under the Limelight Amid Budget Debate The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the Social Security reserve will run out of funds by 2037. "Ultimately you just need more money coming in or less money going out " said Andrew G. Biggs former principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration and currently a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. 1 2 Next Page More from ABC News Rough Cut Lawmakers' Sacred Cows Will Tea Party Pressure Add to Stalemate Social Security Fund Will Be Drained by 2037 Social Security Fund Will Be Drained by 2037 Budget Battle Lew Sessions Have Words Social Security's Uncertainties More Video raquo Comment amp Contribute Do you have more information about this topic If so please click here to contact the editors of ABC News. 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For the ancient Greeks economic security took the form of amphorae of olive oil. Olive oil was very nutritious and could be stored for relatively long periods. To provide for themselves in times of need the Greeks stockpiled olive oil and this was their form of economic security. In medieval Europe the feudal system was the basis of economic security with the feudal lord responsible for the economic survival of the serfs working on the estate. The feudal lord had economic security as long as there was a steady supply of serfs to work the estate and the serfs had economic security only so long as they were fit enough to provide their labor. During the Middle Ages the idea of charity as a formal economic arrangement also appeared for the first time. Family members and relatives have always felt some degree of responsibility to one another and to the extent that the family had resources to draw upon this was often a source of economic security especially for the aged or infirm. And land itself was an important form of economic security for those who owned it or who lived on farms. These then are the traditional sources of economic security assets labor family and charity. The Rise of Formal Systems of Economic Security As societies grew in economic and social complexity and as isolated farms gave way to cities and villages Europe witnessed the development of formal organizations of various types that sought to protect the economic security of their members. Probably the earliest of these organizations were guilds formed during the Middle Ages by merchants or craftsmen. Individuals who had a common trade or business banded together into mutual aid societies or guilds. These guilds regulated production and employment and they also provided a range of benefits to their members including financial help in times of poverty or illness and contributions to help defray the expenses when a member died. Out of the tradition of the guilds emerged the friendly societies. These organizations began appearing in England in the 16th century. Again organized around a common trade or business the friendly societies would evolve into what we now call fraternal organizations and were the forerunners of modern trade unions. In addition to the types of economic security provided by the guilds the fraternal organizations and some trade unions would begin the practice of providing actuarially-based life insurance to their members. The friendly societies and the fraternal organizations would grow dramatically following the Industrial Revolution. By the beginning of the 19th century one of out every nine Englishmen belonged to one of these organizations. Among early U.S. fraternal organizations that we are familiar with even into the present day were the Freemasons which came to America in 1730 the Odd Fellows 1819 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks 1868 Loyal Order of Moose 1888 and the Fraternal Order of Eagles 1898 . The English quot Poor Laws quot As the state began to assume responsibility for economic security the English began the development of a series of quot Poor Laws quot adopted to provide help to the poor as the problem of economic security was seen primarily as a problem afflicting the poor. The English Poor Law of 1601 was the first systematic codification of English ideas about the responsibility of the state to provide for the welfare of its citizens. It provided for taxation to fund relief activities it distinguished between the quot deserving quot and the quot undeserving quot poor relief was local and community controlled and almshouses were eventually established to house those on relief. The law was at once both generous and harsh. Generous in that it acknowledged the government's duty to provide for the welfare of the poor but harsh in that it viewed the poor as highly undesirable characters and treated them accordingly. There were a series of changes and quot reforms quot of the quot Poor Laws quot over the years but this essential structure was the tradition the pilgrims brought with them when they journeyed to the New World. Economic Security in America When the English-speaking colonists arrived in the New World they brought with them the ideas and customs they knew in England including the quot Poor Laws. quot The first colonial poor laws were fashioned after those of the Poor Law of 1601. They featured local taxation to support the destitute they discriminated between the quot worthy quot and the quot unworthy quot poor and all relief was a local responsibility. No public institutions for the poor or standardized eligibility criteria would exist for nearly a century. It was up to local town elders to decide who was worthy of support and how that support would be provided. As colonial America grew more complex diverse and mobile the localized systems of poor relief were strained. The result was some limited movement to state financing and the creation of almshouses and poorhouses to quot contain quot the problem. For much of the 18th and 19th centuries most poverty relief was provided in the almshouses and poorhouses. Relief was made as unpleasant as possible in order to quot discourage quot dependency. Those receiving relief could lose their personal property the right to vote the right to move and in some cases were required to wear a large quot P quot on their clothing to announce their status. Support outside the institutions was called quot outdoor relief quot and was looked upon with distrust by most citizens. It was felt that quot outdoor relief quot made things too easy on the poor who should be discouraged from the habit of poverty in every way possible. Nevertheless since it was expensive to build and operate the poorhouses and since it was relatively easy to dispense cash or in-kind support some outdoor relief did emerge. Even so prevailing American attitudes toward poverty relief were always skeptical and the role of government was kept to the minimum. So much so that by as late as 1915 at most only 25% of the money spent on outdoor relief was from public funds. Old Age in Colonial America Although the need for economic security affects all ages and classes of society one particularly acute aspect of this need is the problem of old age and the possibility of retirement after a long life of labor. Retirement a feature of life we now take so much for granted was not always readily available and it was a struggle to develop adequate systems of retirement. One of the first people to propose a scheme for retirement security that is recognizable as a forerunner of modern social insurance was Revolutionary War figure Thomas Paine. His last great pamphlet published in the winter of 1795 was a controversial call for the establishment of a public system of economic security for the new nation. Entitled Agrarian Justice it called for the creation of a system whereby those inheriting property would pay a 10% inheritance tax to create a special fund out of which a one-time stipend of 15 pounds sterling would be paid to each citizen upon attaining age 21 to give them a start in life and annual benefits of 10 pounds sterling to be paid to every person age 50 and older to guard against poverty in old-age. Civil War Pensions America's First quot Social Security quot Program Although Social Security did not really arrive in America until 1935 there was one important precursor that offered something we could recognize as a social security program to one special segment of the American population. Following the Civil War there were hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans and hundreds of thousands of disabled veterans. In fact immediately following the Civil War a much higher proportion of the population was disabled or survivors of deceased breadwinners than at any time in America's history. This led to the development of a generous pension program with interesting similarities to later developments in Social Security. The first national pension program for soldiers was actually passed in early 1776 prior even to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Throughout America's ante-bellum period pensions of limited types were paid to veterans of America's various wars. But it was with the creation of Civil War pensions that a full-fledged pension system developed in America for the first time. The Civil War Pension program began shortly after the start of the War with the first legislation in 1862 providing for benefits linked to disabilities quot incurred as a direct consequence of . . .military duty. quot Widows and orphans could receive pensions equal in amount to that which would have been payable to their deceased solider if he had been disabled. In 1890 the link with service-connected disability was broken and any disabled Civil War veteran qualified for benefits. In 1906 old-age was made a sufficient qualification for benefits. So that by 1910 Civil War veterans and their survivors enjoyed a program of disability survivors and old-age benefits similar in some ways to the later Social Security programs. By 1910 over 90% of the remaining Civil War veterans were receiving benefits under this program although they constituted barely .6% of the total U.S. population of that era. Civil War pensions were also an asset that attracted young wives to elderly veterans whose pensions they could inherit as the widow of a war veteran. Indeed there were still surviving widows of Civil War veterans receiving Civil War pensions as late as 1999 In the aggregate military pensions were an important source of economic security in the early years of the nation. In 1893 for example the $165 million spent on military pensions was the largest single expenditure ever made by the federal government. In 1894 military pensions accounted for 37% of the entire federal budget. The Civil War pension system was not without its critics . But these figures based on the federal budget exaggerate the role of military pensions in providing overall economic security since the federal government's share of the economy was much smaller in earlier times. Also there were features of the system which meant that many veterans did not receive any benefits. For example former Confederate soldiers and their families were barred from receiving Civil War pensions. So in 1910 the per capita average military pension expenditure for residents of Ohio was $3.36 and for Indiana it was $3.90. By contrast the per capita average for the Southern states was less than 50 cents it was 17 cents in South Carolina . Despite the fact that America had a quot social security quot program in the form of Civil War pensions since 1862 this precedent did not extend itself to the general society. The expansion of these types of benefit programs to the general population under Social Security would have to await additional social and historical developments. The Company Pension Prior to the rise of company pension plans paternalistic companies sometimes quot graduated quot older workers to token jobs at reduced pay. A few paid some form of retirement stipend�but only if the company