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In honor of the 75th anniversary of Social Security, we are kicking off a blog series called "Social Security Works." Every post will examine one aspect of how Social Security works.
For our first installment we will examine how Social Security works for America as a whole.
Since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act at approximately 3:30pm on August 14, 1935, it has provided economic security for millions of Americans.
Currently, the Social Security Administration provides benefits to:
• More than 52.5 million total beneficiaries including:
• 9.7 million disabled persons under age 65 and dependent family members
• 6.4 million survivors of deceased workers
• 36.4 million retired workers and their families
The graph below shows the number of people receiving Social Security benefits at the end of calendar quarters, beginning with data for March 1970.
To these millions of beneficiaries Social Security has paid out trillions of dollars:
• In 2008 the Social Security Administration distributed benefits totaling a little over a trillion dollars
• Since 1937, over $15 trillion has been paid out to beneficiaries
But the truly remarkable thing is that while providing trillions in economic security to millions of Americans, the Social Security program has built up a huge surplus. The graph below shows the build up of $2.5 trillion in assets since 1987.
By 2023, the surplus is estimated to grow to $4.3 trillion.
There is no Social Security crisis; Social Security works for America.
This blog also posted at America’s Future and Daily Kos and is a project of Social Security Works.
8 Comments
Woot! Hurrah for Social Security! Thank you for the post. My employer managed to steal my pension, but so far the Rethuglicans have been unable to steal my Social Security. An excellent program that works for American citizens, especially those not so well off. :-)
I didn’t notice my graphs didn’t show up above. You can see the graphs at http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010020823/social-security-works
Thank goodness(and FDR) for social security.
It’s the only retirement plan which Wallstreet cannot loot.
Yeah, but Congress does all the time. Great post as it points out the real issue is with Medicare.
As Dean Baker and other economists pointed out, Congress borrowed money from SS by purchasing treasury bonds, the most secure investment possible. Therefore, that’s where the money is, as Bernanke put it. The ubber rich are determined to steal it and Obama is wetting his pants in anticipation of stealing it for them with his new committee headed up by one of the biggest jerks of all time, Alan Simpson.
Obama is Blow-Job Barry, a despicable human being with an overwhelming appetite for the approval of the ubber rich, power, and wealth.
And that’s a compliment!
Some of this nation’s fat-cats hate Social Security to the point of obsession. We must be vigilant in our defense of it. Right now there is a plan afoot to kill the program in a very insidious manner. A great deal of money has been borrowed from the Social Security coffers and some would like to sort of . . . not pay the money back. In a quiet, backroom way where blame would be difficult to assign. That is a plan being floated around, behind the scenes. Watch for it, raise hell if you get so much as a whiff of it.
This report that you cite actually states that Social Security will use up the surplus by 2037 and that revenues will not meet obligations. This is contrary to the point you are claiming. You would have more credibility if you acknowledged that but then pointed to some very simple fixes that could be made now, w/o reducing benefits that would prevent the crisis from occurring in 2037. Better to be forthright about the facts if you want credibility arguing for solutions.
Simple solutions:
1) Remove the earnings cap on the tax.
2) Tax unearned income from dividends and capital gains.
3) Tax financial transactions.
You are right that there is no crisis but unless something changes there will be one. If you have your facts right our in a better position to argue for progressive solutions.
@realworld
I put all the facts out there. The estimates of the trustees and CBO put the date at which the trustfund would be exhausted somewhere between 2037-2042. At which point Social Security, with no changes, would be able to meet 76% of its obligations going forward.
There are a number of solutions that are, as you point out, minor tweaks that will put Social Security on surer footing. But what I am addressing currently is the false “crisis” that the right is hoisting on the program.
I think that the solutions laid out by the late Social Security luminary Robert Ball are the way to go.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/28/AR2007102801150.html
But what I first want to convey is that Social Security works, it works well, and there is no crisis.
Once that message has reached the public we can start talking about how to make Social Security better.