Social Security in the 21st Century :: essays research papers

The 2004 Report of the Social gage Trustees is in but the jury is still appear arguing the findings of the report. Agree or not, the masses bring a good idea of the final ruling and they all agree that the current state of the societal security scheme has suffered, for a very long time, from an ongoing deficit problem that give continue to grow unless immediate steps ar interpreted to address the problem. People, on both sides of the fence, argue in support or against the presidents proposed plan to save the Social Security system. Yet, they all allot and acknowledge that in reality a problem does exist and unless calculated measures are taken, this problem cannot be controlled and will snow ball the Social Security System into bankruptcy.The Social Security system was designed in 1935 for a world that is very different from today. In 1935, most women did not work exterior the home. Today, about 60% of women work outside the home. In 1935, the average American did not live long enough to collect retirement benefits. Today, life forethought is 77 years. (2004 Report of the Social Security Trustees, p. 81) Benefits are expected to rise dramatically over the next few decades. Because benefits are tied to wage ontogenesis rather than inflation, benefits are growing faster than the rest of the economy. This benefit formula was established in 1977. As a result, the current 20-year old contributor is promised benefits, which are 40% higher than what will be paid to seniors who retire this year. However, the current system does not have the money to pay these promised benefits. Furthermore, the retirement of the Baby Boomers will accelerate the problem. In just 2 years, the first of the Baby Boom generation will begin to retire, putting added strain on a system that was not designed to meet the needs of the 21 century. By 2031, at that place will be almost twice as many older Americans as today, a drastic increase from 37 million today to 71 million. Curre ntly, there are fewer workers to support our retirees. When Social Security was first created, there were 40 workers supporting every one retiree. At the same time, most workers did not live long enough to collect retirement benefits from the system. Since then, the demographics of the society have changed dramatically where people are living longer and having fewer children.