Social Security Taxes example essay topic

Essay Question D "Supporting the Poor, Dealing with Bankruptcy, and the Difficulties with Medicare" Over time, the lighthearted side of many different cultures has had a growing concern for supporting the unyielding needs of the poor. Fortunately, through the centuries, society has come a long way from the times of Robin Hood and other daring heroic figures. Today, many gracious people have taken it upon themselves to donate money, food, clothes, and other non-perishable items to the less fortunate. Others have spent long, strenuous afternoons laboring away in sweltering, hectic, and unpleasant kitchens just to give the needy a nice, warm meal.

During these modern times, however, not only have the courteous people of the United States given to the poor and poverty stricken; but unfortunately, the government has felt it necessary to take responsibility for the needy as well. The majority of the United State's countless citizens that are considered to fall into the category of being poor actually are, and many of these people need help. Many of these citizens are quite often simply caught in bad situations, which have the potential to grow into difficult financial circumstances. Quite often these complicated circumstances posses the capability to cause the situation to worsen, which it turn may result in the family or individual losing what little money is left, and any personal items of value. So, if these people are not financially capable of providing for themselves, then who should? Well, it seems that many of the financially secure citizens of the country have expressed strong feelings of sorrow to the individuals or families that have had such dreadful events take place.

In fact, so many people in society have felt so strongly about helping those in need, that the National government decided to take matters into its own hands. Now, the question is, should the United States government take on the responsibility of providing for the individuals who cannot provide for themselves? Should a certain percentage of the taxes, paid by the American people, be allotted to special funds for the needy? The answer is yes. Yes, the government should use tax money to help those in need. However, only the exact amount of money needed to help the less fortunate should be taken from taxes; no more, and no less.

The money obtained from taxation should be immediately distributed into special programs, sending the necessary amount of funds directly to those who qualify for such aid. Qualifications, for those receiving government-funded assistance, should be clearly written, strongly monitored, and closely followed. Those who are eligible for aid should only be persons who do not have the means, or physical abilities needed in order to provide the essential basics for every day life. They should also understand that the support given to them is strictly aid, and is administered in order to assist, not as a means of income. Quite often, many people have made the mistake of classifying the terms poor and poverty in the same category.

However, there is a fine line that separates these two terms along with their categories. According to the tenth edition of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary the word poor basically means, "lacking material possessions, less than adequate". Poverty is defined as "the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions". The expression "poverty line" is defined as "a level of personal or family income below which one is classified as poor". This is actually the term used to distinguish where being "poor" ends, and where the life of "poverty" begins. In fact, the dissimilarities between these two words are quite astounding, and the differences between being poor and living in poverty are actually quite extreme.

It can mean either living in a low income-housing residency; or being so poverty stricken that occupying a house (or shelter) is unimaginable, and personal belongings are nonexistent. Since the number of underprivileged, elderly, and disabled Americans has grown drastically in the past decade, the need for direct governmental funding has become essential. Not only has the need for governmental funding become imperative, the need of money to support the governmental funding itself is crucial. Since 1996 the number of American citizens has grown, however, in 1996, 48% of the federal government's dollar was spent in direct benefit payments to individuals. Since that time not only has the population grown, but the amount of citizens requiring benefits has grown as well. Many of these people rely on sources such as social security, Medicare, or Medicaid in order to make ends meet.

Unfortunately, with the growing population and increasing numbers of recipients, each of these programs is facing difficult times. Within the past years it has been known that Social Security and Medicare are going through very hard times. In fact, it has even been suspected that both of these programs are on the verge of bankruptcy. For example, with Social Security, working individuals pay into the program until they retire. Once they have retired, they receive the amount of money the paid into the program from other funds that are being brought in by current working individuals. The problem with this system is that it has gotten to the point that the amount of money the government pays out, is actually more than they receive.

There have been few suggestions made such as: raising the retirement age, federal workers join social security by paying social security taxes, increase pay roll, and by putting off the cost of living. Other suggestions such as raising the social security tax and the thought of privatizing, allowing people or government agencies to put either all or part of Social Security taxes into stock, have also been made. Although the situation has finally begun to level out, there is still much concern. Experts are afraid that soon the number of people paying Social Security taxes will be less, resulting in lack of benefits being paid out.

It is also suspected that by 2020 that there will be less than four workers per each Social Security receiver, which means the amount of taxes paid on Social Security will have to double in order to provide for its receivers. The other problem deals with the Medicare, which is quite often referred to as an "entitlement program". This system was set up to aid the elderly and disabled who were eligible for Social Security. Medicare has two parts to it: part A, which covers hospital bills, and part B, which covers physicians' expenses system.

This system is extremely costly because it is not very efficient. Sometimes the people who receive benefits from this program do not nessicarily need it, and take full advantages of it. Another problem dealing with this system is payments of doctors and hospitals. For example, since the government pays for medical visits under this plan it has the opportunity to change methods of payments and even cut what they initially offered to pay.