was so inclined since there were no rights to any kind of retirement benefit. Most older workers were simply dismissed when their productive years were behind them. One of the first formal company pension plans for industrial workers was introduced in 1882 by the Alfred Dolge Company a builder of pianos and organs. Dolge withheld 1% of each workers� pay and placed it into a pension fund to which the company added 6% interest each year. Dolge viewed providing for older workers as being a business cost like any other arguing that just as his company had to provide for the depreciation of its machinery he should also quot provide for the depreciation of his employees. quot Despite Mr. Dolge�s progressive ideas and his best intentions the plan proved largely unsuccessful since it required a worker to spend many years in continuous employment with the company and labor mobility then as now meant that relatively few workers spend their whole working career with one company. Not only was the Dolge Plan one of the first formal company pension systems in industrial America it was also one of the first to disappear when the company went out of business a few years later. The biggest problem with company-provided pensions was that the percentage of workers anticipating an employment-related pension from their company or their union was tiny. Indeed in 1900 there were a total of five companies in the United States including Dolge offering their industrial workers company-sponsored pensions. As late as 1932 only about 15% of the laborforce had any kind of potential employment-related pension. And because the pensions were often granted or withheld at the option of the employer most of these workers would never see a retirement pension. Indeed only about 5% of the elderly were in fact receiving retirement pensions in 1932. So the company pension was an option not available to most Americans during the time prior to the advent of Social Security. The March of Coxey's Army The Great Depression of the 1930s was not the only one in America's history. In fact it was the third depression of the modern era following previous economic collapses in the 1840s and again in the 1890s. During the depression of the 1890s unemployment was widespread and many Americans came to the realization that in an industrialized society the threat to economic security represented by unemployment could strike anyone even those able and willing to work. Protest movements arose the most quixotic and notable being that of quot Coxey's Army. quot Jacob Coxey was an unsuccessful Ohio politician and industrialist who in 1894 called on the unemployed from all over the country to join him in an quot army quot marching on Washington. Ten of thousands of unemployed workers started marches but by the time Coxey and his group finally made it to Washington only about 500 hard-core believers remained. Coxey himself was promptly arrested for walking on the grass of the Capitol Building and the protest fizzled out. Coxey later became an advocate of public works as a remedy for unemployment and ran for president as the Farmer-Labor party candidate in 1932 and 1936. Coxey was also an ardent proponent of the free-silver monetary policy and an opponent of the gold standard. Perhaps to demonstrate his earnestness on monetary issues he even named his son Legal Tender Coxey Although his march failed Coxey's Army was a harbinger of an issue that would rise to prominence as unemployment insurance would become a key element in the future Social Security Act. Ohio would continue to play an important role in the development of unemployment insurance as its state program was one of two looked to as models for the new federal program the other being the program in operation in Wisconsin. State Old-Age Pensions Following the outbreak of the Great Depression poverty among the elderly grew dramatically. The best estimates are that in 1934 over half of the elderly in America lacked sufficient income to be self-supporting. Despite this state welfare pensions for the elderly were practically non-existent before 1930. A spurt of pension legislation was passed in the years immediately prior to passage of the Social Security Act so that 30 states had some form of old-age pension program by 1935. However these programs were generally inadequate and ineffective. Only about 3% of the elderly were actually receiving benefits under these states plans and the average benefit amount was about 65 cents a day. There were many reasons for the low participation in state-run pension systems. Many elderly were reluctant to quot go on welfare. quot Restrictive eligibility criteria kept many poor seniors from qualifying. Some jurisdictions while having state programs on the books failed to actually implement them. Many of the state-passed pension laws provided for counties within the state to opt to participate in the pension program. As a result in 1929 of the six states with operating pension laws on the books only 53 of the 264 counties eligible to adopt a pension plan actually did so. After 1929 the States began enacting laws without county options. By 1932 seventeen states had old age pension laws although none were in the south and 87% of the money available under these laws were expended in only three states California Massachusetts and New York . America Changes Despite all of the institutional strategies adopted in early America to assure some measure of economic security huge changes would sweep through America which would in time undermine the existing institutions. Four important demographic changes happened in America beginning in the mid-1880s that rendered the traditional systems of economic security increasingly unworkable The Industrial Revolution The urbanization of America The disappearance of the quot extended quot family A marked increase in life expectancy The Industrial Revolution transformed the majority of working people from self-employed agricultural workers into wage earners working for large industrial concerns. In an agricultural society prosperity could be easily seen to be linked to one's labor and anyone willing to work could usually provide at least a bare subsistence for themselves and their family. But when economic income is primarily from wages one's economic security can be threatened by factors outside one's control such as recessions layoffs failed businesses etc. Along with the shift from an agricultural to an industrial society Americans moved from farms and small rural communities to large cities that's where the industrial jobs were. In 1890 only 28% of the population lived in cities by 1930 this percentage had exactly doubled to 56%. The year 1920 was a historical tipping-point. In that year for the first time in our nation's history more people were living in cities than on farms. This trend toward urbanization also contributed to another significant shift in American society the disappearance of the extended family and the rapid rise of the nuclear family. Today we tend to assume that quot the family quot consists of parents and children the so-called nuclear family. For most of our history we lived in quot extended families quot that included children parents grandparents and other relatives. The advantage of the extended family was that when a family member became too old or infirm to work the other family members assumed responsibility for their support. But when the able-bodied left the farms to seek employment in the cities often the parents or grandparents stayed behind. And when new immigrants first arrived in our land it was often the breadwinner who first made the passage and only later could he bring the family over. And finally another significant change happened in the early decades of this century. Thanks primarily to better health care and sanitation and the development of effective public health programs Americans began to live significantly longer. In three short decades 1900-1930 average life spans increased by 10 years. This was the most rapid increase in life spans in recorded human history. The result was a rapid growth in the number of aged persons to 7.8 million by 1935. The net result of this complex set of demographic and social changes was that America was older more urban and more industrial and fewer of its people lived on the land in extended families. The traditional strategies for the provision of economic security were becoming increasingly fragile. The Stock Market Crash amp The Great Depression When the New York Stock Exchange opened on the morning of October 24 1929 nervous traders sensed something ominous in the trading patterns. By 11 00 a.m. the market had started to plunge. Shortly after noon a group of powerful bankers met secretly at J.P. Morgan amp Co. next door to the Exchange and pledged to spend $240 million of their own funds to stabilize the market. This strategy worked for a few days but the panic broke out again the following Tuesday when the market crashed again and nothing could be done to stop it. Before three months had passed the Stock Market lost 40% of its value $26 billion of wealth disappeared. Great American corporations suffered huge financial losses. AT amp T lost one-third of its value General Electric lost half of its and RCA's stock fell by three-fourths within a matter of months. It would take 25 years for the stock market to return to its pre-crash level following the 1929 crash. As America slipped into economic depression following the Crash of 1929 unemployment exceeded 25% about 10 000 banks failed the Gross National Product declined from $105 billion in 1929 to only $55 billion in 1932. Compared to pre-Depression levels net new business investment was a minus $5.8 billion in 1932. Wages paid to workers declined from $50 billion in 1929 to only $30 billion in 1932. Radical Calls to Action The decade of the 1930s found America facing the worst economic crisis in its modern history. Millions of people were unemployed two million adult men quot hobos quot wandered aimlessly around the country banks and businesses failed and the majority of the elderly in America lived in dependency. These circumstances led to many calls for change. This classic photo of a Depression-era family captured the anguish of the times. Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration-1936. Every Man a King Huey Long was Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1930. A nominal Democrat Huey Long was a radical populist. He wanted the government to confiscate the wealth of the nation's rich and privileged. He called his program Share Our Wealth. It called upon the federal government to guarantee every family in the nation an annual income of $5 000 so they could have the necessities of life including a home a job a radio and an automobile. He also proposed limiting private fortunes to $50 million legacies to $5 million and annual incomes to $1 million. Everyone over age 60 would receive an old-age pension. His slogan was quot Every Man A King. quot The Share Our Wealth program immediately became a movement. Clubs were formed in every state in the nation. By 1935 the movement claimed 27 000 local clubs with 7.7 million members. The Townsend Movement Francis E. Townsend was a lean bespectacled doctor from Long Beach California. In 1933 he found himself unemployed at age 66 with no savings and no prospects. This experience galvanized him to become the self-proclaimed champion of the cause of the elderly. He devised a plan known as the Townsend Old Age Revolving Pension Plan or Townsend Plan for short. The basic idea of the Townsend Plan was that the government would provide a pension of $200 per month to every citizen age 60 and older. The pensions would be funded by a 2% national sales tax. There were three eligibility requirements the person had to be retired quot their past life is free from habitual criminality quot the money had to be spent within the U.S. by the pensioner within 30 days of receipt. Dr. Townsend published his plan in a local Long Beach newspaper in early 1933 and within about two years there were 7 000 Townsend Clubs around the country with more than 2.2 million members actively working to make the Townsend Plan the nation's old-age pension system. Following the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 most of these alternative pension schemes disappeared as quickly as they had arisen. The Townsend Plan however hung around at least until the passage of the 1950 Amendments to the Social Security program which made benefits much more generous and finally took the last of the steam out of the Townsend movement. But as late as November 1949 in the House of Representatives 179 members signed a discharge petition to force a floor vote on the Townsend Plan barely 39 members short of the number needed to force the House to consider the final version of the Townsend Plan as a replacement for the Social Security system. Fire amp Brimstone Another influence on Depression-era public policy was the Union for Social Justice movement led by a radio preacher by the name of Father Charles E. Coughlin . Father Coughlin had a weekly radio program with 35-40 million listeners which he used to mix a little religion with a lot of politics. His enemies in addition to the devil himself were Roosevelt international bankers communists and labor unions and he was not shy in describing them in interchangeable terms. At the height of his popularity Father Coughlin had a greater share of the weekly broadcast audience than Howard Stern Rush Limbaugh Paul Harvey and Larry King combined. Although Father Coughlin's main effort was to pillory his enemies he did have a broad program of social reforms that included a deliberate inflation of the currency and the nationalization of all banks. He was also an anti-Semite and isolationist whose views were so extreme that the Catholic Church finally censured him and forced him to cease his political activities. In 1936 Coughlin along with Townsend and the remnants of Huey Long's Share the Wealth Movement would join to form a third party to contest the presidential election in the hopes of preventing President Roosevelt from being re-elected. A Writer amp his EPIC Upton Sinclair was a famous novelist and social crusader from California and an avowed Socialist who in 1933 was asked by a dissident group of Los Angeles Democrats to help them draft a platform proposal for dealing with the state's economic problems. They were so impressed by Sinclair's plan which he christened the End Poverty in California or EPIC plan that they persuaded him to change his registration to Democratic and to run for the party's nomination for governor in 1934. Sinclair's EPIC scheme was a 12-point program to remake the Californian economy. It involved the issuance of scrip currency the creation of large state-run bartering enterprises a tax on idle land and floating a large state bond for $300 million. Point 10 of the plan was a proposal to give pensions of $50 a month to all needy persons over 60 who had lived in California for at least three years. There was a state pension plan in operation in California at the time but its benefits were very low and the eligibility requirements were so severe that most elderly Californians could not qualify. This was true of many of the state pension programs around the country. Sinclair's pension proposal was very popular because in one fell swoop it reduced the minimum age for pensions by 10 years almost doubled their value and eliminated restrictive eligibility requirements. Sinclair's EPIC program and especially its pension proposal had a great appeal in Depression-weary California. Sinclair and his supporters organized EPIC clubs published newsletters formed ad hoc organizations and found a large chorus of supporters with unlimited enthusiasm for his ideas. In short order Upton Sinclair's EPIC movement captured the Democratic party and Sinclair became the Democratic nominee for governor in the election of 1934. The party's platform became the EPIC program including the pension plan. When the votes were counted Upton Sinclair got 37% of the vote the Republican candidate got 48% and a third-party progressive candidate took another 13%. Had it been a two-man race Upton Sinclair might have become Governor of California and the EPIC pension plan might well have become the California model. Ham amp Eggs During the 1930s California was a virtual hot-house for new pension schemes and one of the most creative and dubious of the pension schemes of the 1930s went by the unlikely moniker of quot Ham amp Eggs. quot Ham amp Eggs was the brainstorm of a self-promoting huckster in-aptly named Robert Noble. The scheme was based on a call for the state government to issue special currency called quot scrip quot that would be paid each week to every unemployed Californian age 50 and older. Questions about the validity of the economics did not dampen the enthusiasm of the movement's supporters nor even did the numerous scandals financial and otherwise involving the movement's leaders. The eventual form of the plan called for the state to issue quot $30 every Thursday quot which became the rallying cry of the movement. The simplicity of the movement was expressed in a bit of doggerel from the organization's newsletter the National Ham and Eggs quot Let's stay away from politics Regardless of who hollers Let's not be fooled by childish tricks LET'S GET OUR THIRTY DOLLARS quot The Ham amp Eggs movement had more than 300 000 members and many more supporters. In 1938 the successful Democratic candidate for governor Culbert Olsen openly supported the plan and a proposition was placed on the ballot to adopt the Ham amp Eggs plan as California state policy. The proposition was narrowly defeated by a vote of 1 143 670 in favor to 1 398 999 against. The Ham amp Eggs movement was based on dubious economics it was founded and run by a succession of characters of questionable integrity it suffered from internecine rivalries and frequent scandals and yet at the peak of its influence in 1938 more than a million Californians including the state's Governor believed that it was the solution to the problem of income security for the aged. That such a poor candidate for a public policy would be so widely embraced is strong evidence of how hungry the public was for action to address the problem of income security for the elderly. Bigelow Plan In Ohio Reverend Herbert S. Bigelow initiated a proposed State amendment to guarantee an income of $50 a month $80 for married couples living together to those over sixty years of age who were without gainful employment. This particular plan was to be financed partly out of an increased tax on real estate 2% hike on land valued at more than $20 000 an acre and partly out of an income tax equal to one-fourth the federal income tax paid by individuals and corporations. The Bigelow pension plan garnered nearly half a million voters before it was defeated. As some experts of the time calculated the plan would cost more than the existing state budget for two years. General Welfare Federation of America A woman in South Carolina scrawls a note to a man in Washington whom she addresses as quot Dear Mr. President. quot quot I'm 72 years old and have no one to take care of me. quot Another letter comes to the White House from Virginia. quot I'm a 60 year-old widow greatly in need of medical aid food and fuel I pray that you would have pity on me. quot Letters such as these came by the thousands from old folks across the country to the President to Mrs. Roosevelt to almost every one in Washington whose name was familiar to them. Typical Letter to President Roosevelt Appealing for Old-Age Pensions It isn't any wonder then why the elderly looked to the various organizations that sprang up around the country offering salvation in some form of an old-age pension plan. One such organization was the General Welfare Federation of America. Headquartered in Washington DC and founded by Arthur L. Johnson who denounced the newly established Social Security Act as a quot great American fraud. quot He was just as severe in attacking other organizations such as the Townsend Ham-and-Eggs and Bigelow plans as quot crackpot quot pension schemes. Mr. Johnson's plan like most of the others wiped out the elaborate system of employment records kept under the present Social Security Act. Instead it provided for a pension to every citizen on or after reaching the age of 60 with the simple stipulation that they not engage in gainful employment that they spend their pension for American goods and services and that they not maintain able-bodied male dependents between the ages of 30 and 60. The pension would be fixed at not less than $30 a month and not more than $60 a month. The actual amount would be determined by dividing the total funds available by the total number of annuitants. The funds would be derived from a gross income tax of 2 percent on individuals and corporations with exceptions to protect charitable religious cooperative and similar organizations. The proponents of the this plan did manage did get it introduced in the House of Representatives however the bill died in committee in 1939 before ever reaching a House vote. Technocracy Out of America's fascination with technology came another eccentric quot reform quot movement known as Technocracy. Founded in 1918 by a California patent attorney it would briefly flare as a serious intellectual movement centered around Columbia University although as a mass-movement its real center was California where it claimed half a million members in 1934. Technocracy counted among its admirers such men as the novelist H.G. Wells the author Theodore Dreiser and the economist Thorstein Veblen. Technocracy held that all politics and all economic arrangements based on the quot Price System quot i.e. based on traditional economic theory were antiquated and that the only hope of building a successful modern world was to let engineers and other technology experts run the country on engineering principles. Technocracy's rallying cry was quot production for use quot which was meant as a contrast to production for profit in the capitalist system. Production for use became a slogan for many of the radical-left movements of the era. Upton Sinclair among others affirmed his belief in quot production for use quot and the Technocrats briefly made common cause with Sinclair and even Huey Long in California. But the Technocrats were not of the political left as they held every political and economic system from the left to the right to be unsound. The Technocrats believed that the solution to all problems of economic security were the same the rigorous application of engineering principles in a system freed from the Price System. They conceived of retirement as being made possible at age 45 for everyone due to the vast prosperity the new age of Technocracy would usher in. Rejecting all forms of traditional political science the Technocrats refused to even use standard geographical maps because their boundaries were political so they would refer to states only by their geographical coordinates. Names too were suspect for some reason so members of the movement in California were designated only by numbers. A speaker at one California rally was introduced only as 1x1809x56 Oddly enough alone among this collection of radical movements of the 1930s the Technocracy movement survives if not quite thrives into the present day. Sign on outskirts of Depression-era town proclaims regular Monday meeting of the local branch of Technocracy. Note the use of the ancient Chinese Yin/Yang symbol as a Technocracy emblem. Library of Congress photo. The classic 1941 Frank Capra film quot Meet John Doe quot staring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck depicts this period of quixotic mass movements through the story of a fictional