Social Security Celebrates its 73rd Birthday

Though it has arrived with little fanfare, today, August 14th, is a major day for future retirees. On this day, in 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. —and so, with the stroke of a pen, was created a guaranteed income stream for virtually all American senior citizens.

The Act generated great controversy at the time, and has continued to do so ever since. Its proponents see it as the cornerstone of average citizens’ financial security, guaranteeing them that they will not be destitute in their old age. Its most vocal critics see it as “creeping socialism,” as the intrusion of an enormous government bureaucracy into what should be a strictly private affair: saving for the future. Less strident critics, who essentially agree with Social Security’s aims, nonetheless find fault with its underlying structure. They point out that depending on future generations’ contributions to fund the current generation’s benefits turn the system into a huge Ponzi scheme. As long as contributions keep increasing, everything is fine; but when they drop, the system will be hugely underfunded, and someone will be left “holding the bag.” That someone, by all indications, will be the Baby Boomer generation (at least its younger members).

Social Security’s problems can be fixed—but only if we act decisively, and soon. Funding can be increased, and benefits perhaps modestly trimmed. But “waiting” will solve nothing—it’s like refusing to take the wheel when you see that the ship is heading for an iceberg five miles away.

Our politicians will only touch this political hot potato if we force them to. And one of the goals of this site is to build a community to do just that.

In the meantime, we can celebrate Social Security’s benefits to hundreds of millions of Americans, in the past, present, and hopefully, in the future as well.