Social Security

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA+, November 1996

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Social Security, also known as the 'Old-Age Trust Fund', is the largest social program in th e United States. It's main fuction is to meet the needs of workers who are retired or disabled. On August 14, 1935 the Social Security Act became a law. There were a lot of problems and revisions in the process, but the program was finally put into effect. The country was in dire need of something, anything to get the U.S. back on it's feet economically and socially. It was a very accepted program because by the time it became a law, the citizens were willing to try anything.

There have been quite a few changes since 1935 and there are sure to be a few more in the nexst decade because of problems not taken into account by the 'founding fathers', such as the baby boom generation and the strain it has put on all stages of society.

Prior to 1935, there had been the Great Stock Market Crash, which caused the failure of a great number of banks and the bankruptcy of many people and industries. the employment rate was critically high for a nation. All the aged were working until they physically could no longer do so because they needed the money to live. In that time, when a person retired, he lived with his children and grandchildren because he had no money to support himself. If a son or grandson lost his job, the three generations of a family would become dependent on one man. It was not possibloe to support that many people with one paycheck so the grandparent would stay on the job as long as possible. this led to high unemployment, especially of the young generation of working-age boys. With the unemployment and the bank...