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Social Security: 75 Years of Commitment to Collective Responsibility

Posted: August 23, 2010

By: Jeffrey Freedman

This year, Social Security celebrates its 75th Anniversary -- 75 years of ensuring that fewer people in this country face destitution in old age. Today, we couldn’t imagine a society that didn’t guarantee a base level of income for senior citizens whose age limits their ability to work for a living. Yet, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935, many feared the Act would move the country towards Socialism. Prior to Social Security, not all received the luxury of retirement: people worked until they became too old or ill and often had to rely on family generosity as they lived out their later years.

Social Security bridges the gap between financial security and impoverishment for more than just our senior citizens, however. It provides Social Security Disability benefits to those who have paid Social Security taxes but are now disabled and can no longer work, and Supplemental Security Income for those with a disability which precludes them from ever working and paying into Social Security.

In 2009, Social Security paid benefits to more than 33.5 million retired workers, 7.8 million disabled workers, 4.4 million widows and widowers, 2.5 million spouses, and 4.2 million children for a total of more than 52.4 million beneficiaries. The system provides a safety net for many Americans facing situations that make a steady source of income impossible to attain. As a Social Security Disability law firm, we see the emotional, physical, and financial stressors affecting people who become disabled and apply for benefits since they cannot work. We also see relief on the faces of the more than 14,000 clients who have been awarded SSD benefits with our help.

Unfortunately, our current Social Security system faces many obstacles. With an aging population and fewer workers in the pipeline, the Social Security Board of Trustees says that the Trust Fund will be exhausted by the year 2037. Yet, for the past 75 years, Social Security has meant the difference between homelessness and having a roof over one’s head, starvation and food on the table for tens of millions of our fellow citizens. On its 75th Anniversary, Social Security should be applauded for what it has accomplished and supported in its continuing efforts to meet future challenges.

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