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A limited form of the
Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
program began as a measure to implement "
social insurance Social insurance is a form of social welfare that provides insurance against economic risks. The insurance may be provided publicly or through the subsidizing of private insurance. In contrast to other forms of social assistance, individuals' ...
" during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The Financial contagion, ...
of the 1930s, when
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little rates among
senior citizen Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...
s exceeded 50 percent. The
Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was ...
was enacted August 14, 1935. The Act was drafted during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term by the President's Committee on Economic Security, under
Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
, and passed by
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
as part of the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
. The Act was an attempt to limit what were seen as dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children. By signing this Act on August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt became the first president to advocate federal assistance for the elderly.Achenbaum, Andrew (1986). Social Security Visions and Revisions. New York:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pres ...
. p. 25-6.
The Act provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed, and a
lump-sum A lump sum is a single payment of money, as opposed to a series of payments made over time (such as an annuity). The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development distinguishes between " price analysis" and "cost analysis" by whether ...
benefit at death. Payments to current retirees are financed by a
payroll tax Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees, and are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the em ...
on current workers' wages, half directly as a payroll tax and half paid by the employer (self-employed people are responsible for the entire payroll tax). The act also gave money to states to provide assistance to aged individuals (Title I), for unemployment insurance (Title III),
Aid to Families with Dependent Children Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act (SSA) and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Serv ...
(Title IV), Maternal and Child Welfare (Title V), public health services (Title VI), and the blind (Title X).


Origins and design

In his failed 1932 campaign for governor of Louisiana, entrepreneur and politician Dudley J. Leblanc proposed a monthly stipend for the elderly.
Huey Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...
witnessed the popularity of the idea with Louisiana voters, and subsequently adopted it in his national platform. Political Scientists at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
, including Edwin Witte, known as the "Father of Social Security," Arthur J. Altmeyer, and Wilbur Cohen developed the 1934 proposal for a federally funded pension plan. This idea was later popularized by Francis Townsend in 1933, and the influence of the "Townsend Plan" movement on debate over social security persisted into the 1950s. Early debates on Social Security's design centered on how the program's benefits should be funded. Some believed that benefits to individuals should be funded by contributions that they themselves had made over the course of their careers. Others argued that this design would disadvantage those who had already begun their careers at the time of the program's implementation because they would not have enough time to accumulate adequate benefits.


