We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.
- Franklin D Roosevelt

The Social Security System is a scheme run by the US Government where taxpayers make regular (mandatory) contributions to a trust fund, expecting in return that when they get old or infirm they can draw on it. This was not always the case.