This program was the A's initial responsibility and remains its largest single one, consuming 44% of the effort of its workforce.
The ocial ecurity Administration understands that it is fraught with faults. Its culpability is clear and the agency admits that it "did not do as good a job as we should have" when it came to monitoring I funds. In 1994 Commissioner Chater in her testimony before Congress acknowledged the problems and said that the public "has a right to expect that those disabled by substance addictions will not simply continue on the disability payment rolls without taking responsibility for themselves." For this reason, states have been order to tighten their candidate screening in order to ensure that only the deserving get benefits of A.
A faces many new challenges as well. The biggest however will still be ineligible candidates getting benefits. It has also been seen that many drug…...
mlaSSA is a program that must have helped many deserving individuals but at the same time, the agency has faced its fair share of criticism, problems and challenges. In the coming years, its most pressing challenge would be to survive under trying economic times. With this rate of economic progress, the federal government is not likely to increase funding to SSA. It may actually be forced to cut funding to some extent and that would hurt the program seriously and more oversights would become a strong possibility.
Social Security Administration, Executive Handbook of Selected Data, SSA Pub. 47-085 ( May 1988), p. 10.
Michael Rust, "Social Security Scam: Uncle Sam as Enabler," Insight on the News 11 Apr. 1994
Social Security Administration Strategic Plan
Social Security Administration
Written below is a prelude to Social Security Administration strategy plan. The prelude consists of size, history, location, reason for creation, core areas explored and other relevant roles. The plan is basically aimed at working along with examples taken from federal agencies and to assess the analytical thinking skills of students as well.
Size/Locations:
At present, what is the size of the organization? At present, it has around 75,000 employees, both state and federal. The plan consists of increasing the number of employees to 100,000 (Social Security Administration). With 1,500 offices, the field organization is capable of nationwide network service. There are 10 regional offices, 8 processing centers, around 1,250 field officers, 30 Teleservice Centers, 5 National Hearing Centers, 169 hearing offices, the Appeals Council, Baltimore, Maryland Headquarters and National Care Assistance Center (Social Security Administration). Plans are underway to increase the quantities of offices to…...
mlaReferences"
1)
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION AGENCY STRATEGIC PLAN. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://www.socialsecurity.gov/agency/asp/materials/pdfs/plan-2014-2018.pdf
Strategic Plan for the Social Security Administration
social security administration is an institution created with the aim of ensuring that workers have a secure future when they retire. The organization pools funds from the people through the check-off system where the employees and other citizens are deducted some amount from their salary automatically. The practice was adopted when it was realized that some people encountered some problems when remitting the money. It also ensured that they live a comfortable life once the income streams from salary have been deducted (Ware, 2011). The same is done in order to ensure that people who have always had challenges to the status of their economy. This paper discusses the strategic plan of the social security administration with respect to making the work go on smoothly. In this study, the possibility of growing the organization to better levels is also analyzed. The paper also analyzes…...
mlaReferences
Bovbjerg B.D. (2008). Social Security Administration Field Office: Reduced Workforce Faces Challenges as Baby Boomers Retire Congressional Testimony. DIANE Publishing
Bovbjerg B.D. (2010). Social Security Administration: Better Planning Needed to Improve Service Delivery: Congressional Testimony. DIANE Publishing
Osterweil, L. (2007). Social security administration electronic service provision a strategic assessment. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
Ware, W. (2011). Elements of systems modernization for the Social Security Administration a report. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
115). Congress certainly has the sole right to enact the legislation with which administrative agencies must comply. Moreover, the Congress has an oversight function, and it can and does react when people respond negatively to administrative actions, as occurred in the SSI and disability review examples (Derthick, p.153). Of course, the Court system is the major overseer in the United States. Derthick maintains that courts and administrative agencies perform sufficiently similar roles, making their potential for conflict great (Derthick, p.131). Both courts and administrative agencies are tasked with filling in statutes, but courts are generalists while administrators are specialists, making conflict between their decisions almost inevitable (Derthick, p.131). Moreover, courts may interpret laws differently in different jurisdictions, meaning that a single federal agency could ostensibly have to meet several different federal guidelines (Derthick, p.131). In both the SSI and the review scenarios, court involvement complicated the agency's task, with some…...
mlaWorks Cited
Martha Derthick. Under Stress: the Social Security Administration in American Government.