Initial opposition

Social Security was controversial when originally proposed, with one point of opposition being that it would reduce the labor force, but supporters argued instead that retiring older workers would free up employment for young men, which during the Depression was a vital point of concern. Opponents also decried the proposal as
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
. In a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Senator
Thomas Gore Thomas Pryor Gore (December 10, 1870March 16, 1949) was an American politician who served as one of the first two United States senators from Oklahoma, from 1907 to 1921 and again from 1931 to 1937. He first entered politics as an activist for t ...
(D-OK) asked
Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all o ...
Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
, "Isn't this socialism?" She said that it was not, but he continued, "Isn't this a teeny-weeny bit of socialism?" Most women were excluded from the benefits of
unemployment insurance Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a compu ...
and
old age pensions A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
. Job categories that were not covered by the act included workers in agricultural labor, domestic service, government employees, and many teachers, nurses, hospital employees, librarians, and social workers. The act also denied coverage to individuals who worked intermittently.Kessler-Harris, Alice, 2001. pp. 130-1. These jobs were dominated by women and minorities. For example, women made up 90 percent of domestic labor in 1940 and two-thirds of all employed black women were in domestic service. Exclusions exempted nearly half of the working population. Nearly two-thirds of all African Americans in the labor force, 70 to 80 percent in some areas in the South, and just over half of all women employed were not covered by Social Security.Katznelson, Ira. ''When Welfare was White: The untold history of racial inequality in twentieth century America''. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. pp. 43-8. At the time, the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.& ...
protested the Social Security Act, describing it as "a sieve with holes just big enough for the majority of Negroes to fall through." Some writers have suggested that this discrimination resulted from the powerful position of
Southern Democrats Southern Democrats, historically sometimes known colloquially as Dixiecrats, are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the Southern United States. Southern Democrats were generally much more conservative than Northern Democrats wi ...
on two of the committees pivotal for the Act's creation, the
Senate Finance Committee The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures general ...
and the
House Ways and Means Committee The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other program ...
. However, Larry DeWitt has refuted those arguments, showing there was no evidence for them. Indeed, southern Democrats in 1935 were generally liberal and strongly supported of the New Deal and Social Security.. The Social Security law was very unpopular among many groups, especially farmers, who resented the additional taxes and feared they would never be made good. They lobbied hard for exclusion. Furthermore, the Treasury realized how difficult it would be to set up payroll deduction plans for farmers, for housekeepers who employed maids, and for nonprofit groups; therefore they were excluded. State employees were excluded for constitutional reasons (the federal government cannot tax state government). Federal employees were also excluded. Larry DeWitt rejects the speculation that the exclusions were the product of southern white racial hostility toward blacks; there is no evidence of that in the record. Other scholars have replicated and endorsed DeWitt's analysis, agreeing that the exclusions were made by policy experts on technical grounds and were not grounded on racial hostility. Rodems and Shaefer note in all other countries unemployment insurance programs "excluded domestic and agricultural workers when they were first implemented, a fact that the key New Deal policy makers were well aware of." The exclusions followed consultation with leading experts in Europe as well as the United States, including
William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal politician who was a progressive and social reformer who played a central role in designing the British welfare state. His 19 ...
, Henry Steel-Maitland, and R.C. Davison in Britain, Andre Tixier of the
International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
, and Edwin Witte, Wilbur J. Cohen, and Evelyn Burns in the United States. Social Security reinforced traditional views of family life.Mink, Gwendolyn. ''The Wages of Motherhood'', 1995. pp. 126-130. Women generally qualified for benefits only through their husbands or children. Mothers' pensions (Title IV) based entitlements on the presumption that mothers would be unemployed. Historical discrimination in the system can also be seen with regard to
Aid to Dependent Children Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act (SSA) and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Serv ...
. Since this money was allocated to the states to distribute, some localities assessed black families as needing less money than white families. These low grant levels made it impossible for African American mothers to not work: one requirement of the program. Some states also excluded children born out of wedlock, an exclusion which affected African American women more than white women. One study determined that 14.4% of eligible white individuals received funding, but only 1.5 percent of eligible black individuals received these benefits.


Debates on the constitutionality of the Act

In the 1930s, the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions ...
struck down many pieces of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, including the Railroad Retirement Act. The Social Security Act's similarity with the Railroad Retirement Act caused Edwin Witte, the executive director of the President's Committee on Economic Security under Roosevelt who was credited as "the father of social security," to question whether or not the bill would pass; John Gall, an Associate Counsel for the
National Association of Manufacturers The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices across the United States. It is the nation's largest manufacturing industrial trade association, representing 14,000 s ...
who testified before the US House of Representatives in favor of the act, also felt that the bill was rushed through Congress too quickly and that the old age provision of the act was "hodgepodge" that needed to be written more properly in order to have a higher likelihood of being ruled constitutional. The Court threw out a centerpiece of the New Deal, the
National Industrial Recovery Act The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also ...
, the
Agricultural Adjustment Act The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part ...
, and New York State's minimum-wage law. President Roosevelt responded with an attempt to pack the court via the
Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, frequently called the "court-packing plan",Epstein, at 451. was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in order to ...
. On February 5, 1937, he sent a special message to Congress proposing legislation granting the President new powers to add additional judges to all federal courts whenever there were sitting judges age 70 or older who refused to retire. The practical effect of this proposal was that the President would get to appoint six new Justices to the Supreme Court (and 44 judges to lower federal courts), thus instantly tipping the political balance on the Court dramatically in his favor. The debate on this proposal was heated and widespread, and lasted over six months. Beginning with a set of decisions in March, April, and May, 1937 (including the Social Security Act cases), the Court would sustain a series of New Deal legislation. Two
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions ...
rulings affirmed the constitutionality of the Social Security Act. * '' Steward Machine Company v. Davis'', 301 U.S, 548 (1937) held, in a 5–4 decision, that, given the exigencies of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The Financial contagion, ...
, " tis too late today for the argument to be heard with tolerance that in a crisis so extreme the use of the moneys of the nation to relieve the unemployed and their dependents is a use for any purpose narrower than the promotion of the
general welfare In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good (also commonwealth, general welfare, or public benefit) is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by c ...
". The arguments opposed to the Social Security Act (articulated by justices
Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...
, McReynolds, and
Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (late ...
in their opinions) were that the social security act went beyond the powers that were granted to the federal government in the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...
. They argued that, by imposing a tax on employers that could be avoided only by contributing to a state unemployment-compensation fund, the federal government was essentially forcing each state to establish an unemployment-compensation fund that would meet its criteria, and that the federal government had no power to enact such a program. * '' Helvering v. Davis'', 301 U.S. 619 (1937), decided on the same day as ''Steward'', upheld the program because "The proceeds of both mployee and employertaxes are to be paid into the Treasury like internal-revenue taxes generally, and are not earmarked in any way". That is, the Social Security Tax was constitutional as a mere exercise of Congress's general taxation powers.


