Social Security Pros And Cons

Social Security is one of America’s most prominent programs. It has assisted retired, disabled, and widowed Americans in the millions. Social Security is made up of two programs: The "Old-Age and Survivors Insurance" program or OASI and the "Disability Insurance" program or DI. Both programs are fiscally detached from one another. However the difference between Social Security’s expenses and its tax income in 2015 is $84 billion. It’s not looking good for Social Security, but there are many pros and cons to this program which need to be discussed if the life span of Social Security is to be extended.

Since the beginning of Social Security In 1935, providing benefits to old age survivors has been its main concern. Without SSA (Social Security

It also helps women, children, and the disabled. Women tend to earn less than men, take more time out of work, they have a longer average life spans, allocate less savings, and ultimately receive smaller pensions, Social Security is especially important for them. Women constitute 56 percent of Social Security beneficiaries aged 62 and older and 66 percent of beneficiaries aged 85 and older. Additionally, women make up 97 percent of Social Security survivor beneficiaries. 6 million children under age 18 lived in families that received income from Social Security in 2013. 3.1 million Of those children received their own benefits as dependents. Another pro-active part of Social Security’s design is that of progressive benefits. For instance, once someone starts receiving Social Security, his or her benefits automatically increase to keep pace with inflation, this is so Americans will not fall into poverty as they age. So Social Security helps everyone now, not just the old and disabled. And the benefits change with inflation. But there are some nulls we see here as well. There is a large opportunity for Social Security to be taken advantage of, abused, and misused. And obviously will fail if something isn’t changed. And not just by the recipients trying to get away with fraud either. The US government treasury has been barrowing from the trust fund for quite some time to finance federal debt. This is actually beneficial to Social Security due to the interest received from the treasury, which is technically a lower interest percentage than it would get otherwise. Also, though benefits adapt to inflation. Take an individual from the Silent Generation (1925-1945) for example. The dollars they put in were worth more than the dollars workers are now putting in. Indeed there actually used to be 10 workers paying into Social Security for each recipient receiving benefits.