Social Security Program is a Legal Theft
After
Social security was designed to assist constituents during financial hardship. The program insured non-Negroes who needed unemployment compensation, met retirement age requirements, or child welfare prevention programs. Despite its forward objective, critics’ perception of the social security program was depicted as legal thievery. M.A.’s candid retort to the government’s evasive program was simply to rape the pocket’s of the people. M.A. as well as others primarily prepared for retirement or a rainy day from stock returns. Contrarily, the social security program stimulated other economic restructures, which included limited full-time workers. The shift in the economy and Roosevelt’s failed promises created a wedge between the people and the government. For instance, Mrs. OM voices her views of President Roosevelt’s campaign as a misleading trick. She further explained
…President Roosevelt gave his promise to drive "The Money Changers from the Temple," listeners had great hope that at last the common people of the nation would have a hearing but so far he seems zealously to be watching over the interests of financiers and capitalists and the common people are allowed to view a mirage with wonderful promises which disappear on approach (McElvaine, pp. 195-197, 1936).
Despite amid controversy of plausible attempts in extorting the people, the social security program was implemented to avoid reoccurring, widespread economic depressions. Contrarily, constituents speculated so-called precautionary against challenging financial deficit evaded the primary objective of bailing out the nation out of debt was simply propaganda leading to redistributing the nation’s wealth to the fountainhe...
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...ation ,2010. Web. 1 June 2014. http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n4/v70n4p49.html. Charles H. Houston. Economic Security Act: Hearings Before the Committee on Ways and Means House of Representatives, Seventy-Fourth Congress First Session, on H.R.
4120 A Bill to Alleviate the hazards of Old Age, Unemployments, Illness, and
Dependency, to Establish a Social Insurance Board in the Department of Labor, To
Raise Revenue, and for Other Purposes. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, 1935. 796. http://www.ssa.gov/history/35house.html.
Long, Huey. "Carry Out the Command of the Lord." Congressional Record. February 5,
1934. http://www.ssa.gov/history/longsen.html.
McElvaine, Robert S.. Down & out in the Great Depression: Letters from the "Forgotten
Man". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983. Print.
The Great Depression tested America’s political organizations like no other event in the United States’ history except the Civil War. The most famous explanations of the period are friendly to Roosevelt and the New Deal and very critical of the Republican presidents of the 1920’s, bankers, and businessmen, whom they blame for the collapse. However, Amity Shlaes in her book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, contests the received wisdom that the Great Depression occurred because capitalism failed, and that it ended because of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Shlaes, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a syndicated financial columnist, argues that government action between 1929 and 1940 unnecessarily deepened and extended the Great Depression. Amity Shlaes tells the story of the Great Depression and the New Deal through the eyes of some of the more influential figures of the period—Roosevelt’s men like Rexford Tugwell, David Lilienthal, Felix Frankfurter, Harold Ickes, and Henry Morgenthau; businessmen and bankers like Wendell Willkie, Samuel Insull, Andrew Mellon, and the Schechter family.
The Great Depression was one of the greatest challenges that the United States faced during the twentieth century. It sidelined not only the economy of America, but also that of the entire world. The Depression was unlike anything that had been seen before. It was more prolonged and influential than any economic downturn in the history of the United States. The Depression struck fear in the government and the American people because it was so different. Calvin Coolidge even said, "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man." People were scared and did not know what to do to address the looming economic crash. As a result of the Depression’s seriousness and severity, it took unconventional methods to fix the economy and get it going again. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration had to think outside the box to fix the economy. The administration changed the role of the government in the lives of the people, the economy, and the world. As a result of the abnormal nature of the Depression, the FDR administration had to experiment with different programs and approaches to the issue, as stated by William Lloyd Garrison when he describes the new deal as both assisting and slowing the recovery. Some of the programs, such as the FDIC and works programs, were successful; however, others like the NIRA did little to address the economic issue. Additionally, the FDR administration also created a role for the federal government in the everyday lives of the American people by providing jobs through the works program and establishing the precedent of Social Security...
