“For 80 years, Social Security has guaranteed the future of all hard-working Americans – in old age, in disability, in surviving the loss of a loved one”.
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However, its capacity to support such numbers for generations to come is often the subject of political debate.
A resident of the Tresckow section of Banks Township, a small Carbon County village just south of Hazleton, the 76-year-old Italian immigrant reflected on his introduction to Social Security after helping serve up lunch to fellow senior citizens at the Hazleton Active Adult Center on Friday, which marked the 80th anniversary of the Social Security Act.
Jennings says Social Security should not be thought of as an entitlement. That gap will continue to grow as more baby boomers retire.
In 1960, there were more than five workers for every person receiving a benefits check. Today, there are fewer than three and, under current projections, there will be about two workers for every person getting benefits in 20 years.
“Remember, these are our most vulnerable population”, Colvin said.
Since August 14, 1935, Republicans and their financial backers have sought to undo the progress that Social Security represents for workers, the elderly, the disabled and their families.
Marco Rubio: said Social Security “weakened us as a people”, campaigned on privatization, and wants to raise the retirement age. The demographic profile was different on this date in 1935, when the program was signed into law by President Roosevelt. “They look at how many people are drawing in and how many are drawing out”.
The poverty rate among those 65 and older has inched up in recent years.
There is a special rule for payment of social security retirement benefits to noncitizens.
With Social Security, the president and Congress agreed to increase the retirement age and delay a cost-of-living adjustment.
The average monthly payment is $1,221.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, scoffs at the idea of expanding benefits.
Lindsey Graham: backed privatizing Social Security and raising the retirement age to 70. Social Security’s combined trust funds are now valued at $2.8 trillion. Those changes didn’t permanently fix Social Security, but they provided enough revenue to pay full benefits for about 50 years.
The disability trust fund is projected to run out of reserves much sooner, in late 2016. If Congress allows that to happen, it will trigger an automatic 19 percent cut in benefits to the 11 million people who receive Social Security disability. And yet the Republican candidates for president seem utterly unable to learn that simple economic lesson.
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But long before then, Social Security’s long-term financial problems could become too big to solve without painful remedies or excessive borrowing. In the first year, the gap would be $571 billion, according agency data.
