r monthly Social Security check. Today, roughly forty-five million Americans receive monthly Social Security checks adding up to nearly $400 billion a year (Sharp: 391). These checks have kept 43% of the elderly out of poverty and nearly one out of every five citizens over the age of sixty-five relies completely on Social Security as their only source of income. (Sharp: 393).The structure of Social Security is the primary reason it is in crisis. Though originally designed to be a fully funded insurance program, the crisis of the Great Depression forced legislators to provide immediate benefits before any significant tax revenue had matriculated. The system was tweaked and became a pay-as-you go system. The new system has current taxpayers paying FICA taxes (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) to pay the benefits for current Social Security recipients. This transfer of wealth seemed to be the most efficient way to proceed with the program. The baby boom generation made the pay-as-you-go system work ideally. With more taxpayers than beneficiaries, the Social Security program has exceeded its payouts and will continue having a surplus, upwards to $70 billion a year, until sometime between 2015 – 2030 A.D. It is at this point when the system will begin to falter. Baby boomers will now be the beneficiaries, only now the new generation “picking up the tab’ is much Morris 4smaller in size and in return creates smaller revenue. The trust fund (the surplus noted above) will have to be tapped in order to cover all the benefits of the new baby boomer retirees. Not long after Social Security begins to lose money, it will become bankrupt sometime between 2025 – 2040A.D., depending on who’s numbers prove to be accurate (Sharp: 400). The Social Security crisis, though still at least thirteen years away, is in shambles enough to cause an outcry among a variety of citizens. From card-carrying AARP members to ...
