The Warren Township Government Center is full of people waiting to celebrate. The blue and green balloons and immensely stuffed gift bags is something they can’t wait to get their hands on. As a traditional party proceeds, everyone crowds around the cake to sing, but the song isn’t directed to anyone in the room specifically, just to a federal government program named – Social Security.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently celebrated its 80th anniversary and outside of Indianapolis, several other events took place around the country. Perhaps the celebration is considered a victory for the administration, but other Americans sleep in fear each night wondering if the program will withstand tough government policies wanting to see its demise. There are a handful of concerns for the country’s retiring “baby boomers,” those born between 1946 and 1964. The Pew Research Center found about 10,000 people will turn age 65 every day for the next 17 years, placing a heavy burden on the program.
“Eighty years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law and today there are over 1.2 million Hoosiers who have that benefit and who benefit from Social Security. For many of those folks 65 and older, Social Security is their only source of income. It’s very important we fight to expand the program,” said U.S Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind.
In Carson’s district (IN-07), nearly 121,000 Hoosiers receive Social Security and the average monthly amount for this district is $1,191.
In Indiana, there are over 1.2 million Hoosiers who receive Social Security and 62 percent of African-American working-age households do not have retirement assets.
This program isn’t only for senior citizens. Over 54 million Americans benefit from Social Security, including children age 18 and younger who receive benefits from the death of a parent as well as those with disabilities.
Even 2016 presidential candidates, such as Hillary Clinton, are beginning to address the true future of social security. Clinton recently revealed to AFL-CIO Unions that she wanted to improve Social Security benefits for women and lower-income seniors.
The SSA found 86 percent of older Americans received Social Security benefits in 2012 and the 2015 annual reports from the Social Security and Medicaid board of trustees project if combined, the two Social Security trust funds will deplete by 2034.
Statistics such as these assist those who desire to privatize Social Security, such as GOP presidential candidate, Jeb Bush who believes this should be a priority for the next U.S. president. Bush has previously stated he would support raising the retirement age to receive Social Security benefits and believes the program shouldn’t be an “entitlement.”
“I made a campaign promise to never vote in favor of privatizing Social Security,” said Carson. “Many years ago some folks in Congress were honestly talking about privatizing Social Security. This was right before the economic downturn so imagine if we did privatize the program, right at the time of economic downturn, we’d be in a whole world of trouble.”
While the political battle continues for Democrats and Republicans into the next election, the SSA has released their plans for the future wrapped into a project called, Vision 2025 released this past April.
Currently, the administration offers several types of income benefits. Supplemental Social Security Income (SSI) makes monthly payments to people who have low income, few resources and who are ages 65 and older, blind or disabled. Disabled or blind children whose parents have little income or resources may also be eligible for SSI benefits.
Social Security Survivors Insurance can be classified as “life insurance” from the administration which are paid to an individual’s widow or widower after they have turned age 65 if born before January 1, 1940 or age 67 if born January 2, 1940 or later. Other factors are considered such as physical ability and children age 18 and younger.
Social Security benefits are eligible for those who have earned 40 credits or more in their working career. In 2015, individuals can earn one credit for each $1,220 earned – up to a maximum of four credits per year. The amount of money needed to earn one credit usually increases each year according to the SSA.
Benefits replace only some of an individual’s earnings for retirement, which is based on how much they earned during one’s working career. Higher lifetime earnings result in higher lifetime benefits.
Vision 2025 includes each of those components of Social Security and addresses the rising population demand as well as the importance of securing American’s confidential information.
“It is our agency’s call to action to preserve and fulfill our social contract, which emerged as the foundation of our agency 80 years ago, and remains a motivating force for us today. We plan to build a stronger, ever-capable workforce, adopt engaging and contemporary training methods, expand our information and communication technologies, and modernize our operational capabilities,” said Doug Nguyen, deputy regional communications director at the SSA.
“We must proceed toward a rapidly changing future while never disregarding our customers’ expectations for excellence.”
When asked how the program plans to combat the growing number of recipients, the SSA didn’t give specific answers, however they did address how they plan to secure information in a society where several major company’s data systems are being overridden.
“The agency takes reasonable precautions to maintain the security, confidentiality, and integrity of the information collected online, including: Employing internal access controls to ensure the only people who see your information are those with a need to do so to perform their official duties; securing the areas where we retain paper copies of the information we collect online; performing regular backups of the information we collect online to ensure against loss and employing external access safeguards to identify and prevent unauthorized tries of outsiders to ‘hack’ into, or cause harm to, the information contained in our systems,” wrote Nguyen in an email.
Several experts raise concerns not only for baby boomers, but future generations to come. Several 22-year-olds have never held a full-time job and are finding it difficult to find employment out of college to help assist with student loan payments and daily needs.
Mark Cardoza, author of the book Positioning 4 Retirement believes qualified money for retirement has many strings attached.
“Qualified retirement funds – whether we’re talking about an IRA, 401 (k), Contributory or Defined Benefit Pension Plan, or Roth IRA – has so many hazards, pitfalls and strings attached to the government that it’s simply misguided to think one has ‘control’ over that money,” he said.
Rep. Alan Grayson who represents the 9th district of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives said ever since SSA’s cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) went into effect in 1975, senior citizens have been underpaid by as much as $25 billion per year.
“The federal government has been using the wrong index to determine what it actually costs seniors to live,” said Grayson. “Using the Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W), instead of one for seniors, is now costing the average senior almost 3 percent of his or her benefits every year.”
Although the program has withstood several economic recessions and high unemployment peaks, Americans are still concerned.
Jackie Gray, 68, said she’s afraid for the children who one day will need the program.
“I don’t know…I just don’t know,” Gray said shaking her head. “It’s so hard for us (senior citizens) to get our money today so I’m sure it will be nonexistent for them (children). The age keeps climbing so they better start saving now if they want a good retirement.”
For more information on the Social Security Administration, visit ssa.gov.