When this program was started in 1965 it was estimated that by 1990 the cost would be 12 million dollars, however in actuality, the cost was 110 billion dollars. There have been few solutions proposed such as getting rid of Medicare, and have the hospital government run, and the doctors as government employees. The other solution made was to allow the elderly people who are on Medicare to take the money they receive from the program, and by health insurance from a private company. Unfortunately, both Social Security and Medicare have had extreme problems since the beginning.

It seems as though they were good thoughts, but just were not thought out completely. Medicaid on the other hand, is a little different. Medicaid is provided for those who are considered poor, and do not have the means to pay for any type of medical insurance. Although this program dishes out a good bit of money as well, it is not really over used.

Since this program is designed for the poor people of the country, the government can tell if they qualify by looking at their income. Essay Question F "The Educational System" Education, like knowledge, has always been considered a valuable tool to posses. During early times, the educated people were looked upon as the rich and highly favored. Since then education has progressed to reach the rest of the world, and has enlightened numerous amounts of people with its endless benefits. People have begun to realize that an education can make all the difference in the world. For example, society has come to the conclusion that education can, indeed, aid in decision making, communication, study skills, people skills, and many other important aspects of a person's life.

Education is such a vital nesses city, and can have a lot to do with the future of a person's life. So, if education is so important to the world, and considered a must in the United States, why do we not take pride in our school systems? It has been said that the United States of America has some of the worst educational systems in the world, that is with the exception of third world countries. In fact, during the last twenty years, the school system in America has worsened tremendously. Why has this happened?

Well, the reason behind such inexcusable flaws in the educational system is absolutely unacceptable. The government has failed to put the importance where it belongs, and that is in the schools. Cutting the national budget because of the national debt has had a huge impact on the condition of schools, teachers, material used, and the location of schools themselves. For example, take into consideration the poor children that have to attend a school that is old, disgusting, and basically falling apart. How could someone be expected to pay attention is such conditions, much less learn anything. The government has also cut the salary of teachers.

From the beginning, it was a known fact that teachers were paid basically next to nothing, and that was enough to keep many people from this field of employment. Well, naturally when the amount of money allotted to schools is cut, something will happen to the teachers as well. Not only have teachers salaries decreased, but many of the best teachers have been relocated to inconvenient schools, laid off, or even fired. This is unacceptable, considering the people who are in charge of teaching the future generation of the United States may not be doing there jobs properly due to the conditions under which they must work. Much of the material used in schools has problems too. The material is either out of date or simply not good.

When students are forced to use material that is levels beneath their learning, of course not much is going to be learned. Finally, the last major problem in most public schools consists of the location. Most of the "lines" that have been drawn through neighborhoods, to designate the proper school one should attend, are very off. Some students have been forced to go to schools that are a long distance from home. This has been a considerable incconveniance for most parents to take their children to school before work. If the parent, or parents, are unable to take their children to school, then they are forced to ride the school bus.

Many of the busses pick children up from the bust stops at unreasonable hours in order to make the rest of the rounds, and to arrive to school on time. Considering all of these factors, it seems to make learning very difficult. Under such conditions as these the educational system is made bad. Who can learn in a school when it is 90 degrees outside, and the air conditioner is broken? Who can learn when a teacher is being forced to teach a subject they are not qualified in? If the teacher does not know the subject, than obviously they can not teach it.

Who can learn from outdated, or under level material? When students have ridden a bus for over three hours before their long day at school has even begun, learning will be difficult. If the government would take all of these problems into account, and make a point to fix some of them, then chances are that the educational system in the United States would have the opportunity to improve. The alternative is to fix the problems, and improve the over all school system, or else they will undoubtedly worsen. Not in all cases, but in some the government has had too much of a role in the school system.

For example, in some cases, the government has tried to control the size of the school, the location of the school, the material being learned, and in what types of classes the students are placed. This cannot be rightfully done, and expected to work. If the people making the rules for schools, pertaining to size, location, and material being learned, have not first handedly experienced the schools state of being and atmosphere, then how can they expect it to work? The truth is the government needs to have more of a role providing for the schools, and less of a role running the schools. The operation of the schools themselves should be left up to the principle, and other experienced figure heads in the surrounding community. Some people have even gone as far as to apply for vouchers.

These vouchers, which are not commonly used, take government tax money paid into schools, and return to the individual that has applied, in order to allow the parent to send the student to the school of choice. Home schooling is a choice that has been commonly made by most Americans. Home schooling occurs when one of the parents teaches the children in the home. Generally, the students learn more in this type of atmosphere simply because it is more familiar and more comfortable. Learning in the home along with other siblings, and being taught by a parent would be much more comforting than learning in a cold, new, strange enviroment. Because of the one on one aspect that home schooling deals with, the record, as far as grades go, have been excellent.

Getting into college is just as easy if not easier than that of a regular high school student. It has also been proven that the SAT scores of home schooled children have been higher. Now, home schooling may not be the answer for everyone. Some students feed off of a social environment, and require this as part of their personality. For students such as these, home schooling may not be a good choice. Also in regular schools, there may be other opportunities such as meeting new and different friends; which is not an option that could occur everyday in being home schooled.

The Home Schooling Association has grown, however, and they now have sports teams, clubs, and regular meetings. Home schooling can either be a good or a bad option, depending on the student.