quot John Doe quot who represents an amalgam of many of the ideas of these various movements. The Establishment Response If America was to avoid the siren songs of the quot radical calls to action quot responsible political leaders would need to offer some persuasive alternatives. As the Depression grew three general approaches emerged do nothing rely on voluntary charity and expand welfare benefits for those hardest hit by the Depression. The Do Nothing Response It seemed to many politicians and leading public figures that the Depression was just another dip in the economic cycle and that it would right itself soon enough. These voices counseled a restrained response or no response at all. In the early aftermath of the stock market crash such views were especially common. This view that nothing very much was wrong and nothing very much needed to be done began to fade quickly as the Depression deepened. Even so it held considerable sway in the early years after The Crash. President Hoover's quot Volunteerism quot President Hoover had a distinguished career before becoming president. He made a name for himself in international relief efforts before and after World War I. He helped feed millions of starving people through the efforts of voluntary partnerships of government business and private giving. He knew this kind of quot volunteerism quot worked on a massive scale and he saw no reason why it should not work to solve the problems of the Depression. So although he engaged in some limited federal relief efforts his main response to the Depression was to advocate voluntary efforts which never materialized. The main problem with this strategy was that America was able to help rebuild Europe in the aftermath of World War I because America's economy was basically sound. In the Depression the total wealth of the nation was cut in half during the first three years after The Crash. This made voluntary charity a difficult ideal to achieve. President Hoover's candid assessment of the Depression Expand Welfare Even before the Depression hit the States had been forced to deal with the problems of economic security in a wage-based industrial economy. Workers Compensation programs were established at the state level before Social Security and there were state welfare programs for the elderly in place before Social Security. Prior to Social Security the main strategy for providing economic security to the elderly in the face of the demographic changes discussed above was to provide various forms of old-age quot pensions. quot These were welfare programs eligibility for which was based on proof of financial need. By 1934 most states had such quot pension quot plans. Even at the state level however these plans were inadequate. Some had restrictive eligibility criteria which resulted in many of the elderly being unable to qualify. The most generous plan paid a maximum of $1 per day. In the Congress the consensus of conventional wisdom was for more old-age assistance like that available in the states. The quot New quot Alternative With the coming to office of President Roosevelt in 1932 and the introduction of his economic security proposal based on social insurance rather than welfare assistance the debate changed. It was no longer a choice between radical changes and old approaches that no longer seemed to work. The quot new quot idea of social insurance which was already widespread in Europe would become an innovative alternative. Social insurance as conceived by President Roosevelt would address the permanent problem of economic security for the elderly by creating a work-related contributory system in which workers would provide for their own future economic security through taxes paid while employed. Thus it was an alternative both to reliance on welfare and to radical changes in our capitalist system. In the context of its time it can be seen as a moderately conservative yet activist response to the challenges of the Depression. The Social Insurance Movement Bismarck The Social Security program that would eventually be adopted in late 1935 relied for its core principles on the concept of quot social insurance. quot Social insurance was a respectable and serious intellectual tradition that began in Europe in the 19th century and was an expression of a European social welfare tradition. It was first adopted in Germany in 1889 at the urging of the famous Chancellor Otto von Bismarck . Indeed by the time America adopted social insurance in 1935 there were 34 nations already operating some form of social insurance program about 20 of these were contributory programs like Social Security . Philosophically social insurance emphasized government-sponsored efforts to provide for the economic security of its citizens. The tradition of social insurance would come to be seen as the reasonable practical alternative to the radical calls to action represented by Townsend Long Sinclair and the others. Although the definition of social insurance can vary considerably in its particulars its basic features are the insurance principle under which a group of persons are quot insured quot in some way against a defined risk and a social element which usually means that the program is shaped in part by broader social objectives rather than being shaped solely by the self-interest of the individual participants. Social insurance coverage can be provided for a number of different types of insured conditions from disability and death to old-age or unemployment. We may find it obvious to think of death disability or unemployment as conditions causing loss of income and which can be ameliorated by pooling of risk. It is at first a little odd to think of old-age or retirement in these same terms. But that is precisely how the early social insurance theorists conceived of retirement as producing a loss of income due to cessation of work activity. One of the first American books on social insurance was by a Columbia University economics professor named Henry Seager. Seager explained the principle of old-age security based on social insurance in his 1910 book quot Social Insurance A Program of Social Reform quot quot As changing economic conditions are rendering the dependence of old people on their descendants for support increasingly precarious so on the other hand new obstacles are arising to providing for old age through voluntary saving. . . The proper method of safeguarding old age is clearly through some plan of insurance. . . for every wage earner to attempt to save enough by himself to provide for his old age is needlessly costly. The intelligent course is for him to combine with other wage earners to accumulate a common fund out of which old-age annuities may be paid to those who live long enough to need it. quot One of the earliest American advocates of a plan that could be recognized as modern social insurance was Theodore Roosevelt . In 1912 Roosevelt addressed the convention of the Progressive Party and made a strong statement on behalf of social insurance quot We must protect the crushable elements at the base of our present industrial structure...it is abnormal for any industry to throw back upon the community the human wreckage due to its wear and tear and the hazards of sickness accident invalidism involuntary unemployment and old age should be provided for through insurance. quot TR would succeed in having a plank adopted in the Progressive Party platform that stated quot We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in state and nation for . . .The protection of home life against the hazards of sickness irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use. quot The Threshold of Change So as 1934 dawned the nation was deep in the throes of the Depression. Confidence in the old institutions was shaken. Social changes that started with the Industrial Revolution had long ago passed the point of no return. The traditional sources of economic security assets labor family and charity had all failed in one degree or another. Radical proposals for action were springing like weeds from the soil of the nation's discontent. President Franklin Roosevelt would choose the social insurance approach as the quot cornerstone quot of his attempts to deal with the problem of economic security. The Social Security Act Passage and Development The Committee on Economic Security CES On June 8 1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a message to the Congress announced his intention to provide a program for Social Security. Subsequently the President created by Executive Order the Committee on Economic Security which was composed of five top cabinet-level officials . The committee was instructed to study the entire problem of economic insecurity and to make recommendations that would serve as the basis for legislative consideration by the Congress. The CES assembled a small staff of experts borrowed from other federal agencies and immediately set to work. In November 1934 the CES sponsored the first-ever national town-hall forum on Social Security . The CES did a comprehensive study of the whole issue of economic security in America along with an analysis of the European experience with these perennial problems. Their full report was the first comprehensive attempt at this kind of analysis in many decades and it stood as a landmark study for many years. In slightly more than six months the CES developed a Report to the Congress and drafted a detailed legislative proposal. quot Security was attained in the earlier days through the interdependence of members of families upon each other and of the families within a small community upon each other. The complexities of great communities and of organized industry make less real these simple means of security. Therefore we are compelled to employ the active interest of the Nation as a whole through government in order to encourage a greater security for each individual who composes it . . . This seeking for a greater measure of welfare and happiness does not indicate a change in values. It is rather a return to values lost in the course of our economic development and expansion . . . quot Franklin D. Roosevelt Message of the President to Congress June 8 1934. The Social Security Act In early January 1935 the CES made its report to the President and on January 17 the President introduced the report to both Houses of Congress for simultaneous consideration. Hearings were held in the House Ways amp Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee during January and February. Some provisions made it through the Committees in close votes but the bill passed both houses overwhelmingly in the floor votes. After a Conference which lasted throughout July the bill was finally passed and sent to President Roosevelt for his signature. The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 14 1935 . In addition to several provisions for general welfare the new Act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement. Full Text of President Roosevelt's Statement At Bill Signing Ceremony. quot We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life but we have tried to frame a law which will 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. quot President Roosevelt upon signing Social Security Act Major Provisions Of The Act The Social Security Act did not quite achieve all the aspirations its supporters had hoped by way of providing a quot comprehensive package of protection quot against the quot hazards and vicissitudes of life. quot Certain features of that package notably disability coverage and medical benefits would have to await future developments. But it did provide a wide range of programs to meet the nation's needs. In addition to the program we know think of as Social Security it included unemployment insurance old-age assistance aid to dependent children and grants to the states to provide various forms of medical care . Full text of 1935 Act The two major