h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Another minor quibble:
You put Franklin Roosevelt outside the blockquote
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
better practice puts him inside but not in the italics.
like so-
>>>against poverty-ridden old age.Franklin D. Roosevelt

I might have the paragraph tags wrong on the previous post but you get the idea.

page turner- for ease of access
Entry: History of the U.S. Social Security Pension Scheme - A79441923
Author: Not Banned Yet - U180337

*nods in agreement with Shagbark*

...meaning with post 20 ^^^

Hi not banned yet - just a gentle reminder to let us know how things stand with this? Any thoughts as to adding a little more to the opening paragraph?

You are by no means the only one getting this type of suggestion.
Galaxy Babe who has over 200 edited entries is putting one through on John the Baptist and I told her the intro was to short.

Entry: History of the U.S. Social Security Pension Scheme - A79441923
Author: Not Banned Yet - U180337

Are you still around Not Banned Yet? I really hope so as you have put a lot of work into this Entry and I would like to see it complete the journey into the Guide.

Lanzababy

I too hope you're still around to complete the work, Not Banned Yet.

Specifically I'd like you to expand just a little on: 1983 Modifications ...local employees.
What are 'local employees'?
I can see they're not State employees and I expect they aren't Federal employees but am a bit flummoxed over what they actually are.

Otherwise all is clear; nicely done.

M a n

I had an Aunt who was a public school teacher in Hillsborough County Florida during the 1970s. In that day local units of government (ie cities, townships, school districts) could make alternate arrangements rather than charge Social Security. She worked twenty-six years and never was in the social security system. At some point, it seems the system was changed so local school districts could no longer opt-out of the system. Are you sure you don't have it backward- that the 1983 modifications eliminated the right of local employees to opt-out of social security?

I notice the phrase 'state and local employees' came direct from a government summary
http://www.ssa.gov/history/1983amend.html
My guess is some City budgets were looking for ways to cut corners and the Social Security Administration wanted to make sure opting out of the federal program was not one of them.

another federal report- The social Securitty System
The Committee on Economic Security (CES) said in part:

The old-age benefit system of the Social Security Act is perhaps the most significant and far-reaching of the entire program, for it touches at many points upon other phases of economic security. Permitted to retire at 65 years of age from gainful occupations with the income given them on the basis of their past employment, superannuated workers will leave open many employment opportunities for younger persons, thus reducing the volume of unemployment. Younger persons will in large measure be freed from the cost of supporting their aged parents and relatives and, as a result, will be able to provide more adequately for their own children. Moreover, public and private welfare agencies, when the drain of assisting the needy aged is lessened, can concentrate their efforts to a greater degree upon eradicating the causes of economic insecurity rather than alleviating its effects.

That report dating from the 1930s had high hopes for the program. Twenty-first century economists paint a less rosy picture saying the advent of the baby-boomers may overwhelm the system and also the average payment for Social Security should be suplemented by other pesions or annuities if one hopes to maintain a good lifestyle.

Hi Everyone.

Has anyone seen Not Banned Yet? This seems to nearly be ready...

Thank you for taking the time to write this. It probably comes as a surprise to Europeans that America has any form of social security!

I can see very little that needs to be done to this. It's well written and readable. Well done!

A few small points:

"It also created an automatic adjustment in the wages subject to FICA withholding." -- I didn't understand this sentence. I'm not good with money matters, but I think you could probably state it more clearly.

"to establish minimum amount for retirement benefits" -- should that be "minimum amounts"?

"increasing the amount of wages subject to FICA withholding" -- there's that "FICA withholding" phrase again which I don't understand.

"highly paid workers to not have FICA taxes deducted"
to --> do

is being fazed in --> is being phased in

Surviving spouse’s benefits --> Surviving spouses' benefits

More information on The Great Depression is available here -- the link on the word here causes a link in the right margin with just the word "here". You can get around this by putting a title into your LINK tag:

<LINK HREF="whatever" TITLE="About the Great Depression"...

I see that Not Banned Yet has not been around since February. All of the points I raised just now can be dealt with by a sub-editor except for the explanation of "FICA withholding". Is it just me, or do other people find the use of the phrase without explanation confusing? Perhaps this is some standard tax terminology which everybody understands, or perhaps it is an accountant's term which should be explained further.

Opinions?

And has the issue of "local employees" been explained sufficiently?

Once those are cleared up, I'd see no problems with this being handed to a sub-editor to sort out.

Suggest changing occurences of to

It may seem confusing on your side of the Atlantic, but evry wage earner in the US is used to the term FICA withholding. Our government loves to confuse us with Acronyms.
they have one for Income tax. they have another for medicare
and this one FICA withholding is how much is deducted from our pay to fund the Social Security Trust Fund.

Actually they apparently decided that that acronymn no longer confused anyone so they are using a new one now. The deduction labeled OASDI/EE on your paycheck stands for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance/Employee share. It's the required contribution you make toward your federal Social Security account.

Read more: What is Fed OASDI/EE on a Paycheck? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5132463_fed-oasdiee-paycheck.html#ixzz1eDBo7fGg

It appears the author of this article has gone elvis on us. which is really to bad since there is some good stuff there.
But I kind of wonder what is the point of suggesting changes if there is nobody there to read those suggestions.