Topic #3-Social Insecurity

Summary: The United States Social Security System is not in good shape. It is about to go bankrupt as soon as the year 2017, because it will be giving out more money than it takes in. The reason for this is that the amount of Americans who are nearing retirement age is much higher than the amount of people who will take their place in the workforce. The Social Security System was established in 1935 to fight poverty and has indeed reduced the senior citizen poverty rate from 50% to 10%. It is also now the main income source for many retired Americans. However, 1/3 of the fund is also used for disabled workers, families of dead workers, and children. A general rule is that people who have earned lower salaries receive more of their incomes percentages in Social Security Benefits than those who earned higher salaries. From 1983 to the present, Social Security has taken in more money through taxes than it needs to pay in benefits. That extra money has been used for other programs and acts as an IOU to the Social Security Trust Fund. The only way Social Security would be able to provide full benefits for people eligible into 2041, the government would have to pay back the money it borrowed from the Social Security system, which is not an easy thing to do. Most likely Social Security will only be able to pay for 60-80% of the current benefits promised through payroll taxes. In an attempt to address this problem, Pres. Bush proposed to allow Americans to put their Social Security payroll money into private investment accounts. His idea was not very popular. There is also another system for the elderly called medicare. People who are 65 or older, or have a disability are eligible for it. It operates just like social security with a trust fund, but it's in even worse shape than social security. Already it is taking paying out more money than it is taking in. By 2019 it is expected to be depleated. For all of these reasons, the debate on when and how to fix social security is a very heated topic. People who want big changes believe that because the system is going bankrupt, it is also affecting our nation's economy. They think that it needs a major overhaul because it has promised retirees more than it can give if programs are not cut and taxes aren't raised. According to them, the Social Security System was never suppose to be a national retirement program, and they believe in Pres. Bush's plan for private investment accounts and cutting benefits for everyone except those in dire need. This is what they think will save the system. But others say the system is still going strong and shouldn't be huge changes. People pay into it and later reep the benefits in return. It's currently still in a surplus and brings financial help to millions of Americans. All that is needed is a small change on raising the cap on earnings that can be taxed and raising the retirement age. Both sides of view has valid points to back them up, and the future is up to the lawmakers we elect.

Opinion: I believe in most of the 2nd opinion mentioned in the previous paragraph. I think that social security is very important to keep because it is what so many older people rely on to live. For example, without social security my grandma wouldn't have been able to pay for my grandpa's assisted living/nursing home fees and medicines for his disease. My grandpa had a high paying job, but even if he hadn't, I don't think it would have been fair for his benefits to be cut, as in Pres. Bush's belief that benefits should be cut for everyone except for those in dire need. The wealthy should help those in need, because lots of those people are those who have also worked hard and deserve to have benefits as good as the wealthy's. In my opinion, Social Security could be fixed by raising the cap on earnings. If we all pay just a little more each month I believe the shortfall could be fixed. There are millions of citizens in America, and even a small change can make a huge difference. Social Security has worked for over 75 years and has done a lot of good in the country-it dropped the senior citizen poverty rate by 40%! And that's been done by payroll taxes, which in my opinion will still work into the future if we up the rate to compensate for the higher percentage of Americans retiring and the lower percentage of workers replacing them. What I do not think should happen is a raise in retirement age. That is crazy. Right now I believe the retirement age is on average about 65, and no way should it be increased. People spend years and years and years of their life working long hours at their jobs, and everyone deserves to spend the last years of their lives being able to enjoy family, traveling, or just plain relaxing. At age 65, a person usually has a good 10 years at least to do that. If the retirement is upped even to just 70, those years for enjoyment are cut in half. Eventually a person would work until they died, and how sad it that!? My opinions can be validated by our current President Obama. If you would like to read more information about him and his opinion on this issue follow this link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21739271/


To find information about issue #1 on War Dollars check out my classmate's post at:
http://kellimontbriand.blogspot.com/2010/10/issue-1war-dollars.html

To find information about the issue #2 on spending what we can't afford check out my classmate's post:
http://katieireneiverson.blogspot.com/2010/10/issue-2-spending-what-we-can-afford.html