Social Security Association Essays - Social Security,

Social Security Association The Social Security Act was created because of two separate factors, the Industrial Revolution, and the Great Depression. B efore these two events , which shaped the United States to what we know it as today , security for senior citizens had c o me from another source. In this time , prior to the 1930's , America was almost entirely an agricultural nation. A typical life in this period was grow ing up on the farm working the land until people were too old to do it any longer . Once this occurred , extended famil ies would take care of family members until they had passed away, so there was no need for social security. But, as all good things must end , so did th e fairy tale where blood was thicker than water. The Industrial R evolution was what had started it by making the extended family and the family farm less common sources of what was financial security. Then, the Great Depres sion finished off this metamorphosis , so to speak , by making things so economically difficult that it was every family and family member for themselves. Thus, the Social Security Act was born. On June 8th, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt first spoke of his idea of a social security program to Congress. To tackle the actual creation of such a policy , the President appointed , by Executive Order , the c ommittee on Economic Security. The committee was told to examine the entire problem of economic insecurity and then devise a plan to help those most in need. In early 1935 , the committee made its report to President Roosevelt and by January 17 th , he had introduced the findings of the committee to both houses of Congress so that their idea could be considered. Soon , the houses of Congress could come to a majority decision as the Social Security Act was signed into law on August 14 th , 1935. One of the first things that this act did was establish a bipartisan Social Security Board made up of 3 members who were chosen specifically by the president. The original members of this board included John G. Winant, Arthur J. Altmeyer, and Vincent M. Miles. The duties of the SSB encompassed such things as delegating to the public how earnings were to be reported and the benefits that would be available to them. For Social Security to be effective , the United States government had much more to do. The biggest thing on this to-do list was to register all employers and employees by the deadline January 1 st , 1937 . It would be then that they would start receiving credits towards their old age insurance benefits. To complete this task, the government contracted with the United States Postal Service to deliver applications to the American people. Over 35 million SSN cards were issued via this mass registration between 1936 and 1937 alo ne. Through the Social Security Act , monthly benefits were to begin in 1942. So , from 1937 up until this time, the U.S. paid out single lump-sum payments to retirees. The first man to receive such a payment was Ernest Ackerman, a retired Cleveland motorman. Acker retired the following day of the beginning of this act for which he received a payment o f only 17 cents. This amount was far below the average of $58.06 at the time . The first amendments to the Social Security Act took place in 1939. The amendments added two new benefits, which included payment s to the spouse and underage children of a retired worker , and to the family of a worker in the event of a premature death. The 1939 amendments also increased the benefit amounts which had also quickened the start of monthly benefit checks from 194 0 to 194 2. The next set of amendments were enacted in 1950. These specific amendments were to increase the amount of the benefits which a t the time were still very low. In fact , until 1951, welfare assistance for the elderly exceeded the amount of Social Security benefits. A COLA or cost-of-living-adjustment was first