Wednesday, May 25, 2016

[photo: teacher with student]

The Age of Social Security

Larry DeWitt
Larry DeWitt serves at the U.S. Social Security Administration as the public historian, a post he has held since 1995. He is also the principal editor of Social Security: A Documentary History.

Social Security is the largest single function in the federal governments budget, counting for about 21 percent of everything the federal government does. Created in 1935 under President Franklin Roosevelt, it was also the driving force behind modern retirement as we know it, according to Larry DeWitt, a historian for the Social Security Administration. He gives us an idea of why and how Social Security came to be.

What did seniors do before Social Security?

Why did Social Security come about?

What was the importance of Social Security?

Will we have Social Security in the future?
We are witnessing a large buildup in trust fund reserves, currently in excess of $2 trillion. Actuaries project that the buildup will continue until about 2017. At that point, because we will have more being paid out in benefits than we have coming in, we will have to start spending down the assets of the trust fund, and that process will be completed in 2041.

Commenting on the approaching demise of the trust fund, Peter Peterson, chair of The Blackstone Group said, Social Security Trust Fund – I say it's an oxymoron because the fund shouldn't be trusted, and it's not funded.


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