Implementation

The first reported Social Security payment was to Ernest Ackerman, a Cleveland motorman who retired only one day after Social Security began. Five cents were withheld from his pay during that period, and he received a lump-sum payout of seventeen cents from Social Security. The first monthly payment was issued on January 31, 1940 to Ida May Fuller of
Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...
,
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
. In 1937, 1938, and 1939, she paid a total of $24.75 into the Social Security System. Her first check was for $22.54. After her second check, Fuller already had received more than she contributed over the three-year period. She ultimately reached her 100th birthday, dying in 1975, and she collected a total of $22,888.92.


Expansion and evolution

The provisions of Social Security have been changing since the 1930s, shifting in response to economic worries as well as concerns over changing gender roles and the position of minorities. Officials have responded more to the concerns of women than those of minority groups. Social Security gradually moved toward universal coverage. By 1950, debates moved away from which occupational groups should be included to how to provide more adequate coverage. Changes in Social Security have reflected a balance between promoting equality and efforts to provide adequate protection.Achenbaum 1986. p. 130. In 1940, benefits paid totaled $35 million. These rose to $961 million in 1950, $11.2 billion in 1960, $31.9 billion in 1970, $120.5 billion in 1980, and $247.8 billion in 1990 (all figures in nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation). In 2004, $492 billion of benefits were paid to 47.5 million beneficiaries. In 2009, nearly 51 million Americans received $650 billion in Social Security benefits. The effects of Social Security took decades to manifest themselves. In 1950, it was reported that as many as 40% of Americans over 65 were still employed in some capacity, but by 1980 that figure had dropped to less than 20%. In 1990, fewer than 11% of Americans over 65 were still employed, an all-time low after which the number began to slowly rise again. During the 1950s, over-65s continued to have the highest poverty rate of any age group in the US with the largest percentage of the nation's wealth concentrated in the hands of Americans under 35. By 2010, this figure had dramatically reversed itself with the largest percentage of wealth being in the hands of Americans aged 55–75 and those under 45 being among the poorest. Elder poverty, once a normal sight, had thus become rare by the 21st century.


1939 Amendment


Economic concerns

One reason for the proposed changes in 1939 was a growing concern over the impact that the reserves created by the 1935 act were having on the economy. The Recession of 1937 was blamed on the government, tied to the abrupt decrease in government spending and the $2 billion that had been collected in Social Security taxes. Benefits became available in 1940 instead of 1942 and changes to the benefit formula increased the amount of benefits available to all recipients in the early years of Social Security. These two policies combined to shrink the size of the reserves. The original Act had conceived of the program as paying benefits out of a large reserve. This Act shifted the conception of Social Security into something of a hybrid system; while reserves would still accumulate, most early beneficiaries would receive benefits on the pay-as-you-go system. Just as importantly, the changes also delayed planned rises in contribution rates. Ironically if these had been left in place they would have come into effect during the wartime boom in wages and would have arguably helped to temper wartime inflation.


Creation of the Social Security Trust Fund

The amendments established a
trust fund A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the " sett ...
for any surplus funds. The managing
trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to ...
of this fund is the
Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal ...
. The money could be invested in both non-marketable and marketable
securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any fo ...
.