provisions relating to the elderly were Title I- Grants to States for Old-Age Assistance which supported state welfare programs for the aged and Title II-Federal Old-Age Benefits. It was Title II that was the new social insurance program we now think of as Social Security. In the original Act benefits were to be paid only to the primary worker when he/she retired at age 65. Benefits were to be based on payroll tax contributions that the worker made during his/her working life. Taxes would first be collected in 1937 and monthly benefits would begin in 1942. Under amendments passed in 1939 payments were advanced to 1940. The significance of the new social insurance program was that it sought to address the long-range problem of economic security for the aged through a contributory system in which the workers themselves contributed to their own future retirement benefit by making regular payments into a joint fund. It was thus distinct from the welfare benefits provided under Title I of the Act and from the various state quot old-age pensions. quot As President Roosevelt conceived of the Act Title I was to be a temporary quot relief quot program that would eventually disappear as more people were able to obtain retirement income through the contributory system. The new social insurance system was also a very moderate alternative to the radical calls to action that were so common in the America of the 1930s. The Social Security Board Another provision of the Act established a Social Security Board SSB comprised of three members appointed by the President with the chairman reporting directly to the President. The original members were John G. Winant Chairman Arthur J. Altmeyer and Vincent M. Miles. Winant was a former three-time Republican Governor of New Hampshire Miles was a Democratic Party official in Arkansas and Altmeyer was a civil servant working in Labor Department. During the first year SSB was faced with the tasks of providing employers employees and the public with information on how earnings were to be reported what benefits were available and how they were to be provided. In addition sites for field installations had to be chosen and personnel to staff these offices had to be selected and trained. First meeting of the Social Security Board September 14 1935. Left to right Arthur J. Altmeyer John G. Winant Chairman and Vincent M. Miles. Operation of the new program was hampered for several months when the budget bill for the Act was killed by a Senate filibuster at the end of August 1935 . The new Social Security Board had to borrow money from other federal agencies to operate until January 1936 when the Congress reconvened and passed an appropriation to fund the programs and operations under the Social Security Act. The Social Security Board begin as an independent agency of the federal government. In 1939 it became part of the cabinet-level Federal Security Agency and in 1946 the SSB was abolished and replaced by the current Social Security Administration . Early Work- Social Security Numbers The monumental first task was the need to register employers and workers by January 1 1937 when workers would begin acquiring credits toward old-age insurance benefits. Since the new Social Security Board did not have the resources available to accomplish this they contracted with the Post Office Department to distribute the applications . The first application forms were distributed in late November 1936. The numbers were assigned in the local post offices. There is no record of who received the first Social Security number SSN . John David Sweeney Jr. The post offices collected the completed forms and turned them over to Social Security field offices located near major post office centers. The applications then were forwarded to Baltimore Maryland where SSNs were registered and various employment records established. The first SSN account number record established in Baltimore was assigned to John David Sweeney Jr. of New Rochelle New York . Although John Sweeney received the first SSN account his was not the lowest number ever issued. That distinction fell to New Hampshire resident Grace Dorothy Owen . Ms. Owen received number 001-01-0001. The process of issuing Social Security numbers is called quot enumeration quot and over the years it has been one of the most interesting topics involving Social Security. Over 30 million SSN cards were issued through this early procedure with the help of the post offices. By June 30 1937 the SSB had established 151 field offices with the first office opening on October 14 1936 in Austin Texas . From that point on the Board's local office took over the task of assigning SSNs. Trust Funds After Social Security numbers were assigned the first Federal Insurance Contributions Act FICA taxes were collected beginning in January 1937. Special Trust Funds were created for these dedicated revenues. Benefits were then paid from the money in the Social Security Trust Funds. Over the years more than $8.7 trillion has been paid into the Trust Funds and more than $7.4 trillion has been paid out in benefits. The remainder is currently on reserve in the Trust Funds and will be used to pay future benefits. First Payments From 1937 until 1940 Social Security paid benefits in the form of a single lump-sum payment. The purpose of these one-time payments was to provide some quot payback quot to those people who contributed to the program but would not participate long enough to be vested for monthly benefits. Under the 1935 law monthly benefits were to begin in 1942 with the period 1937-1942 used both to build up the Trust Funds and to provide a minimum period for participation in order to qualify for monthly benefits. The earliest reported applicant for a lump-sum benefit was a retired Cleveland motorman named Ernest Ackerman who retired one day after the Social Security program began. During his one day of participation in the program a nickel was withheld from Mr. Ackerman's pay for Social Security and upon retiring he received a lump-sum payment of 17 cents. The average lump-sum payment during this period was $58.06. The smallest payment ever made was for 5 cents Ernest Ackerman quot Long before the economic blight of the depression descended on the Nation millions of our people were living in wastelands of want and fear. Men and women too old and infirm to work either depended on those who had but little to share or spent their remaining years within the walls of a poorhouse . . .The Social Security Act offers to all our citizens a workable and working method of meeting urgent present needs and of forestalling future need . . . One word of warning however. In our efforts to provide security for all of the American people let us not allow ourselves to be misled by those who advocate short cuts to Utopia or fantastic financial schemes. We have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go. There is still today a frontier that remains unconquered an America unclaimed. This is the great the nationwide frontier of insecurity of human want and fear. This is the frontier the America we have set ourselves to reclaim. quot President Franklin Roosevelt August 14 1938 Radio address on the third anniversary of the Social Security Act 1939 Amendments quot It is impossible under any social insurance system to provide ideal security for every individual. The practical objective is to pay benefits that provide a minimum degree of social security�as a basis upon which the worker through his own efforts will have a better chance to provide adequately for his individual security. quot From the Report of the Social Security Board recommending the changes which were embodied in the 1939 Amendments. The original Act provided only retirement benefits and only to the worker. The 1939 Amendments made a fundamental change in the Social Security program. The Amendments added two new categories of benefits payments to the spouse and minor children of a retired worker so-called dependents benefits and survivors benefits paid to the family in the event of the premature death of a covered worker. This change transformed Social Security from a retirement program for workers into a family-based economic security program. The 1939 Amendments also increased benefit amounts and accelerated the start of monthly benefit payments to 1940. Monthly Benefits In 1950 all Social Security beneficiaries received a general quot cost-of-living quot increase for the first time since benefits began in 1940. Ida May Fuller is seen here receiving her first increased benefit check on October 3 1950. Payment of monthly Social Security benefits began in January 1940 and were authorized not only for aged retired workers but for their aged wives or widows children under age 18 and surviving aged parents. On January 31 1940 the first monthly retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow Vermont in the amount of $22.54. Miss Fuller a Legal Secretary retired in November 1939. She started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65 and lived to be 100 years old dying in 1975. Examining the first batch of checks Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22 888.92 in Social Security benefits. The Atlantic Charter In mid-August 1941 Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met secretly aboard a warship off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic . On the sixth anniversary of the Social Security Act they announced a joint-declaration known as the Atlantic Charter. The 383-word Charter was an expression of quot certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world. quot This brief charter would be the founding document of the United Nations and among its eight principles was a call for social insurance. Former Social Security Board Chairman John Winant was then serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. Although Winant did not attend the Conference the social insurance provision was a suggestion he made from London which was instantly accepted by Churchill and FDR. Although social insurance began in Germany in the 19th century in the years following World War II the United States was the leading model for nations around the world who were interested in designing Social Security systems. This movement toward the internationalization of Social Security can be symbolically fixed with the issuance of the Atlantic Charter in 1941. 