Burlington
High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher: Devra Parker
Social
Security Reform
By
Ashley Rogers
12th grade
Social security plays a very important role on people in society. It is supposed to be something you work hard for all your life and have something to fall back on when retired. There are many different sides and views on the way that social security is handled and looked at.
Social security is there to benefit the retired and disabled. It is something that should give you something to fall back on. People work hard in their life times so when they reach an age of retirement or get in an accident they should be set financially. When you have a job money is taken out of your check and put in a fund that should be there for you after a certain amount of time. That is money that individuals work hard for and deserve when they retire. Due to time and things changing social security is beginning to face a lot of issues.
President Bush says that we need to deal with these issues now before it is to late. Social security was said to be one of the great moral successes of those of the twentieth century by creating a foundation for the retired and disabled. For over one third of Americans over the age of sixty-five it was 90% of their income. The problem faced today is thirty year old workers will face a twenty-seven percent cut by the time they retire. This is because people of tomorrow will live longer forcing benefits to increase. In bush’s opinion we need to fix social security now or this will cause taxes to raise in the future. Bush has proposed to work with congress to find effect way of reforms.
According to Bush’s website and a speech delivered by him he believes that there are three goals needed to achieve to fix social security. First, Bush promises that America should keep the promise for future retirements and make it equal or better for them. He also says that a reformed system will protect. He believes that low income workers should grow faster then those who may be better off. “ If you work hard and pay into social security you will not retire in poverty.” For the younger workers that retire is said reforms should replace empty promises. They should have the option of putting a portion of their payroll into their personal retirement.
Another problem faced is that many American do not believe that they will receive a full amount of money that they have put into funds. Bush proposes to put the money into treasury bonds with the full fait of the credit of the U.S. government. This is told it will make a nest egg for generations in your family. Many people argue that what Bush says is not true. That the money we put and treasury bonds aren’t really there and are being used to pay off the nations debt. Also that the control and low risk claim can make citizens loose personal retirement accounts.
After hearing the many points of social security I believe that it is not there. I agree that the money taken from the checks is used to help pay off our nations debt.. In this I believe that it is wrong. People work very hard for the money put into their social security. They should have something to fall back on after all the years they put into it. Also if someone is hurt or cant work it isn’t there fault. If they have worked in the past years I believe that they should receive that money instead of living in poverty. There are many sides argued on social security. It is hard to believe or know what the truth is. Due to the fact that our nation is so far in debt I believe that our government may take the money that people work hard for. On the other hand we are increasingly moving further into debt each second so why even bother. If the government is using the money that people work hard for then they should be stopped. If people work hard to make it better for their future generations and themselves it should be there for them to have.
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.
Web Sites Used:
1 – Very Informative, Pro Reform Basis
http://www.socialsecurityreform.org/index.cfm
http://www.heritage.org/research/socialsecurity/bg1811.cfm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
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