The move toward family protection

Calls for reform of Social Security emerged within a few years of the 1935 Act. Even as early as 1936, some believed that women were not getting enough support. Worried that a lack of assistance might push women back into the work force, these individuals wanted Social Security changes that would prevent this. In an effort to protect the family, therefore, some called for reform which tied women's aid more concretely to their dependency on their husbands. Others expressed apprehension about the complicated administrative practices of Social Security. Concerns about the size of the reserve fund of the retirement program, emphasized by a recession in 1937, led to further calls for change. These amendments, however, avoided the question of the large numbers of workers in excluded categories. Instead, the amendments of 1939 made family protection a part of Social Security. This included increased federal funding for the
Aid to Dependent Children Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act (SSA) and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Serv ...
and raised the maximum age of children eligible to receive money under the Aid to Dependent Children to 18. The amendment added wives, elderly widows, and dependent survivors of covered male workers to those who could receive
old age pensions A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
. These individuals had previously been granted lump-sum payments upon only death or coverage through the Aid to Dependent Children program. If a married wage-earning woman's own benefit was worth less than 50% of her husband's benefit, she was treated as a wife, not a worker. If a woman who was covered by Social Security died, however, her dependents were ineligible for her benefits. Since support for widows was dependent on the husband being a covered worker, African American widows were severely underrepresented and unaided by these changes. In order to assure fiscal conservatives who worried about the costs of adding family protection policies, the benefits for single workers were decreased and lump-sum death payments were abolished.


FICA

In the original 1935 law, the benefit provisions were in Title II of the Act (which is why Social Security is sometimes referred to as the "Title II" program.) The taxing provisions were in a separate title (Title VIII) (for reasons related to the constitutionality of the 1935 Act). As part of the 1939 Amendments, the Title VIII taxing provisions were taken out of the Social Security Act and placed in the Internal Revenue Code and renamed the
Federal Insurance Contributions Act The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA ) is a United States federal payroll (or employment) contribution directed towards both employees and employers to fund Social Security and Medicare—federal programs that provide benefits for reti ...
(FICA). Social Security payroll taxes are thus often referred to as "FICA taxes."


Amendments of the 1950s and 60s

After years of debates about the inclusion of domestic labor, household employees working at least two days a week for the same person were added in 1950, along with nonprofit workers and the self-employed. Hotel workers, laundry workers, all agricultural workers, and state and local government employees were added in 1954. In 1956, the tax rate was raised to 4.0 percent (2.0 percent for the employer, 2.0 percent for the employee) and disability benefits were added. Also in 1956, women were allowed to retire at 62 with benefits reduced by 25 percent. Widows of covered workers were allowed to retire at 62 without the reduction in benefits. In 1961, retirement at age 62 was extended to men, and the tax rate was increased to 6.0%. In 1962, the changing role of the female worker was acknowledged when benefits of covered women could be collected by dependent husbands, widowers, and children. These individuals, however, had to be able to prove their dependency. Medicare and
Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...
were added in 1965 by the Social Security Act of 1965, part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "
Great Society The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Universi ...
" program. In 1965, the age at which widows could begin collecting benefits was reduced to 60. Widowers were not included in this change. When
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
, rather than death, became the major cause of marriages ending, divorcées were added to the list of recipients. Divorcées over the age of 65 who had been married for at least 20 years, remained unmarried, and could demonstrate dependency on their ex-husbands received benefits. The government adopted a unified budget in the Johnson administration in 1968. This change resulted in a single measure of the fiscal status of the government, based on the sum of all government activity. The surplus in Social Security trust funds offsets the total
debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
, making it appear much smaller than it otherwise would. This allowed Congress to increase spending without having to risk the political consequences of raising taxes.


