Burlington High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher: Devra Parker
Social Security Reform
By Ashley Menefee
12th grade
Social security reform is a very controversial subject that is tending to show up more and more. Across the nation from the president of the United States, down to the small infant of a low class family; whether or not you think so, social security affects us all one way or another.
So, what exactly is social security, and what are these benefits that supposedly have so much to off? Well, social security is made up of four different types of benefits: retirement, disability, dependents, and survivors. These benefits help the people and their families that qualify for them. Let us start with retirement.
Retirement benefits are for workers who have worked in “covered employment” area for a certain number of years, usually at least ten. A covered employment is a nongovernmental job. The person does not receive the benefits of retirement until he reaches the age of 62 years old. Although you may receive the benefits as soon as you reach 62 years of age, the amount of his benefits that you receive will be permanently reduced, unless he chooses to wait until he has reached full retirement age, which is between 65 and 67 years old.
The next type of benefit is disability benefits. Even if one has not reached the age required for retirement, he can still receive this benefit. It is for people who have met the work requirements and are considered disabled according to the guidelines of the social security program. They are approximately equal to that of the retirement benefits.
There is also a dependent’s benefit, those who qualify for this benefit are or have a spouse that is a retired or a disabled worker. That person and their children may then qualify depending upon the worker’s earnings.
Last of all the social security benefits are survivor’s benefits. This is for those who spouse qualified for one of the other benefits, and is now diseased. If so then the person and his children may be entitled to some of these benefits.
Some people still believe that there are no social security trust funds. They do not think that the government is helping them at all. This could be just because they are confused how to get or qualify for any of these benefits I have mentioned. Other people claim that some of the politicians have spent the trust fund money to run the government. They say that the government is using the money that is suppose to be given to them, for other purposes such as trying to pay off the national debt, or in some cases just for the power. People also suggest that the money is being invested in things such as the stock market. Of these I agree most with the second one, talking about how politicians are just using the money for other things that what is was originally intended for. Personally, I would like to think that the money will be given back to me when I am older, and hopefully it will.
In America today, the most common benefit among our nation is retirement. Retirement is very common because most everyone has a job and most people are not in the government. Also, the average life expectancy is much higher today than ever before, so of course more people are going to qualify for it. Next to retirement are disability benefits. The reason for so many disability benefits is that there are many working people that have had to quit because of health reasons, whether it be a disease or defect.
In the state of Kansas alone nearly 450 thousand people are receiving some sort of social security benefit. That is about 16 percent of Kansas. Most of this comes from retirement and disability benefits.
Currently, social security is the only source of retirement for income for about 22 percent of people over the age of 65. This could be due to the fact that these people only had small, part time jobs throughout their life and are not able to receive any other benefits. They may not have the qualifications for any other benefits.
As President George Bush, I think that he is doing an excellent job with handling the social security reform. He has been doing all that he can do with all of his power to reform it, so that it will become available to many more people throughout the nation.
Web Sites Used:
1 – Very Informative, Pro Reform Basis
http://www.socialsecurityreform.org/index.cfm
http://www.heritage.org/research/socialsecurity/bg1811.cfm
2 – Very Informative, Anti Reform Basis
http://www.americansforsocialsecurity.com/
3 – General Information, Neither Pro or Anti Reform
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10063.html
http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/kansas.html
Answers To Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
Q1- Explain why some people:
a) Claim that there are no social security trust funds.
Some people claim that there are no social security trust funds, because they don’t understand how to get qualify for them.
b) Claim that politicians have spent the trust fund money to run the government.
Some people claim that politicians have spent the trust fund money to run the government. They say that the government is just using the money to have power, and try and pay off debt.
c) Claim that the trust fund money is invested.
Some people claim that the trust fund money is invested because they claim it is invested in stock and they can not remove it until they are a certain age.
Which of the above do you agree with and why?
I believe
politicians have used the money to run the government because we are so far in
debt.
Q2-
When U.S.