1950 Amendments From 1940 until 1950 virtually no changes were made in the Social Security program. Payment amounts were fixed and no major legislation was enacted. There was a significant administrative change in 1946 however when the three-person Social Security Board was abolished and replaced by the Social Security Administration headed by a single Commissioner . Because the program was still in its infancy and because it was financed by low levels of payroll taxation the absolute value of Social Security's retirement benefits were very low. In fact until 1951 the average value of the welfare benefits received under the old-age assistance provisions of the Act were higher than the retirement benefits received under Social Security. And there were more elderly Americans receiving old-age assistance than were receiving Social Security. Because of these shortcomings in the program in 1950 major amendments were enacted . These amendments increased benefits for existing beneficiaries for the first time see The Story of COLAs and they dramatically increased the value of the program to future beneficiaries. By February 1951 there were more Social Security retirees than welfare pensioners and by August of that year the average Social Security retirement benefit exceeded the average old-age assistance grant for the first time. The Story of COLAs Most people are aware that there are annual increases in Social Security benefits to offset the corrosive effects of inflation on fixed incomes. These increases now known as Cost of Living Allowances COLAs are such an accepted feature of the program that it is difficult to imagine a time when there were no COLAs. But in fact when Ida May Fuller received her first $22.54 benefit payment in January of 1940 this would be the same amount she would receive each month for the next 10 years. For Ida May Fuller and the millions of other Social Security beneficiaries like her the amount of that first benefit check was the amount they could expect to receive for life. It was not until the 1950 Amendments that Congress first legislated an increase in benefits. Current beneficiaries had their payments recomputed and Ida May Fuller for example saw her monthly check increase from $22.54 to $41.30. These recomputations were effective for September 1950 and appeared for the first time in the October 1950 checks. A second increase was legislated for September 1952. Together these two increases almost doubled the value of Social Security benefits for existing beneficiaries. From that point on benefits were increased only when Congress enacted special legislation for that purpose. In 1972 legislation the law was changed to provide beginning in 1975 for automatic annual cost-of-living allowances i.e. COLAs based on the annual increase in consumer prices. No longer do beneficiaries have to await a special act of Congress to receive a benefit increase and no longer does inflation drain value from Social Security benefits. Social Security Benefit Increases 1950-2005 EFFECTIVE DATE PERCENT INCREASE 9/50 9/52 9/54 1/59 77.0 12.5 13.0 7.0 1/65 2/68 7.0 13.0 1/70 1/71 9/72 3/74* 6/74 6/75 6/76 6/77 6/78 6/79 15.0 10.0 20.0 7.0* 11.0 8.0 6.4 5.9 6.5 9.9 6/80 6/81 6/82 12/83 12/84 12/85 12/86 12/87 12/88 12/89 14.3 11.2 7.4 3.5 3.5 3.1 1.3 4.2 4.0 4.7 12/90 12/91 12/92 12/93 12/94 12/95 12/96 12/97 12/98 12/99 12/00 12/01 12/02 12/03 12/04 12/05 12/06 12/07 12/08 12/09 12/10 5.4 3.7 3.0 2.6 2.8 2.6 2.9 2.1 1.3 2.5** 3.5 2.6 1.4 2.1 2.7 4.1 3.3 2.3 5.8 None None * The increase in 3/74 was a special limited-duration increase. It was effective for only 3/74-5/74. In June 1974 all payment levels reverted to their 2/74 level and the 11% increase was permanently applied on this base. ** The COLA for December 1999 was originally determined as 2.4 percent based on CPIs published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pursuant to Public Law 106-554 however this COLA is effectively now 2.5 percent. Disability The Social Security Amendments of 1954 initiated a disability insurance program which provided the public with additional coverage against economic insecurity. At first there was a disability quot freeze quot here being signed by President Eisenhower of a worker's Social Security record during the years when they were unable to work. First application for disability freeze being filed . While this measure offered no cash benefits it did prevent such periods of disability from reducing or wiping out retirement and survivor benefits. On August 1 1956 the Social Security Act was amended to provide benefits to disabled workers aged 50-64 and disabled adult children. In September 1960 President Eisenhower signed a law amending the disability rules to permit payment of benefits to disabled workers of any age and to their dependents. By 1960 559 000 people were receiving disability benefits with the average benefit amount being around $80 per month. Medicare amp Other Changes The decade of the 1960s brought major changes to the Social Security program. Under the Amendments of 1961 the age at which men are first eligible for old-age insurance was lowered to 62 with benefits actuarially reduced women previously were given this option in 1956 . This created an additional workload for the Agency as more beneficiaries entered the rolls. The number of people receiving disability benefits more than doubled from 1961 to 1969 increasing from 742 000 to 1.7 million. The most significant administrative change involved the signing of the Medicare bill on July 30 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson In the presence of former President Truman who received the first Medicare card at the ceremony Lady Bird Johnson Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and Mrs. Truman. With the signing of this bill SSA became responsible for administering a new social insurance program that extended health coverage to almost all Americans aged 65 or older . Nearly 20 million beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare in the first 3 years of the program. President Johnson Regarding Medicare quot Thirty years ago the American people made a basic decision that the later years of life should not be years of despondency and drift. The result was enactment of our Social Security program. . . . Since World War II there has been increasing awareness of the fact that the full value of Social Security would not be realized unless provision were made to deal with the problem of costs of illnesses among our older citizens. . . . Compassion and reason dictate that this logical extension of our proven Social Security system will supply the prudent feasible and dignified way to free the aged from the fear of financial hardship in the event of illness. quot -January 7 1965 SSI In the 1970s SSA became responsible for a new program Supplemental Security Income SSI . In the original 1935 Social Security Act programs were introduced for needy aged and blind individuals and in 1950 needy disabled individuals were added. These three programs were known as the quot adult categories quot and were administered by State and local governments with partial Federal funding. Over the years the State programs became more complex and inconsistent with as many as 1 350 administrative agencies involved and payments varying more than 300% from State to State. In 1969 President Nixon identified a need to reform these and related welfare programs to quot bring reason order and purpose into a tangle of overlapping programs. quot In 1971 Secretary of Health Education and Welfare Elliot Richardson proposed that SSA assume responsibility for the quot adult categories. quot In the Social Security Amendments of 1972 Congress federalized the quot adult categories quot by creating the SSI program and assigned responsibility for it to SSA. SSA was chosen to administer the new program because of its reputation for successful administration of the existing social insurance programs. SSA's nationwide network of field offices and large-scale data processing and record-keeping operations also made it the logical choice to perform the major task of converting over 3 million people from State welfare programs to SSI. The 1972 amp 1977 Amendments In 1972 two important sets of amendments were enacted. These amendments created the SSI program and introduced automatic Cost-of-Living-Adjustments COLAs . The bill creating the SSI program also contained important provisions for increasing Social Security benefits for certain categories of beneficiaries primarily aged widows and widowers . It also provided a minimum retirement benefit an adjustment to the benefit formula governing early retirement at age 62 for men in order to make it consistent with that for women extension of Medicare to those who have received disability benefits for at least two years and to those with Chronic Renal Disease liberalized the Retirement Test and provided for Delayed Retirement Credits to increase the benefits of those who delayed retirement past age 65. The separate bill creating automatic COLAs also provided for automatic increases in the earnings subject to Social Security taxes and an automatic adjustment in the wage-base used in calculating benefits. This second adjustment was put in the law as a sort of companion to the COLA. The COLA adjusts for increases in prices whereas the wage-base adjustment corrects for increases in wages . The purpose of the COLA was to maintain the purchasing power of benefits already awarded. The purpose of the automatic adjustment in the wage base was to maintain the relative value of Social Security benefits for future applicants. Unfortunately the procedure for adjusting for price and wage increases contained a flaw which resulted in future benefit levels soaring out of control. Indeed it became apparent that if the trends of the mid-1970s continued future Social Security beneficiaries could end up receiving more in their monthly retirement benefit than their gross salaries while working. This problem was corrected in the 1977 Amendments. However the correction led to the appearance of what came to be known informally as quot The Notch . quot The Notch spawned a political protest movement of aggrieved quot Notch Babies quot who believe they have been the victims of unfair treatment. The main purpose of the 1977 Amendments was to address the financing of the program. Shortly after passage of the 1972 legislation it became apparent that Social Security faced a funding shortfall both in the short-term and in the long-term. The short-term problem was caused by the bad economy and the long-term problem by the demographics associated with the baby boom. By their 1975 report the Trustees said the Trust Funds would be exhausted by 1979. This financing shortfall was addressed by the 1977 Social Security Amendments. These amendments raised the payroll tax slightly from 6.45% to the current 7.65% increased the wage base reduced benefits slightly and quot decoupled quot the wage adjustment from the COLA adjustment. These fixes restored the long-term balance of the program for the next 50 years but not the full 75 years used by the actuaries . It was hoped the amendments would prevent an expected short-term financing problem in the early 1980s. This hope would prove elusive as the major amendments in 1983 would be needed to avoid the short-term problem and to address the remaining long-range program deficit. Disability In The 1980s The Social Security Amendments of 1980 made many changes in the disability program. Most of these changes focused on various work incentive provisions for both Social Security and SSI disability benefits. The 1980 Amendments also required SSA to conduct periodic reviews of current disability beneficiaries to certify their continuing eligibility. This was to become a massive workload for SSA and one that was highly controversial. By 1983 the reviews had been halted and in 1984 Congress passed the Disability Benefits Reform Act modifying several aspects of the disability program. The 1983 Amendments In the early 1980s the Social Security program faced a serious short-term financing crisis. President Reagan appointed a blue-ribbon panel known as the Greenspan Commission to study the financing issues and make recommendations for legislative changes. The final bill signed into law in 1983 made numerous changes in the Social Security and Medicare programs including the taxation of Social Security benefits the first coverage of Federal employees under Social Security and an increase in the retirement age in the next century. Summary of the provisions of the '83 Amendments Program Growth From its modest beginnings Social Security has grown to become an essential facet of modern life. One in seven Americans receives a Social Security benefit and more than 90 percent of all workers are in jobs covered by Social Security. From 1940 when slightly more than 222 000 people received monthly Social Security benefits until today when over 50 million people receive such benefits Social Security has grown steadily. The SSI program has grown as well from its inception in 1974. Social Security SSI Year Beneficiaries Dollars b Year Beneficiaries c Dollars d 1937 53 236 a $1 278 000 1974 3 996 064 $5 096 813 000 1938 213 670 a $10 478 000 1975 4 314 275 $5 716 072 000 1939 174 839 a $13 896 000 1980 4 142 017 $7 714 640 000 1940 222 488 $35 000 000 1985 4 138 021 $10 749 938 000 1950 3 477 243 $961 000 000 1990 4 817 127 $16 132 959 000 1960 