Amendments of the 1970s


1972 Amendments

In June 1972, both houses of the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...
approved by overwhelming majorities 20% increases in benefits for 27.8 million Americans. The average payment per month rose from $133 to $166. The bill also set up a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to take effect in 1975. This adjustment would be made on a yearly basis if the
Consumer Price Index A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistica ...
(CPI) increased by 3% or more.Achenbaum 1986. p. 58 This addition was an attempt to index benefits to
inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reducti ...
so that benefits would rise automatically. If inflation was 5%, the goal was to automatically increase benefits by 5% so their real value didn't decline. A technical error in the formula caused these adjustments to overcompensate for inflation, a technical mistake which has been called double-indexing. The COLAs actually caused benefits to increase at twice the rate of inflation. In October 1972, a $5 billion piece of Social Security legislation was enacted which expanded the Social Security program. For example, minimum monthly benefits of individuals employed in low income positions for at least 30 years were raised. Increases were also made to the pensions of 3.8 million widows and dependent widowers. These amendments also established the
Supplemental Security Income Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a means-tested program that provides cash payments to disabled children, disabled adults, and individuals aged 65 or older who are citizens or nationals of the United States. SSI was created by the Social S ...
(SSI). SSI is not a Social Security benefit, but a
welfare program Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
, because the elderly and disabled poor are entitled to SSI regardless of work history. Likewise, SSI is not an entitlement, because there is no right to SSI payments. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, during the phase-in period of Social Security, Congress was able to grant generous benefit increases because the system had perpetual short-run surpluses. Congressional amendments to Social Security took place in even numbered years (election years) because the bills were politically popular, but by the late 1970s, this era was over. For the next three decades, projections of Social Security's finances would show large, long-term deficits, and in the early 1980s, the program flirted with immediate insolvency. From this point on, amendments to Social Security would take place in odd numbered years (years that were not election years) because Social Security reform now meant tax increases and benefit reductions. Social Security became known as the "Third Rail of American Politics." Touching it meant political death. Several effects came together in the years following the 1972 amendments which rapidly changed the outlook on Social Security's long-term financial picture from positive to problematic. By the 1970s, the phase-in period, during which workers were paying taxes but few were collecting benefits, was largely over, and the ratio of elderly population to the working population was increasing. These developments brought questions about the capacity of the long-term financial structure based on a pay-as-you-go program. During the Carter administration, the economy suffered double-digit inflation, coupled with very high
interest rates An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, t ...
, oil and energy crises, high unemployment and slow
economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
. Productivity growth in the United States had declined to an average annual rate of 1%, compared to an average annual rate increase of 3.2% during the 1960s. There was also a growing federal budget deficit which increased to $66 billion. The 1970s are described as a period of
stagflation In economics, stagflation or recession-inflation is a situation in which the inflation rate is high or increasing, the economic growth rate slows, and unemployment remains steadily high. It presents a dilemma for economic policy, since action ...
, meaning economic stagnation coupled with price inflation, as well as higher interest rates. Price inflation (a rise in the general level of prices) creates uncertainty in budgeting and planning and makes labor strikes for pay raises more likely. These underlying negative trends were exacerbated by a colossal mathematical error made in the 1972 amendments establishing the COLAs. The mathematical error which overcompensated for inflation was particularly detrimental given the double-digit inflation of this period, and the error led to benefit increases that were nowhere near financially sustainable. The high inflation, double-indexing, and lower than expected wage growth was financial disaster for Social Security.


1977 Amendments

To combat the declining financial outlook, in 1977 Congress passed and Carter signed legislation fixing the double-indexing mistake. This amendment also altered the tax formulas to raise more money, increasing withholding from 2% to 6.15%. With these changes, President Carter remarked, "Now this legislation will guarantee that from 1980 to the year 2030, the Social Security funds will be sound." This turned out not to be the case. The financial picture declined almost immediately and by the early 1980s, the system was again in crisis.


1983 Amendments

After the 1977 amendments, the economic assumptions surrounding Social Security projections continued to be overly optimistic as the program moved toward a crisis. For example, COLAs were attached to increases in the CPI. This meant that they changed with prices, instead of wages. Before the 1970s, wage measurements exceeded changes in price. In the 1970s, however, this reversed and real wages decreased. This meant that FICA revenues could not keep up with the increasing benefits that were being given out. Continued high unemployment levels also lowered the amount of Social Security tax that could be collected. These two developments were decreasing the Social Security Trust Fund reserves. In 1982, projections indicated that the Social Security Trust Fund would run out of money by 1983, and there was talk of the system being unable to pay benefits. The National Commission on Social Security Reform (NCSSR), chaired by
Alan Greenspan Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He works as a private adviser and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. ...
, was empaneled to investigate the long-run solvency of Social Security. The 1983 Amendments to the SSA were based on the NCSSR's Final Report. The NCSSR recommended enacting a six-month delay in the COLA and changing the tax-rate schedules for the years between 1984 and 1990. It also proposed an income tax on the Social Security benefits of higher-income individuals. This meant that benefits in excess of a household income threshold, generally $25,000 for singles and $32,000 for couples (the precise formula computes and compares three different measures) became taxable. These changes were important for generating revenue in the short term. Also of concern was the long-term prospect for Social Security because of demographic considerations. Of particular concern was the issue of what would happen when people born during the
post–World War II baby boom The middle of the 20th century was marked by a significant and persistent increase in fertility rates in many countries of the world, especially in the Western world. The term ''baby boom'' is often used to refer to this particular boom, generall ...
retired. The NCSSR made several recommendations for addressing the issue. Under the 1983 amendments to Social Security, a previously enacted increase in the payroll tax rate was accelerated, additional employees were added to the system, the full-benefit retirement age was slowly increased, and up to one-half of the value of the Social Security benefit was made potentially taxable income.


