3rd Period: January 7, 2009

• Government provides social insurance to protect individuals against laws, without regard to need.
• The first social insurance program in the US was worker's comensations
• The most common forms of social insurance offer health protection and guard against losses from worker sickness, injury and disability, old age, and unemployment
• Social insurance programs are examples of entitlements
• Social security is social insurance programs that provides economic assistance to persons faced with unemployment, disability, or old age
• Unemployment and distress caused by the depression led to Social Security Act of 1936
• It provides 3 types of benefits: 1.) old-age surviving spouse benefits and unemployment assistance 2.) Grants-in-aid to the states for assistance to the needy, blind (since 1950), and permanently disabled 3.) Health and Welfare services through federal and to states
• Federal government collects taxes from employers and employees to pay benefits to persons retiring
• Social Security is not a form of savings. It is a pay-as-you-go system. Today's workers support today's elderly.
• Participation in SS is universal and compulsory by law
  
• Declining birth rates or economic depression could end anger benefits now scheduled to be paid to future retirees
• Political system must address the issues of who pays and who benefits from social security
• Annual cost of living adjustments (COLAS) granted by Congress increased the benefits received by retirees. We say that Social Security is indexed to changes in the cost of living.