2. Creation
• In 1935, Congress passed and Democratic
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law
the "Social Security Act." This law created "a
system of Federal old-age benefits" for
workers and their families. In 1956, the law
was amended to also provide disability
benefits.
3. The Breakdown
• Social Security is composed of two separate
entities: The "Old-Age and Survivors
Insurance" program and the "Disability
Insurance" program.
• Each program has separate finances handled
through two separate trust funds.
4. Breakdown Cont.
• The Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
program provides benefits for aged, blind, and
disabled people without regard to prior
workforce participation.
• It is administered by the Social Security
Administration, but it is not funded by Social
Security taxes.
5. Those Using the Program
• As of June 30, 2011, 54.8 million people or
17.6% of the U.S. population were receiving
monthly Social Security benefits
6. Those that don’t pay!
• Certain groups of workers were originally exempt
from Social Security including government
employees, railroad workers, the self-employed,
farm workers, domestic help, and employees of
nonprofit organizations. In 1950 and 1983, the
law was changed to require most of these
individuals to participate in the program,
although about 25% of state and local
government workers are still exempted. Also,
under certain conditions, some members of the
clergy and religious groups are not required to
participate.
7.
8. S.S. and National Debt
• The Social Security program has an independent
budget that is separate from the rest of the
federal government.
• When the Social Security program collects more
in taxes than it spends, it generates surplus
money. By law, the only thing that the Social
Security program can do with surplus money is
loan it to the U.S. government
• The money that the federal government owes to
the Social Security program is held in the form of
securities issued by the United States Treasury.
9. S.S. and N.D. cont…
• When the Social Security program loans
money to the U.S. government, the
government is obligated by law to pay this
money back to the Social Security program
with interest. This money becomes a part of
the national debt
• As of April 15th the National Debts sits at
16,820,941,523,124.69 That’s 16.8 Trillion
which must be paid back with interest.
10. The Future
• The future of social security seems to
constantly point to privatized accounts.
• There are pros and cons to this system.
– The pros are personal accountability.
– The cons consist of how to continue to pay for the
current system.
11. Stalemate
With no clear cut answers forthcoming the
system continues to be at a stalemate. With
only minor patches fixing problems as they
arise.
Eventually something will need to be done to fix
the system. But until crisis rains down upon
the nation there isn’t enough of a cry for
reform.
12. For more information
• Http://www.justfacts.com/socialsecurity.asp
• http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
• http://www.ssa.gov/
• http://socialsecurity.procon.org/