Social Security Trust Fund

The 1983 Amendments also included a provision to exclude the
Social Security Trust Fund The Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund (collectively, the Social Security Trust Fund or Trust Funds) are trust funds that provide for payment of Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and D ...
from the unified budget (to take it " off-budget"). Yet today Social Security is treated like all the other trust funds of the Unified Budget. As a result of these changes, particularly the tax increases, the Social Security system began to generate a large short-term surplus of funds, intended to cover the added retirement costs of the "
baby boomer Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
s". Congress invested these surpluses into special series, non-marketable U.S.
Treasury securities United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as an alternative to taxation. Since 2012, U.S. gov ...
held by the Social Security Trust Fund. Under the law, the government bonds held by Social Security are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.


The Supreme Court and the evolution of Social Security

The
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions ...
has established that no one has any legal right to Social Security benefits. The Court decided, in '' Flemming v. Nestor'' (1960), that "entitlement to Social Security benefits is not a contractual right". In that case, Ephram Nestor, a Bulgarian immigrant to the United States who made contributions for covered wages for the statutorily required "quarters of coverage" was nonetheless denied benefits after being deported in 1956 for being a member of the Communist party. The case specifically held:
2. A person covered by the Social Security Act has not such a right in old-age benefit payments as would make every defeasance of "accrued" interests violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Pp. 608–611. (a) The noncontractual interest of an employee covered by the Act cannot be soundly analogized to that of the holder of an annuity, whose right to benefits are based on his contractual premium payments. Pp. 608–610. (b) To engraft upon the Social Security System a concept of "accrued property rights" would deprive it of the flexibility and 63 U.S. 603, 604boldness in adjustment to ever-changing conditions which it demands and which Congress probably had in mind when it expressly reserved the right to alter, amend or repeal any provision of the Act. Pp. 610–611. 3. Section 202 (n) of the Act cannot be condemned as so lacking in rational justification as to offend due process. Pp. 611–612. 4. Termination of appellee's benefits under 202 (n) does not amount to punishing him without a trial, in violation of Art. III, 2, cl. 3, of the Constitution or the Sixth Amendment; nor is 202 (n) a
bill of attainder A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder or writ of attainder or bill of penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of people, guilty of some crime, and punishing them, often without a trial. As with attai ...
or ex post facto law, since its purpose is not punitive. Pp. 612–621. 5
The Supreme Court was also responsible for major changes in Social Security. Many of these cases were pivotal in changing the assumptions about differences in wage earning among men and women in the Social Security system. * ''
Goldberg v. Kelly ''Goldberg v. Kelly'', 397 U.S. 254 (1970), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires an evidentiary hearing before a recipie ...
'' (1970): The Supreme Court ruled that the
due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pe ...
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment required there to be an evidentiary hearing before a recipient can be deprived of government benefits. * '' Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld'' (1975): Stephen Wiesenfeld was a widower who claimed that he was entitled to his deceased wife's benefit. Before this case a widow and her children were eligible for her husband's Social Security benefits; however, if a wife died only her children and not the widower could receive benefits. Wiesenfeld believed that this violated his right to equal protection under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. The court upheld his claims, stating that automatically granting widows the benefits and denying them to widowers violated
equal protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
in the Fourteenth Amendment.