14 844 589 $11 245 000 000 1991 5 118 470 $17 95 639 000 1970 26 228 629 $31 863 000 000 1992 5 566 189 $21 682 410 000 1980 35 584 955 $120 511 000 000 1993 5 984 330 $23 991 153 000 1990 39 832 125 $247 796 000 000 1994 6 295 786 $25 291 087 000 1995 43 387 259 $332 553 000 000 1995 6 514 134 $27 037 280 000 1996 43 736 836 $347 088 000 000 1996 6 613 718 $28 252 474 000 1997 43 971 086 $361 970 000 000 1997 6 494 985 $28 370 568 000 1998 44 245 731 $374 990 000 000 1998 6 566 069 $29 408 208 000 1999 44 595 624 $385 768 000 000 1999 6 556 634 $30 106 132 000 2000 45 414 794 $407 644 000 000 2000 6 601 686 $30 671 699 000 2001 45 877 506 $431 949 000 000 2001 6 688 489 $32 165 856 000 2002 46 444 317 $453 746 000 000 2002 6 787 857 $33 718 999 000 2003 47 038 486 $470 778 000 000 2003 6 902 364 $34 693 278 000 2004 47 687 693 $493 263 000 000 2004 6 987 845 $36 065 358 000 2005 48 434 436 $520 748 000 000 2005 7 113 879 $37 235 000 000 2006 49 122 624 $546 238 000 000 2006 7 235 583 $38 889 000 000 2007 49 864 838 $584 939 000 000 2007 7 359 525 $41 205 000 000 2008 50 898 244 $615 344 000 000 2008 7 520 501 $43 040 000 000 a. Recipients of one-time lump-sum payments. b. Benefit payments only . c. Recipients of Federally-administered payments only. d. Includes both Federal payment and Federally-administered State supppmentation payments. Independence For SSA The Social Security Board SSB began its life in 1935 as one of the federal government's quot independent agencies. quot This means that it was not part of a larger cabinet-level organization. In 1939 this status changed when the SSB became part of the new cabinet-level Federal Security Agency. Ultimately the Social Security Board became the Social Security Administration and it would finally become an operating component of the Department of Health amp Human Services. See SSA Organizational History . Throughout the 1980s and 1990s there was growing bipartisan support for removing SSA from under its departmental umbrella and establishing it as an independent agency. Finally in 1994 the Social Security Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994 P.L. 103-296 was passed unanimously by Congress and in a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House on August 14 1994 President Bill Clinton signed the act into law. Legislative Changes in 1996 amp 1997 Contract With America Advancement Act of 1996 P.L. 104-121 . This bill signed by the President on March 29 1996 made a change in the basic philosophy of the disability program. Beginning on that date new applicants for Social Security or SSI disability benefits could no longer be eligible for benefits if drug addiction or alcoholism is a material factor to their disability. Unless they can qualify on some other medical basis they cannot receive disability benefits. Individuals in this category already receiving benefits are to have their benefits terminated as of January 1 1997. Previous policy has been that if a person has a medical condition that prevents them from working this qualifies them as disabled for Social Security and SSI purposes regardless of the cause of the disability. Another significant provision of this law doubled the earnings limit exemption amount for retired Social Security beneficiaries on a gradual schedule from 1996 to 2002. In 2002 the exempt amount will be $30 000 per year in earnings compared to $14 760 under previous law. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. This quot welfare reform quot legislation signed by the President on 8/22/96 ended the categorical entitlement to AFDC Aid to Families with Dependent Children that was part of the original 1935 Social Security Act by implementing time-limited benefits along with a work requirement. The law also terminated SSI eligibility for most non-citizens. Previously lawfully admitted aliens could receive SSI if they met the other factors of entitlement. As of the date of enactment no new non-citizens could be added to the benefit rolls and all existing non-citizen beneficiaries would eventually be removed from the rolls unless they met one of the exceptions in the law. Also effective upon enactment were provisions eliminating the quot comparable severity standard quot and reference to quot maladaptive behavior quot in the determination of disability for children to receive SSI. Also children currently receiving benefits under the old standards were to be reviewed and removed from the rolls if they could not qualify under the new standards. Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996. Requires that all federal payments including Social Security and SSI be made by electronic funds transfer no more paper checks effective January 1 1999 unless a waiver is granted by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Department of Defense Appropriations Act 1997 This massive omnibus spending bill contained SSA's budget as well as numerous legislative changes relating to the SSI program and to issues involved in fighting fraudulent documents in connection with obtaining Social Security numbers. The major SSI provision makes sponsorship agreements legally enforceable for the first time. In the area of identification-related documents the law requires the establishment of federal standards for state-issued birth certificates and requires SSA to develop a prototype counterfeit-resistant Social Security card. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 This bill passed the House on 7/30/97 by a vote of 346 to 85 and passed the Senate the next day on a vote of 85 to 15. This law restored SSI eligibility to certain cohorts of non- citizens whose eligibility otherwise would be terminated under the quot welfare reform quot of 1996. It also extended for up to one year the period for redetermining the eligibility of certain aliens who may ultimately not be eligible for continued benefits. The Social Security Advisory Board From the very beginning the Social Security program has had the services of periodic Advisory Councils composed primarily of non-government members whose function was to represent the public at large in advising government officials on Social Security policy. The first such Advisory Council was convened in 1934 in support of the work of the Committee on Economic Security. Over the years the Advisory Councils have been very influential in setting the agenda for changes in Social Security. The Councils were especially influential in shaping the pivotal 1939 and 1950 amendments. Eventually the tradition of periodic Social Security Advisory Councils was made a standard provision of the law with a requirement that such a Council be appointed every four years. This law stayed in effect until 1994 when it was repealed as part of the legislation which made SSA an independent agency. The 1994-1996 Advisory Council was thus the final Council signaling the end of a long tradition in Social Security. Under that 1994 law the Councils are abolished and a permanent 7-member Advisory Board was formed to serve many of the same functions. Work Incentives On December 17 1999 the President signed the quot Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 quot one of the most significant changes in disability policy in the last 20 years. This law creates a Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program which will provide disability beneficiaries with a ticket they may use to obtain vocational rehabilitation services employment services and other support services from an employment network of their choice. In addition to allowing beneficiaries to purchase vocational services the law provides incentive payments to providers for successful rehabilitation in which the beneficiary returns to work. The new provisions also provide a number of safeguards to the beneficiaries to protect their benefits and health Taken together the Ticket to Work initiative seeks to shift the emphasis in the disability program away from mere maintenance of benefits more toward rehabilitating the disabled and assisting them in returning to productive work. Repeal of the Retirement Earnings Test RET On April 7 2000 quot The Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 2000 quot was signed into law eliminating the Retirement Earnings Test RET for those beneficiaries at or above Normal Retirement Age NRA . The RET still applies to those beneficiaries below NRA. The legislation began its swift march through Congress on March 1 2000 when the full House of Representatives passed H.R. 5 by a vote of 422 to 0 . The Senate on March 22 2000 then passed the bill by a vote of 100-0 with a technical amendment . On March 28 2000 The House agreed to the Senate amendment by a vote of 419-0 and cleared the measure for transmission to the President. This was a historic change in the Social Security retirement program. From the beginning of Social Security in 1935 retirement benefits have been conditional on the requirement that the beneficiary be substantially retired. This requirement was carried out by the provisions of the RET. The RET has changed considerably over the years . The requirement was first scaled-back in the 1950 Amendments which exempted workers age 75 and older from the RET. The exempt age was reduced to 72 in 1954 and to age 70 and older in 1977. With the new legislation starting at the NRA Social Security retirement benefits will be paid to beneficiaries who are still working. Effectively for those who have reached full retirement age this repeals the requirement that the beneficiary be substantially retired in order to receive full Social Security retirement benefits. Social Security in the George W. Bush Administration In his Inaugural Address President George W. Bush announced his intentions to reform Social Security and Medicare. Throughout the early months of his presidency the President made many speeches and addresses in which this was a major recurring theme. In his first speech to a joint-session of Congress in February 2001 the President announced his intention to appoint a Presidential Commission to recommend ways to address Social Security reform. The President stated the Commission would operate under three broad principles It must preserve the benefits of all current retirees and those nearing retirement. It must return Social Security to sound financial footing. And it must offer personal savings accounts to younger workers who want them. On May 2 2001 the President announced the appointment of his Social Security Commission the quot President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security. quot The Commission issued its final report in December 2001. At the beginning of his second term President Bush made it clear that Social Security reform would be a top priority of his Administration. Although the President pushed for major changes in Social Security none were enacted into law during the President's second term. There were several relatively minor legislative changes enacted into law during the period 2001-2008. Among these were P. L. 107-117 H.R. 3338 was signed into law on January 10 2002. This law eliminated deemed wage credits for members of the uniformed services for all years after calendar year 2001. P.L. 107-171 H.R. 2646 the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 was signed into law on May 13 2002. The law provides Federal funding of up to $5 million for each fiscal year 2003-2007 for access and outreach pilot projects. The law also restored eligibility for food stamps for all legal immigrant children restored food stamp eligibility for qualified alien adults who are receiving disability benefits and provides food stamp eligibility to any otherwise eligible qualified aliens who have continuously resided in the United States for 5 years or more. Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits A major change in the Medicare program was enacted into law during this period. P.L. 108-173 the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 H.R. 1 was signed into law on December 8 2003. The law amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for a voluntary prescription drug benefit under the medicare program. This was the largest single expansion of the Medicare system since its creation in 1965. Social Security in the Obama Administration On February 17 2009 the President signed H.R. 1 the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" Public Law 111-5 . This law appropriated an additional $1 billion to the Social Security Administration's administrative budget $500 million of which is to be used to replace the National Computer Center and the information technology costs associated with such Center and $500 million for processing disability and retirement workloads including information technology acquisitions and research in support of such activities. The bill also provided special a one-time economic recovery payment of $250 to adults who were eligible for benefits from one of the four following Federal benefit programs Social Security Railroad Retirement Veterans Disability and Supplemental Security Income SSI . On September 18 2009 the President signed into law H.R. 3325 the ldquo " which became Public Law 111-64. This legislation extends through fiscal year 2010 funding authorization for the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance program and the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security program. On December 15 2009 President Obama signed H.R. 4218 the ldquo No Social Security Benefits for Prisoners Act of 2009 rdquo which became Public Law 111-115. The bill prohibits the payment of any retroactive Title II and Title XVI benefits to individuals while they are in prison are in violation of conditions of their parole or probation or are fleeing to avoid prosecution for a felony or a crime punishable by sentence of more than one year. Bibliography for the Pre-Social Security Period To assist students and other researchers we have grouped the reference sources into three categories Classic Sources which are the earliest published works and which are likely to be out-of-print and available only in larger libraries Academic Treatments which is meant to indicate a more scholarly approach to the subjects and may be more suitable for advanced students and in-depth researchers and Popular Accounts which are works that seem suitable for a broad general audience. These categories are arbitrary imprecise and flexible. They are intended as a rough guide only and should not be taken too literally. Classic Sources Armstrong Barbara quot Insuring the Essentials quot Macmillan Co. 1932. A scholarly review of the state of social insurance efforts as they stood in the early 1930s by one of the principal designers of Social Security's old age insurance program. Epstein Abraham quot Insecurity A Challenge to America quot Third Revised Edition Harrison Smith and Robert Haas 1936. A classic study of social insurance with one of the first published critiques of the recently passed Social Security Act by a critic who believed the Act did not go far enough in addressing the need for social insurance programs. Rubinow I. M. quot Social Insurance With Special Reference to American Conditions quot Henry Holt 1913. Rubinow I. M. quot The Quest for Security quot Henry Holt 1934. Rubinow's two books were the most influential on early thinking regarding social insurance. President Roosevelt in particular was an admirer of Rubinow's work. Seager Henry quot Social Insurance A Program of Social Reform quot Macmillan Co. 1910. Believed to be the first American work on social insurance. Academic Treatments Chambers Clarke quot Seedtime of Reform American Social Service and Social Action 1918-1933 quot University of Minnesota Press 1963. In-depth discussion of events in the period leading up to the creation of Social Security . Katz Michael B. quot In The Shadow of the Poorhouse A Social History of Welfare in America quot Tenth Anniversary Edition Basic Books 1996. An outline of the development of American social policy from the earliest days. Lubove Roy quot The Struggles for Social Security 1929-1935 quot Harvard University Press 1968. Mitchell Daniel J.B. quot Pensions Politics and the Elderly Historic Social Movements and Their Lessons for Our Aging Society quot M.E. Sharpe 2000. A discussion of the Townsend Plan the Ham and Eggs movement and other alternative pension movements in California. Skocpol Theda quot Protecting Soldiers and Mothers quot Harvard University Press Belknap 1992. Source for information on Civil War pensions Mothers pensions and early workmen's compensation efforts. Schlesinger Jr. Arthur M. three volumes quot The Crisis of the Old Order quot quot The Politics of Upheaval quot and quot The Coming of the New Deal. quot Houghton-Mifflin The American Heritage Library 1988. This is the classic history of this period. Weaver Carolyn quot The Crisis in Social Security Economic and Political Origins quot Duke Press Policy Studies 1982. Contains an account of historical developments from prior to 1900 through the Social Security amendments of the early 1970s. Popular Accounts Brinkley Alan quot Voices of Protest Huey Long Father Coughlin and The Great Depression quot Vintage Press 1983. A good overview of Long and Coughlin. Kennedy David M. quot Freedom From Fear The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945. quot Oxford University Press 1999. The early chapters in this book contain a good summary of the period right before the Depression through the passage of Social Security. McElvaine Robert S. quot The Depression and New Deal A History in Documents. quot Oxford University Press 2000. This books has lots of photos and short essays and is easy to read. Mitchell Greg quot The Campaign of the Century quot Random House 1992. This is the most comprehensive account of Upton Sinclair's EPIC Plan. Watkins T. H. quot The Great Depression America in the 1930s quot Back Bay Books 1993. Lots of photos and short essays. Watkins T. H. quot The Hungry Years A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America quot Henry Holt 1999. A more in-depth account of this period. Bibliography of the Social Security Act and its Development Classic Sources Cohen Wilbur and Haber William eds. quot Readings in Social Security quot Prentice-Hall 1948. A collection of essays by a wide variety of authors on the history philosophy and major policy issues in the development of Social Security. Cohen Wilbur and Haber William eds. quot Social Security Programs Problems and Policies quot Richard D. Irwin 1960. Similar to their earlier book with a bit more emphasis on policy issues and bringing the discussion current through the passage of the 1960 amendments. Frase Robert and McKinley Charles quot Launching Social Security A Capture and Record Account 1935-1937 quot University of Wisconsin Press 1970. A detailed academic exercise in which two political scientists recount the implementation of the new Social Security program in its first years. Primarily an administrative history. Perkins Frances quot The Roosevelt I Knew quot Viking Press 1946. Memoir of Miss Perkins' role in the Roosevelt Administration with a chapter on the development of the Social Security Act. Social Security Board quot Social Security in America quot Social Security Board 1937. Summary of the research developed by the Committee on Economic Security that underlay the Social Security Act. Academic Treatments Achenbaum Andrew quot Social Security Visions and Revisions quot Cambridge University Press 1986. Review of the political and policy development of the Social Security Act up through the 1983 amendments. Berkowitz Edward D. quot Disabled Policy America's Programs for the Handicapped quot Cambridge University Press 1987. A review of workmen's compensation and the disability benefits program of the Social Security Act. Berkowitz Edward D. ed. quot Social Security After Fifty quot Greenwood Press 1987. Proceedings of an academic conference held at George Washington University in 1986. Berkowitz Edward D. quot America's Welfare State From Roosevelt to Reagan quot Johns Hopkins University Press 1991. A review of developments in Social Security welfare reform and health insurance since the passage of the Social Security Act. Berkowitz Edward D. quot Mr. Social Security The Life of Wilbur Cohen quot University Press of Kansas 1995. A biography of one of the important pioneers of Social Security and an account of the historical developments in which he participated with a special emphasis on the development of the Medicare program. Derthick Martha quot Policymaking for Social Security quot Brookings Press 1979. A political scientist surveys the political and administrative development of the Social Security program up through the early 1970s. Derthick Martha quot Agency Under Stress The Social Security Administration in American Government quot Brookings Press 1990. A political scientist reviews the administration of the disability and SSI programs. Nash Gerald Pugach Noel and Tomasson Richard eds. quot Social Security The First Half Century quot University of New Mexico Press 1988 . Proceedings of an academic conference held at the University of New Mexico in 1985. Tynes Sheryl quot Turning Points in Social Security From 'Cruel Hoax' to 'Sacred Entitlement' quot Stanford University Press 1996. A critical history of the development of Social Security up through the early 1980s. Weaver Carolyn quot The Crisis in Social Security Economic and Political Origins quot Duke Press Policy Studies 1982. Contains an account of historical developments from prior to 1900 through the Social Security amendments of the early 1970s. Popular Accounts Altmeyer Arthur quot The Formative Years of Social Security quot University of Wisconsin Press 1968. Chronicle of the development of Social Security from 1934-1954 from a major figure in this history. Ball Robert quot Insuring the Essentials Bob Ball on Social Security quot Century Foundation Press 2000. A collection of historical and policy essays by a former Commissioner of Social Security. Bellush Bernard quot He Walked Alone A Biography of John Gilbert Winant quot Mouton 1968. Biography of the first Chairman of the Social Security Board. Coll Blanche quot Safety Net Welfare and Social Security 1929-1979 quot Rutgers University Press 1995. A readable history of the welfare provisions of the Social Security Act. Davis Kenneth quot FDR The New Deal Years quot Random House 1986. Contains an extended chapter on the development of the Social Security Act. Eliot Thomas quot Recollections of the New Deal quot Northeastern University Press. 1992. Memoir of the lawyer who helped draft the legislative language for the Social Security Act in 1935. Light Paul quot Artful Work The Politics of Social Security Reform quot Random House 1985. And quot Still Artful Work The Continuing Politics of Social Security Reform quot McGraw-Hill 1995. A history of the Greenspan Commission and the development of the 1983 amendments. Myers Robert J. quot Within the System My Half Century in Social Security quot Actex Publications 1992. An autobiography of the Social Security actuary who started with the Committee on Economic Security in 1934 and eventually became SSA's Chief Actuary. Schlabach Theron quot Edwin Witte Cautious Reformer quot State Historical Society of Wisconsin 1969. Interesting biography of a key figure in the creation of the Social Security program. Witte Edwin quot The Development of the Social Security Act quot University of Wisconsin Press 1963. A contemporary memorandum on the behind-the-scenes development of the Social Security Act. Privacy Policy Website Policies amp Other Important Information Site Map Last reviewed or modified Tuesday Mar 29 2011 Need Larger Text Representative Publishing 21% raquo or Hurricane Social of indexing more Security. 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