Treasury Bonds are sold where does the money go and what is it used for?
When U.S.
treasury bonds are sold the money goes to congress, where it is used to help pay
off the national debt.
Q3-
Why do you think that social security is the only source of retirement income
for 22% of those over age 65? How would you change that? Please comment if you
know an elderly person who is totally dependent on a monthly social security
check
I think that
social security is the only source of retirement for 22% of people over 65,
because not many other companies want to help them out. They are very old and
are going to die soon.
Q4-
What is the average life expectancy of an American over age 65 today?
Today the
average life expectancy for American’s over the age of 65 is 77.6 years old.
Q5-
What is the average social security benefit in your state? Is it more or less
than the average benefit of the state with the largest population in the
United States?
About 443, 706
people in Kansas
receive social security benefits. That is nearly 16% of Kansas. Most of this
comes from retirement benefits, and then disability benefits.
Q6-
In 2003 what was the amount of social security income derived from interest
earnings? How much from payroll taxes?
I could not find
the information needed to answer this certain question.
Q7-
Who can get full retirement benefits even though they continue to earn income
after attaining full retirement age and who cannot? In 2004 what was considered
“full retirement age”?
I am not for
sure who can and can not receive full retirement benefits even though they
continue to earn income after attaining full retirement age. My educated guess
would be people who only work part time jobs, and do not make that much money.
Q8-
Give two examples of “special payments”.
The first of my
two examples is about a man by the name of Mr. De Silva. Mr. De Silva
retired at age 65 from his job at Crown Jewelry Company in November 1996 and
began to receive Social Security benefits. In January 1997, Mr. De Silva
received a check from his employer for $15,000 for vacation time he earned while
he worked. Since this amount is over the earnings limit for 1997 ($13,500), Mr.
De Silva should contact Social Security and explain that the payment is not
earnings for work done in 1997, but vacation pay he accumulated before he
retired. Social Security will consider the amount a special payment, and will
not count it toward the earnings limit for 1997.
The second example was about how Ms. Reed wrote a book in 1986. In 1996, at age 65, she began to receive Social Security benefits. In 1997, she received $17,000 in royalties from her book. Since this amount is over the earnings limit for 1997 ($13,500), Ms. Reed should contact Social Security to report that the amount she received was royalties, not a payment for work done in 1997. Since Ms. Reed did not perform any "services" in 1997 to earn the royalties, Social Security will consider them a special payment, and they will not count toward the earnings limit.
Q9-
What benefits does social security provide to people who have not yet reached
retirement age?
If you are not
old enough to receive retirement benefits, there are still others that you can
qualify for. If you are disabled and have met the work requirements you can
receive disability benefits. If you are married and your spouse meets the work
requirements you can receive Dependent benefits. Or if your spouse passes away
but during his/her time of living they qualified for retirement or disability
benefits you can then receive survivor benefits.
Q10-
How long does it take a worker under age 24 to be qualified to receive social
security benefits?
Well it all just
depends on which benefit: retirement, disability, dependent, or survivor.
Retirement is for workers who have worked a certain number of years in covered
employment. They then become eligible for benefits at the age of 62. Disability
is for those who are considered disabled and have met the work requirements. It
doesn’t matter if they are not old enough for retirement as long as they have
met all other requirements. Dependent is for people who have a disabled or
retired spouse who has qualified for those two benefits. The person and child
may be entitled to benefits based on spouse’s salary. They do not have to be
dependant upon spouse to qualify. Survivor is for anyone who has a deceased
relative that had at time of living qualified for one of the above benefits.
Q11-
Do you think the social security system needs to be reformed now? Support your
answer with facts.
No I do not
think that the social security system needs to be reformed right now. This does
not affect me all that much at this point in my life.
Q12- Suppose you are a young working person. If you could opt out of the social security system and invest the portion of your pay that would otherwise be invested for you, would you choose to do so? Why or why not?
No I would not because it is nice to know that I will be set when I am older. I won’t have to worry about working when I am old and unable.