There have been numerous debates within the last decade over what needs to be done about welfare and what is the best welfare reform plan. In the mid-1990s the TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Act was proposed under the Clinton administration. This plan was not received well since it had put a five year lifetime limit on receiving welfare and did not supply the necessary accommodations to help people in poverty follow this guideline. Under the impression that people could easily have found a job and worked their way out of poverty in five years, the plan was passed in 1996 and people in poverty were immediately forced to start looking for jobs. When the TANF Act was up for renewal earlier this year, the Bush administration carefully looked at what the TANF Act had done for the poverty stricken. Bush realized that, in his opinion, the plan had been successful and should stay in effect with some minor tweaking. Bush proposed a similar plan which kept the five year welfare restriction in place but did raise the budgeted amount of money to be placed towards childcare and food stamps. Both the TANF Act and Bush's revised bill have caused a huge controversy between liberal and conservative activists. The liberals feel that it is cruel to put people in a situation where they can no longer receive help from the government since so many people can not simply go out and get a job and work their way out of poverty. They feel if finding a job was that easy, most people would have already worked their way out of poverty. The conservatives feel that the plans, such as the TANF Act, are a surefire way to lower poverty levels and unemployment rates as well as decrease the amount o...
In the summer of 1996, Congress finally passed and the President signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996", transforming the nation's welfare system. The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act sets the stage for ongoing reconstruction of welfare systems on a state-by-state basis. The combined programs will increase from nearly $100 billion this year to $130 billion per year in 6 years. Programs included are for food stamps, SSI, child nutrition, foster care, the bloss grant program for child- care, and the new block grant to take the place of AFDC. All of those programs will seek $700 billion over the next 6 years, from the taxpayers of America. This program in its reformed mode will cost $55 billion less than it was assumed to cost if there were no changes and the entitlements were left alone. The current welfare system has failed the very families it was intended to serve. If the present welfare system was working so well we would not be here today.
Because the economy was unstable, Franklin Roosevelt imposed many programs to boost the economy both helping and hindering American citizens through banking and financial reformation with government regulation. After declaring the “bank holiday,” Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in order to put confidence back in the citizens and their ability to trust banks to keep their money. By also separating commercial banks from investment banks, the government was trying to keep the flow of money uniform. This idea is radical in form because of the new government imposed restrictions, and conservatives may argue this movement shows signs of socialism. Many people saw implications that free enterprise was disappearing; Herbert Hoover specifically mentions in his Anti-New Deal Campaign speech that he proposes to “amend the tax laws so as not to defeat free men and free enterprise.” The threat to free enterprise challenged the American economy because u...
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
When we hear about social security we think of that number every adult and college teen should memorize as they venture on the real world. We don’t think any more of it and most people don’t know about the benefits of such a number and having one. Some migrants from other countries dream of being in America and having a social security so that they may reap the benefits of having such a number and becoming a US citizen, while most every day people just assume it’s a number. What social security is would be a program created back in 1935 and it was used to provide old age, disability, and survivors insurance and on top of that, a supplemental security income which is a income for the elderly and/or disabled people of these United States. Now lets say we privatize all that and therefore do what we did with healthcare, of course their will be good outcomes of doing such a move but where this is good, there will always be bad no matter how good something turns out to be. The stock market, pride, government, all of these are several factors that can be towards privatization of social security but also can be bad things about it as well. Without the government we lose order, with the government we have less freedom, with the stock market people could win, without the stock market (when it crashes) people lose, yin and yang, pro and con one cannot exist with out the other.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address in 1933[ Richard Polenberg, The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 39-44.] was a famous speech because it instilled new hope in the people. During the speech, President Roosevelt said, “our greatest primary task is to put people to work/ there must be a strict supervision of a banking and credits and investments, so that there will be an end to speculation with other people’s money; and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.” Imaginably，a number of people could not find jobs and people were worried about putting money in a bank. Roosevelt emphasized the seriousness of reducing unemployment, reinforcing reliable baking system, and distributing currency. These problems were important contexts that shaped the content of this speech.
