Public+Policy+-+Social+Security

Chelsie Croasdaile Govt 2302 Public Policy: Social Security In today’s economy we face many problems. With some of these problems we’re seeing that the damage already done may not be reversible. There may be no solutions to the questions we have to ask about to future of our economy. Social Security is among one of the many problems we have with possibly no answer as to how to fix it. Our economy needs to handle this as a serious matter of very high importance. Social security was first established by President Roosevelt as a part of the New Deal on August 41, 1935. Social security was formed to helped retirees, unemployed, and used for a benefit at death. At first social security was a questionable set-up because people thought it would cause a loss of jobs but when studied into closer, it would actually make the elderly retire sooner therefore creating new jobs for people entering into the work field. This would in return lower the unemployment rate. The first year that taxes were actually collected and social security was given out was 1937. Everything dealing with social security in the last 70 years has been going sufficiently well. All of that is changing now that we have a massive amount of recipients about to reach retirement and not enough money being put into the system. These massive amounts of recipients are better known as the Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers Generation is a term used to name the huge amounts of children that were born in the mid-20th century prior to WW11. Studies show that by the year 2017, social security will be running dry and we will have to start taking money out of the Social Security Trust Fund. It is predicted by 2029 that the Social Security Trust Fund will be worn out. This is obviously bad news for the generations to come that were looking forward to their social security checks and now there’s a chance they will never see one or it will not be the amount they were counting on. There are also several other factors that are worsening the already difficult problems with social security. One problem would be that the average life expectancy is increasing much faster than anticipated. This means that retirees will be living longer and therefore will be collecting social security longer. Another problem is that the average number of children that families produce is also decreasing faster than projected. This means that less money will be going into social security when at this point in time we need more money to be going into social security which is a huge issue. In order for social security to work we need the upcoming working population to grow faster than the retired population. What is very surprising is that some people are suggesting that there is no problem at all with social security. They believe that our previous president, George W. Bush, was wrong in making our country believe that we have a “crisis” on our hands. These people think that what we are experiencing now with social security is just a minor setback that can simply be fixed by raising taxes and cutting down the benefits offered. There are several different solutions being discussed that could possibly be the answer we are looking for to solve this crisis. One way would be to higher the age at which people would have to retire. However, going this route would cause people to work longer therefore cutting out jobs for people entering into the work field which could eventually cause unemployment rates to go sky high. As I stated before, a part of the reason social security was made to help the unemployment rates go down so this would just reverse what it was initially made to do. Another possible solution that is being thought out is should we raise taxes and also cut down the benefits people receive. Every solution to a problem has problems that come along with it and so does this suggestion. With the state that our economy is in as of right now, it would be even more devastating to families if we raised taxes. Many people, counties, and states are suffering horribly from our economy problems and I believe this would only worsen the bad state we’re already in. I think we still have a long way to go to figure out what can truly help social security without demolishing something else in our already declining economy. The Work and Pensions Committee, Ways and Means Committee, the AARP Committee, and the United Cerebral Palsy Committee are just a few of the many committees that deal with social security. These committees listed either focus on social security in a big way or they at least have social security as a topic of interest to make sure their main goal can be accomplished. I think that the United States as a whole needs to be very concerned about the crisis we need to face now with social security. The big problem being put at the top of agendas is healthcare but if we don’t fix the social security problem it will also give more problems to healthcare. This issue is being put on the backburner and isn’t being taken very seriously when it absolutely needs to be. People in this country didn’t work all their lives and have taxes taken from them so they can’t retire later on in life. The social security problem needs to be dealt with now, not tomorrow. It is critical for people to not just plan on social security as being their only way of making it through the end of their life. People need to start immediately putting savings away because I do believe social security will not help my generation at all by the time it’s our turn to collect. With social security failing, it brings many other problems on the table but I know our country is strong enough to overcome this obstacle.


 * Social Security**