Social Security is more than a deduction on your paycheck listed as FICA. Below is a description of this life-changing program. A program that has been the most affective anti-poverty program in American history. This excerpt is from Social Security Works For Everyone by Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson.
Social Security’s fundamental structure is thoroughly modern. Just as in 1935, when Social Security was enacted, most Americans depend on wage-paying jobs to afford the necessities of life. To be economically secure, workers and their families must have insurance against the loss of those wages. To protect against the loss of those wages. To protect against the loss of wages when laid off and unable to find immediate employment, workers need unemployment insurance. To protect against loss of wages due to disability, they need disability insurance. In case they die, leaving dependents, they need life insurance for their family. If they are fortunate enough to live to be very old, they need old age annuities they cannot outlive. Social Security is insurance against the loss of wages in the event of disability, death or old age (Unemployment insurance, which is wage insurance in the event of unemployment, was part of the Social Security Act of 1935 but is not generally called Social Security).
(image courtesy of Library of Congress)
