A SHORT HISTORY OF SOCIAL SECURITY-UPDATE 1 NOW IN THE RED
ORIGINAL COVERAGE UNDER THE ACT
Employment definitions reflected mostly white male categories.
Job categories that were not covered by the act included agricultural labor workers, domestic workers, government employees, and many teachers, nurses, hospital employees, librarians, and social workers. Those who worked on an intermittent basis were also denied coverage. This excluded nearly half the working population. Nearly two-thirds of all African Americans in the labor force, and just over half of all women employed were not covered by Social Security.
SUPREME COURT DECISION
Among the New Deal legislation struck down by The Supreme Court were the Railroad Retirement Act, the centerpiece of the New Deal, the National Industrial Recovery Act. The Court ruled invalidated The Agricultural Adjustment Act. President Roosevelt responded with an attempt to pack the court via the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937. On February 5, 1937, he sent a special message to Congress proposing legislation granting new presidential powers to add additional judges to all federal courts where there were judges sitting 70 years 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). This had the practical effect of tipping the political balance of power on the Court dramatically in Roosevelt's favor. After a heated six-month debate on this proposal, beginning with a set of decisions in March - May, 1937 (including the Social Security Act cases), the Court would sustain a series of New Deal legislation.
Helvering v Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937), upheld the Social Security program because "The proceeds of both [employee and employer] taxes are to be paid into the Treasury like internal-revenue taxes generally, and are NOT EARMAKED IN ANY WAY". That is, the Social Security Tax was constitutional as a mere exercise of Congress's general taxation powers. The court further opined the funds were at the discretion of congress and COULD BE STOPPED AS CONGRESS DEEMED IT NECESSARY.
Ernest Ackerman was the first reported Social Security payee, 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 payee was was Ida May Fuller on January 31, 1940. In 1937-1939 she paid a total of $24.75 into the Social Security System, and 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 lived to be 100 and collected a total of $22,888.92
As part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s "Great Society" program Medicare was added in 1965 by the Social Security act of 1965,. Social Security was changed to withdraw funds from the independent "Trust Fund" and put it into the General Fund for additional congressional revenue (THE LOCKBOX IS IN PERIL).
In July of 1965 former President Harry Truman became the first beneficiary under the new Medicare Program.
The government adopted a unified budget (THERE IS NO LOCKBOX) in the Johnson administration in 1968. As a result of this change 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, making it appear much smaller than it otherwise would.
In 1940, benefits paid totaled $35 million, in 1950, $961 million, in 1960, $11.2 billion, in 1970, $31.9 billion, in 1980 $120.5 billion, in 1990, $247.8 billion. In 2004, $492 billion of benefits were paid to 47.5 million beneficiaries. In 2009, nearly 51 million Americans will receive $650 billion in Social Security benefits.
Just wait until the Baby Boomers hit the system then the shit will hit the fan.
Current unfunded liabilities ( Social Security+Medicare+ RX Drugs) $105.7 trillion.
Billion $1,000,000,000= 1 thousand, million
Trillion $ 1,000,000,000,000= 1 million, million.