Washington, D.C., Brookings Institution, 1990.
Social Security was instituted with the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. It was signed into law by President oosevelt as a means of providing a social safety net for retirees. The passage of Social Security occurred during the depths of the Great Depression. Prior to this, the concept of social security did not exist in the U.S. -- you either worked until you died, or you retired when you were wealthy enough to do so. Social Security is run by the Social Security Administration, which also administers Medicare as part of the system. Social Security is theoretically self-funding. In 1937, the first taxes were collected to finance the Social Security system. Workers pay into the Social Security system via a payroll tax. According to the SSA's website, general tax revenues have never funded Social Security to any meaningful extent, implying that the program is self-funding through these…...
mlaReferences
Autor, D. & Duggan, M. (2006). The growth in social security disability rolls: A fiscal crisis unfolding. NBER Working Paper Series. Retrieved March 25, 2014 from http://cid.bcrp.gob.pe/biblio/Papers/NBER/2006/Agosto/w12436.pdf
Biggs, A. (2011). Means testing and its limits. American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved March 25, 2014 from http://www.aei.org/article/economics/retirement/means-testing-and-its-limits/
SSA.gov. (2014). FAQs. Social Security Administration. Retrieved March 25, 2014 from http://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html
Templin, B. (2006) Full funding: The future of social security. Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Retrieved March 25, 2014 from http://drupaldev.tjsl.edu/sites/default/files/files/Full_Funding-The_Future_of_Social_Security.pdf
National Policy
The social welfare policy I will describe is Social Security, which is the old age pension plan at the federal level. Social security was originally signed into law as the major component of the Social Security Act of 1935, by Franklin oosevelt.
The objective of this policy is to provide American who are beyond working age with some form of income. The general retirement age is 65, and many people at a certain point in their lives can no longer contribute economically. At such a point, the government takes care of their basic needs through the Social Security Act, by providing a baseline level of income, a sort of a national pension.
There have been many amendments or adjustments to this act that have been signed over the years. The latest was in 2009, when the No Social Security Benefits for Prisoners Act was signed. This act forbids the payment of…...
mlaReferences
Social Security Administration (2016) The Social Security Act of 1935. SSA Retrieved September 22, 2016 from
Also, this should be seen as a short-term solution for people who are temporarily out of jobs in the U.S. And not as a long-term means to living comfortably.
Social Security Benefits
Social security benefits help many elderly and disabled people to live a reasonable life. In 2010, more than 53 million Americans received social security benefits that amount to a whopping $703 billion. Out of these, 34 million retired workers accounted for $40 billion and $1.7 billion went to 2.9 dependents of retired workers at an average amount of $1,170 per month. The eight million disabled workers and their $1.9 billion dependents received an average of $1,065 per month and this amounted to $8.5 billion and $0.6 billion respectively. The remaining $6.3 billion went to 6.4 million survivors at an average monthly benefit of $1,129. (Social Security Administration USA, 2010).
The Social Security Administration of the U.S. estimates that nine out…...
mlaReferences
USDA Food and Nutrition Service. (December 2010). State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Rates in 2008. Washington, DC:Author. Retrieved from: http://www.fns.usda.gov/oane/MENU/Published/snap/FILES/Participation/Reaching2008.pdf
DeParle, Jason. (November 28, 2009). Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades. New York Times.
Social Security Administration USA (2010). Fact Sheets. Washington, DC:Author. Retrieved from: http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/basicfact-alt.pdf
Trumball, Mark. (2011, January 17). The Retirement Workforce. Christian Science Monitor.
It becomes more and more likely that by the middle of this century, all those hard-earned dollars that today's twenty- and thirty-year-olds have paid into Social Security will simply not be there.
Privatizing social security ensures the post-baby boomers that their money will be there for them when they retire. It takes the control out of the government's hands, which has notoriously not been the best financial advisor in history, and places in the hands of the individuals who earned it. In addition, eventually, it will reduce the expenses of the Social Security Administration as more and more workers no longer have to rely on the system. In addition, it puts money into the U.S. economy, not sitting stagnant in the U.S. treasury.
