Social Security A bit of history…et al

PRENOTE: If you think what is happening, won’t happen, or can’t happen, read this at your leisure.

It seems a good time to remember Social Security by re-presenting some history through some brief personal recollections, as well as some documentary ‘evidence’ as provided to a covered worker – myself – in 1992 and 2001.

It will be a national tragedy if Social Security and other safety net federal initiatives, all of very long standing, are tampered with, as is the active threat presently on the table.  Resist.  (I’m talking about other programs as well, like Medicaid, education funding through the Department of Education, etc., etc., etc.  Taking a chain saw to government might be a fun conversation; watch it change if actually implemented, including by those who were cheerleaders for it.  Everybody will be a victim.

My grandfather Bernard turned 65 on Feb. 26, 1937.  The Act was passed in 1935; the first social security benefits were paid in 1937; the first actual social security monthly check was issued in 1940 (ironically, the year I was born).

Grandpa likely paid nothing into the fund, and drew on it till his death in 1957.  He had been chief engineer in a flour mill for many years, and by the standards of the time would have been middle class.  The Mill closed in 1927, and in the same month the bank in which the family had their savings went under (apparently the two events were not related) but so much for retirement benefits for the family.  It was a double whammy for my Dad, who graduated from high school the same month, and his plans to go to University went under as well.

Personally, my venture into the social security world began with (apparently) four hours of work at $1.00 an hour in the summer of 1958,  It was moving dirt by wheelbarrow for an under construction church.  It was there I decided to start summer school in college, which seemed a better deal than being common labor!  A photo of my original Social Security card is below.  If memory serves, it was then issued perhaps at age 18, similar to registering for the Military Draft.  A rite of passage, as it were.

Thereafter, as laid out in the linked documents (below), came a pretty normal work life with a couple of dips.  Later in my work life, my wages exceeded by a small amount the maximum on which social security and Medicare were withheld.  Which is to say, I was at the upper edge of normal at the time I retired in 2000.  “Normal” was not wealthy.

In all these many years, I have never had reason to find fault with the program or the administration of it.  Basically, the personal contact has simply been person-to-person.  The ‘hiccups’ have been minor and rare.

So, that’s my narrative.  The following sheets you may find of interest.

Social Security History from SSA website

Social Security Facts ca 2004 Actuary

Here are two documents of my personal history.  “Back in the day” each year we would receive in the U.S. mail these annual reports on the state of our account.  Today, everything is virtual, which is a caution in itself.  If you want a record, print it out.  How to access information is accessible here.

Social Security 1992

Social Security 2001