Burlington High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher: Devra Parker
Social Security: Will It Survive?
By Wade Lewis
12th Grade
Many people go through life with out giving a single thought toward retirement. Ever since the end of the depression they haven’t had to worry about their financial situation due to the creation of social security, but due to a rising life expectancy and large numbers of retirees it is crumbling. The general opinion of the public seems to be that it will be fine as long as they get their money when they retire; thoughts like these are disabling any attempt to reform social security. It has become a very controversial issue lately especially as President Bush attempts to create a plan to reform it.
If someone was to walk down the street and ask a stranger what their opinion was on social security their answer would probably only be that there is a problem with it. Only a minority of the population will admit that something needs to be done now to reform social security, the rest just want to pass it off so that it is a problem for our posterity. This is one of the reasons that it is difficult to reform social security. No matter how it is proposed to fix it there will be changes in taxes and the amount of government funding. This makes the general public angry and creates a barrier for the president.
There are many different ideas on how to reform social security but by themselves none of them work. President Bush’s plan is to create personnel retirement accounts for the people. Some people argue that this would work but in reality it is only postponing the end outcome of bankruptcy to the social security. One good thing that would come out of it would be that it might cause people to save more of their own money rather than rely on social security. The other thing that it would do is it would put the money in a place that is not easily accessible by the government, which would keep them from being able to spend as much of the surplus.
In reality President Bush is not doing enough. What he is doing is a good start but in order to really start making progress he will have to also raise taxes. He would also have to cut back in some of the government funding in some areas. All of these still will not immediately solve the problem of bankruptcy, but will greatly postpone it. In order to truly fix social security he would have to raise taxes and cut government spending in all areas.
At the current rate of progress that Bush is making toward reforming social security it will go bankrupt in 2048. As the time gets closer toward its bankruptcy it will have to cut benefits in an attempt to stay above the red and then later on it will have to make more cuts on top of those. With the retirement of the baby boomers looming ever closer every day the people are loosing faith in the ability of the government to reform social security. Despite the loss in faith the general public still wishes to just put it off until it is too late.
The greatest thing that could be done right now would have to be finding an important politician to talk to the people. If we could do this then we would truly be able to start the process of reforming social security. We would be able to convince the general public to act toward reforming it right now rather than putting it off for another day. The general public would also be able to be prepared for whatever changes that would come about in an attempt to save social security.
The next best thing would have to be get a smart person to come up with an effective way to adjust taxes and funding so that it would help save social security. After that they could probably raise the retirement age and require that they at least have a part time job if physically and mentally able. If every retiree had at least a part time job then social security would be able to lesson the amount of money that they send out and the retirees wouldn’t have to live on their social security check.
At present time it is very difficult to judge whether social security will survive the test of time but we all know that there are a multitude of items that can be done to improve it. The only thing we can do know is get ready for some sort of big change and hope for the best.
Answers To Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
Q1- Explain why some people:
a) claim that there are no social security trust funds
Answer: Because they
believe that it is all being spent or diverted for other uses.
b) claim that politicians have spent the trust fund money to run the government
Answer: All the surplus money that is brought in by social security is borrowed by the government which gives them an IOU.
c) claim that the trust fund money is invested
Answer: They believe that social security is doing the right thing and investing their money to their best interest.
Which of the above do you agree with and why?
Answer: I agree with b and c, I think that the government is using a good
portion of the surplus money but I also believe that some of it is being
invested for the good of the people.
Q2- When U.S. Treasury Bonds are sold where does the money go and what is it used for?
Answer: The Money goes all over the government and is used to pay the
interest on our 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
Answer: I believe that it is the only source of income because the retirees
have come to believe that once that check starts to come in the mail they no
longer have to work. I would change it by having it required that they have at
least a part time job unless physically or mentally unable to.
Q4- What is the average life expectancy of an American over age 65 today?
Answer: The average life expectancy of an American over the age of 65 is now
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?
Q6- In
2003 what was the amount of social security income derived from interest
earnings? How much from payroll taxes?
Answer: $1.7 billion, $1 billion.
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”?
Answer: Anyone that is over the age of 65 and has a handicapped child or
grandchild.
Q8-
Give two examples of “special payments”.
Answer: In the case of death, if you are injured before turning twenty.
Q9- What benefits does social security provide to people who have not yet reached retirement age?
Answer: Social Security provides benefits to the immediate family members in
case of death. They also provide payment if someone has a disability that
happened before the age of 22.
Q10- How long does it take a worker under age 24 to be qualified to receive social security benefits?
Answer: It takes ten years for the worker to be eligible.
Q11- Do
you think the social security system needs to be reformed now? Support your
answer with facts.
Answer: Yes, They have had programs running that simulate it going
bankrupt in 2048.
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?
Answer: I do not believe that I would, I believe that at a young age it would be better to have someone who has more knowledge and experience to invest my money so that it is invested wisely.
Websites Used
1 – very informative, pro reform basis
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/social-security/index.html