Disadvantages of President Bush's Plan:
Both aspberry (2005) and Weisman and White (2005) see one major flaw in the President's plan. The future scenarios that lead to the utter…...
mlaReferences
Ehrenfeld, T., Atkins, a., Ozols, J.B., Crowley, P., Grimes, L., Joseph, N., Raymond, J., Reno, J., Shenfeld, H., Shulman, K., Skipp, C., & Quinn, J.B. (14 Feb. 2005). How to land on your feet. Newsweek, 145(7). Retrieved February 22, 2005, from Academic Search Premier database.
Raspberry, W. (7 Feb. 2005). A test of faith on social security. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 22, 2005, from Proquest database.
Sloan, a., Berman, a., Macbride, E., Reno, J., & Riccitiello, R. (12 Apr. 2004). Why your tax cut doesn't add up. Newsweek, 143(15). Retrieved February 22, 2005, from Academic Search Premier database.
Weisman, J. & White, B. (9 Feb. 2005). Bush's social security plan assumes much from stocks. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 22, 2005, from Proquest database.
President George Bush has recently won reelection as the President of the United States. While he has remained clear and concise on many of his political stances, his position on Social Security has been one of at least marginal variation. His overall belief that the Social Security system should be reworked has not altered, but his position on the best way to do that seems to have changed from month to month. This paper will follow statements from President Bush since November of last year through the election, and will show that while his overall ideas have remained stable, the details of those ideas have changed.
It is important to note that the issue of Social Security reform is not new to President Bush. As early as July of 2000, President Bush was redesigning the Social Security system, beginning to introduce ideas of how to revamp the system to provide more…...
mlaReferences
Allen, Mike. "Bid to Change Social Security is Back." Washington Post, 21 Nov 2003: A14.
Andrews, Edmond L. "To Trim Deficit, Greenspan Urges Social Security and Medicare Cuts." New York Times, 26 Feb., 2004: A10.
Andrews, Edmund L. "Tough Issues, Awaiting their Turn." New York Times 13 April 2004: online. Retrieved 13 Nov 2004 from New York Times.
Associated Press. "Social Security Shortfall Disputed." Washington Post 12 June, 2004: A09.
Social Security program. The wrier explores what the program is and what problems it faces. In addition, the writer explains how the services work and what role social workers play in the program. The writer then wraps it up with a discussion about changes that are needed and what the writer would like to see implemented.
Each month the social security office prepares and mails out millions of social security checks to those who are eligible. Many people believe that social security is a program only designed to assist the elderly who have retired but it has several other purposes and programs that assist those who are eligible (Facts about Social Security benefits http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguide_socialsecurityfacts).
For one to explore and analyze the program, one first needs to understand the program completely.
Several of President Bush's ideas also seem to be feasible methods to improve the current system as well.
"When Social Security was initiated…...
mlaREFERENCES
Facts about Social Security benefits http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguide_socialsecurityfacts
Five Reasons to Privatize Social Security.
On Wall Street; 8/1/2001; Tanner, Michael
Social Work, Social Welfare, and American Society, sixth edition, by Philip R. Popple adn Leslie Leighninger 2005
Privatizing Social Security
Social security can be generally defined as a program that provides social protection or protection against conditions that are socially recognized to workers and their dependents. Such social conditions include old age, poverty, disability, and unemployment. This program is funded by the social security tax.
In most industrialized economies and a good portion of developing countries the postwar period has been spent to dramatically expand the pay-as-you-go social security programs that already existed. Although this expansion has led to a reduction of poverty rates among the elderly, it has as well led to the tremendous redistribution of sums from young and future generations, as a group, to simultaneous older generations, as a group (Altig and Gokhale, p.03). The mechanism that causes the redistribution to the initial elderly is clear. A bonus is received by the generations that are retired or close to retirement when an increment on the pay-as-you-go…...
mlaReferences
Altig, D., and Gokhale, J., "Social Security Privatization: A Simple Proposal," Working Paper
97-03, 1997. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Cooley, T.F., and Soares, J.. "Will Social Security Survive the Baby-Boom?" Carnegie
Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy 45, 89;12. 1996.