Social Security is a system that was set up in 1935 after the Great depression to help people get through tough times. "Social Security is now used by nearly 44 million Americans"(policy.com). Only people who payed into social security are eligible to collect when they retire. Many people think that they receive the money they pay in but that is not total true. The money that you pay in is used for the people that are receiving it now. "In 1950 there were 16 workers for every beneficiary; today there are only three workers per beneficiary"(policy.com). There is more money going into social security then coming out now. The extra money goes into a trust to be used when it is needed. By the year 2032 those numbers are going to drop. By this time most baby boomers will be retired and collecting social security. This will put a big strain on the funds. There will be more money going out then coming in. And it will not take long to use all the money that is in the trust. By the year 2034 they will only be able to pay 75 percent of the beneficiaries. "The projected average monthly Social Security benefit in 2032 of about 1,100 (in 1998 dollars) would fall to about $800, and would drop further in later years. Average benefits for low-wage earners would drop from $670 to $480"(www.ssab). Theses cut would effect the people just starting to receive benefits and those who are already receiving benefits. And with each year these benefits will decrease. As these benefits continue to decrease "the percentage of aged people living in poverty would rise"(www.ssab).Most people believe this is happening because of the baby boomers generation. There will be more people taking from social security then giving in. By the time my generation is eliable to receive social security there may not be any money to give.
Davis, Kennith. “The Birth of Social Security.” In Visions of America’s Past, edited by William
The Social Security Act was passed by President FDR as one of his programs to fight the Great Depression. The Social Security Act was enacted August 14, 1935 (Social Security Act). The current problem is the fear of what will become of Social Security as the baby boomers generation begins to retire. As millions of baby boomers approach retirement, the program's annual cash surplus will shrink and then disappear. Then, Social Security will not be able to pay full benefits from its payroll and other tax revenues (Social Security Reform Center – Problem). This is causing the U.S. government to think about reform and changes for the ...
Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s proposal of privatized accounts.
“No New Deal laws were made to assist black people, with around 30% of all black families were dependant on emergency relief to survive.” (How successful was the new deal?) This is an example of why the New Deal was not successful, since it didn’t try to help people that actually were in worse conditions than everyone else. It also shows that the New Deal was a failure because it had a bit a racial discrimination, by not letting black people the security for the same amount of opportunities as white ones. To support this idea we have the book “The Americans” that state the following: “Townsend believed that Roosevelt wasn’t doing enough to help the poor and elderly, so he devised a pension plan that would provide monthly benefits to the aged, the plan found strong backing among the elderly” (The Americans, pag. 494). This shows that the New Deal wasn’t successful because it didn’t make a positive impact on everyone. We are also able to see its failure by noticing that the program didn’t even accomplish its objective of relieving the needy. We can comprehend that this program algo failed by not helping minorities, and so not achieving one of its main objectives, to give relief to the
Social security, since instituted in 1935, has kept many elderly people from running below the poverty line (Hosansky). In 2015, the Social Security Administration predicted that the funds would be depleted by 2034 (Max). This poses a serious threat to the living situation of future generations when they retire. Our elderly, by today’s standards, enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. They are able to retire and still make over one thousand dollars a month. Some people also have private pensions which allow them to live even more comfortably. But with social security funds running out, we must ask the inevitable question. Is it worth having social security anymore? Social security should be kept. One must never fully rely on social security. In addition
Social security, the federal retirement system, is one of the most popular government programs in United State?s history. Today, Social Security benefits are the backbone of the nation's retirement income system. The long road to the successful development of social security began in 1935. Before 1935, very few workers received job pensions. Those workers that were covered never received benefits because they were not guaranteed.