Dates of coverage for various workers

* 1935 All workers in commerce and industry (except railroads) under age 65. * 1939 Age restriction eliminated; sailors, bank employees added; food-processing workers removed * 1946 Railroad and Social Security earnings combined to determine eligibility for and amount of survivor benefits. * 1950 Regularly employed farm and domestic workers. Nonfarm self-employed (except professional groups). Federal civilian employees not under retirement system. Americans employed outside United States by American employer. Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. At the option of the State, State and local government employees not under retirement system. Nonprofit organizations could elect coverage for their employees (other than ministers). * 1951 Railroad workers with less than 10 years of service, for all benefits. (After October 1951, coverage is retroactive to 1937.) * 1954 Farm self-employed. Professional self-employed except lawyers, dentists, doctors, and other medical groups. Additional regularly employed farm and domestic workers. Homeworkers. State and local government employees (except firefighters and police officers) under retirement system if agreed to by referendum. Ministers could elect coverage as self-employed. * 1956 Members of the uniformed services. Remainder of professional self-employed except doctors. By referendum, firefighters and police officers in designated States. * 1965 Interns. Self-employed doctors. Tips. * 1967 Ministers (unless exemption is claimed on grounds of conscience or religious principles). Firefighters under retirement system in all States. * 1972 Members of a religious order subject to a
vow of poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little . * 1983 All federal civilian employees hired after 1983; members of Congress, the President and Vice-President and federal judges; all employees of nonprofit organizations. Covered state and local government employees prohibited from opting out of Social Security. * 1990 Employees of state and local governments not covered under a retirement plan.


See also

*
United States labor law United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the United States. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "org ...


Notes


Further reading

* Achenbaum, W. Andrew. ''Social Security: Visions and Revisions'' (1986), a scholarly history of Social Security and retirement in the USA
online
* Achenbaum, W. Andrew. ''Old age in the new land: The American experience since 1790'' (JHU Press, 1978)
online
* Anglim, Christopher, and Brian Gratton. "Organized labor and old age pensions." ''International Journal of Aging and Human Development'' 25.2 (1987): 91-107. * Bethell, Thomas N. "Roosevelt Redux." ''American Scholar'' 74.2 (2005): 18–3
online
a popular account. * Burns, Eveline M. ''The American social security system'' (1949) comprehensive old overview. * Burns, Eveline M. ''Toward Social Security: An Explanation of the Social Security Act and a Survey of the Larger Issues'' (1936
online
* Davies, Gareth, and Martha Derthick. "Race and social welfare policy: The Social Security Act of 1935." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 112.2 (1997): 217-235
online
* DeWitt, Larry. "Financing Social Security, 1939-1949: a reexamination of the financing policies of this period." ''Social Security Bulletin'' 67 (2007): 51
online
* DeWitt, Larry. "The decision to exclude agricultural and domestic workers from the 1935 Social Security Act." ''Social Security Bulletin'' 70 (2010): 49
online
* Gordon, Linda. "Social insurance and public assistance: The influence of gender in welfare thought in the United States, 1890-1935." ''American Historical Review'' 97.1 (1992): 19-54
online
* Graebner, William. ''A History of Retirement: The Meaning and Function of an American Institution, 1885-1978 '' (Yale UP, 1980)
online
* Ikenberry, G. John. and Theda Skocpol, "Expanding social benefits: The role of social security." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 102.3 (1987): 389-416
online
* Jacobs, Alan M. " Policymaking as Political Constraint: Institutional Development in the U.S. Social Security Program," in James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen, eds. ''Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency and Power'' (Cambridge University Press 2010). * Lubove, Roy. "Economic Security and Social Conflict in America: The Early Twentieth Century, Part I." ''Journal of Social History'' (1967): 61-87
online part 1
als
online part 2
* Quadagno, Jill S. "Welfare capitalism and the Social Security Act of 1935." ''American Sociological Review'' (1984): 632-647
online
* Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. ''The Coming of the New Deal: The Age of Roosevelt, 1933–1935'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1959) pp 301-315
online
* Skocpol, Theda, and Edwin Amenta. "Did capitalists shape social security?" ''American Sociological Review'' 50.4 (1985): 572-575
online
* Trattner, Walter I. ''From poor law to welfare state: A history of social welfare in America'' (2007)
online
* Wigderson, Seth. "How the CIO saved social security." ''Labor History'' 44.4 (2003): 483-507. * Zelizer, Julian Emmanuel. "'Where Is the Money Coming From?' 1. The Reconstruction of Social Security Finance, 1939–1950." ''Journal of Policy History'' 9.4 (1997): 399-424. {{ssusa Social security in the United States Taxation in the United States History of the United States by topic Liberalism in the United States