Future of Social Security
The office of Social Security makes the current attitude of the administration clear: "Social Security was never meant to be the sole source of income in retirement. It is often said that a comfortable retirement is based on a three-legged stool of Social Security, pensions and savings. American workers should be saving for their retirement on a personal basis and through employer-sponsored or other retirement plans," and not simply rely on Social Security. The F& Q. section of the website also adds that "more than 30 countries, including ritain, Australia and Sweden, have established versions of personal accounts," in response to these nation's rapidly aging demography (F& Q. Website, 2005)
ut Democrats say that the current president's idea of cutting future benefits on a sliding scale -- " with low-income workers seeing no change, middle-income workers seeing some reductions and the wealthiest sustaining the hardest hit" - say…...
mlaBibliography
"Bush Presses Argument for Social Security Overhaul." CNN.com. 30 Apr 2005.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/30/bush.radio.ap/index.html
Davis, Julie Hirschfield. "Fight Intensifies over Social Security on Capital hill." Issues & Campaigns. The Baltimore Sun. 30 April 2005. From Our Future.com Website. 'Frequently Asked Questions About Social Security's Future." Social Security Website. 2005. http://www.ssa.gov/qa.htmhttp://www.ourfuture.org/ issues_and_campaigns/socialsecurity/05_4_30_baltimore_su.cfm
His painting (social realism) called "Approaching Storm" is a remarkable portrayal of a man walking up a hill with a bucket of water and two donkeys waiting to be told what to do. In the distance is a menacing storm. The website (Twecht.tripod) says that this farm could possibly have been a beautiful place to live at one point in time…but now it is gray and windy…all life in the painting ceases to exist" (www.twecht.tripod.com).
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange is among the best known of all the photographers and artists that contributed to the social realism movement during the Great Depression. Lange's most famous photograph, "Migrant Mother," shows a worried woman with two "tousle-haired children clinging to her, their faces turned away from the camera" (u, 2010, p. 1). A third child is asleep in the woman's arms. That photo -- taken in a migrant camp in California -- is in…...
mlaWorks Cited
Archives. "Portfolio: Dorothea Lange." Retrieved Dec. 7, 2010, from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/text/port_lange_text.html .
Illinois State Museum. "The Federal Art Project (FAP)" Retrieved Dec. 8, 2010, from (2010).http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/art/htmls/de_FAPhist.html .
The History Place. "Migrant Farm Families." Retrieved Dec. 8, 2010, from (2010).http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lang/index.html.
Twecht Tripod. "Thomas Hart Benton: Approaching Storm, 1938." Retrieved Dec. 8, 2010,
Sixth, nearly one half of taxpayers in this country do not pay a nickel in federal income tax and that needs to change. There is something to be said of the poor not paying federal income but when households making north of $60,000 are paying nothing, there is something wrong with that. Many people point to the rich as needing to pay more but they've been paying progressively more and more for generations and if shared contribution and shared sacrifice is truly the goal, then everyone who has the means to at least pay a little something, should do so. As it currently sits, the top 1% of all taxpayers pay more than a third of all income taxes. The top five percent pays nearly sixty percent of income taxes. The top ten percent pays more than seventy percent of income taxes. The bottom 50%, on the other hand, pays…...
mlaReferences
NTU. (2012, November 17). National Taxpayers Union - Who Pays Income Taxes?. National Taxpayers Union. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
SSA.gov. (2012, November 17). 2012 Social Security tax rate and maximum taxable earnings. Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240/~/2012-social-security-tax-rate-and-maximum-taxable-earnings
SSA.gov. (2012, November 17). Contribution and Benefit Base. The United States Social Security Administration. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/cbb.html
Social Security is a big insurance collection into which all working people contribute.
The current Social Security system is similar to an underfunded pension. Underfunded does not mean that it is in a dilemma, but that its funds are not sufficient to pay future benefits without gathering future tax revenues. Ultimately, Congress will have to deal with whether to change Social Security. Politically, much of the support for the program stems from the awareness that it is an earned benefit, not a welfare program. But in a time of fiscal strictness, Congress should at least think about whether it makes sense that an increase in taxes to finance the system automatically increases the benefits paid to those who need help the least.
Even though Social Security is often compared to private pensions, it shouldn't be since it is truly a social insurance program and not a retirement plan. Social Security started…...
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