Doesn’t it just bug you when you miss the birthday of a close friend? That happened to me when I recently missed the 90th birthday of someone who (well, actually something that) has been a big part of my life for the last half century. I’m talking about the Social Security program that turned 90 a week or so ago. Former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on Aug.14, 1935.
I forgot to wish it a happy birthday in last week’s column, so I’m going to make up for it today by once again sharing a little history of our nation’s bedrock social insurance program.
Most people recognize that the concept of a national social insurance system in America grew out of the economic crises that followed the Great Depression and out of the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as president in 1932. His “New Deal” programs were enacted to help bring the country out of the economic depths of that time. And of course, Social Security was one of those programs. (By the way, Social Security programs had been in existence in many countries around the world long before FDR introduced it in the United States.)
But it’s not like our country was initially willing and eager to welcome this new kind of government-run old age pension system. And opposition didn’t just come from expected sources like conservative Republicans, almost all of whom vehemently opposed the bill. Most employers and even many unions just didn’t think the federal government would be able to finance and manage such a huge and comprehensive program.
Of course, many people were involved in making Social Security happen. But one often-overlooked person deserves a great deal of credit. And that was Frances Perkins. She was FDR’s Secretary of Labor. And it was her perseverance and powers of persuasion with not only labor leaders, but also with members of Congress, that finally took Social Security off the planning table and onto the floors of Congress as actual legislation in January 1935.
But once there, the bill didn’t exactly breeze through Congress. In fact, on March 20, 1935, The New York Times ran a story headlined, “Hopes Are Fading for the Social Security Bill.” Then FDR stepped in. He called the leaders of Congress over to the White House and gave them a pep talk. Not long afterward, those members of Congress swallowed their doubts and passed the Social Security bill by a substantial 372-33 margin.
Then the bill bogged down in the Senate with various members of the upper body trying to tack on amendments (such as making the program voluntary rather than compulsory). Eventually, all these issues were ironed out, the bill passed, and FDR signed the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935.
Speaking of that original Social Security law, many readers always tell me that we should take Social Security “back to its roots.” They think too many “goodies” have been tacked on to the program over the years and that we’d be better off with “good old-fashioned original Social Security.”
I always tell these folks that if they really mean they want only the original Social Security law, then all we would have is retirement benefits for people 65 and older who were totally retired. That’s it. Period. Nothing else!
So that means we would have no early retirement benefits at age 62. Those millions of people getting early retirement benefits could kiss their checks goodbye under the “back to basics” plan.
It would also mean we would not pay benefits to anyone 65 and older if they were still working. The original Social Security law required that you must be completely retired to collect benefits. So tough luck for all the working seniors out there under the original plan.
Oh, and there would be no extra bonus for people who delay taking benefits until a later age. Millions of seniors currently plan to work until 70 to get a bonus of up to 32% added to their checks. Back to basic plans would turn off that incentive to delay retirement.
