The United States Social Security System is often considered a political football, frequently debated on whether the government should continue to manage it or should it be privatized. Either way, in today’s economy, it’s vital to the welfare of many. The main purpose of the system is to provide benefits to America’s workers and their families for retirement, disability, and early death. (Unknown Social Security ProCon) According to the data collected in the 2000 census, “Social Security is the main source of income for men and women 65 and older.” (Hartmann, Lee Highbeam) This finding proves people have become to depend on the government for this benefit, and for a multitude of reasons are not saving enough money to live on once they …show more content…

businesses; others feel that allowing individuals to invest their Social Security funds would endanger the minimal postretirement “safety net” for all workers that the program is designed to provide if individuals invest unwisely. President George W. Bush, who campaigned for personal Social Security investment accounts, appointed (2001) a commission that offered several options for allowing individual investments in stocks and bonds as part of the Social Security program and for securing the program's financial health; it estimated that it would take as much as $3 trillion of additional revenue over the next 75 years and reductions in guaranteed benefits to accomplish both goals.” (Columbia Encyclopedia Infoplease)
The underlying theme with the proposals was the concern the cost of the program in its current state would outpace the taxes paid in from the worker population and the money made on the investments in early to mid-21st century. If this happened, benefits would have to be paid from money being received from the current worker population, which were expected to be insufficient to cover the need. This would put additional strain on the Federal government and could cause taxes to rise and benefits to be decreased. Historically, returns from investment over the past century have proven to provide sufficient returns which would address the financial void; however, the economy’s stock market bubble of the