Social Security Act Of 1935

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Jimmy Carter said any system of economics is bankrupt if it sees either value or virtue in unemployment. The Social Security Act of 1935, also known as the "Old-age program", is the largest social program in the United States to date. The main function of this program is to compensate workers and their family members who are retired or disabled. The Social Security act came at a time of great hardship and uncertainty by the American people. With the Old-age program it was possible for a retired person to have a form of security knowing that they will have a supplemental income which would allow them to live and in return allow the younger generation to work.
The Social Security Act of 1935 came at a great time of hardship and suffering. Prior …show more content…

During that period, when a person retired, they would not simply stop working, they would move in with their son or grandson because there was a lack of savings. This would cause a hardship for the family because they would already be making barely enough to survive. If the son or grandson would lose his job than the responsibility would fall onto one man to continue working in order to feed the family. This alone led to a high unemployment rate, especially for the younger generation of workers. It was difficult for them to obtain work because the elderly were filling positions for long periods of time. The elderly would continue to work to either feed their families or they had no family to live with and needed to work to keep their home and survive. With the lack of income, unemployment and banking problems in result of the market crash some 273,000 families were evicted from their homes in 1932 alone (Tom. DeGrace, 2011). The American people needed the government to step in and do something; they needed a program to assist these people who are retired, disabled, poor and …show more content…

Before the 1930s the care and support of the elderly fell in the hands of the local, state and family rather than that of the federal government (Ourdocumnets.gov). With the Great Depression, families and the local government was unable to care for the elderly, retired or disabled Americans and they would soon find themselves homeless and living on the streets. The old-age program assisted these people in keeping their homes and giving them the chance to live and rest. With the Social Security Act now signed into law there were bound to be changes made and services expanded upon to cover the needs of

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