Throughout The Reagan Administration Social Security example essay topic

The New Deal provided motivation for governmental action for fifty years. The material conditions of the nation could be cast into the frame of the New Deal and would motivate public action to address them. The way that they were addressed was framed by the New Deal's notion that the dispossessed of society were dispossessed because of the irresponsible actions of those at the top of the American economy. Government would become their representative in addressing the failures of capitalist leadership to protect the common man and woman. Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted the New Deal, which consisted of the Workers Progress Administration, and Social Security among several other programs. At the time, conservative critics charged it was bringing a form of socialism into the capitalistic American system.

Conservatives sustained this argument until the 1980's when President Reagan actions brought conservative economic beliefs into fruition. Ronald Reagan was to succeed in defusing the political power of the New Deal motive. In doing so, he managed the public / private line, moving many concerns back to being private concerns that the New Deal form had seen as public matters. Reagan was to accomplish this by substituting another motive that replaced the faith of Roosevelt with the faith of Reagan.

One of the programs, which the New Deal instituted, was the Workers Progress Administration. The stated purpose of the Workers Progress Administration was to provide useful work for millions of victims of the Great Depression and thus to preserve their skills and self-respect. The economy would in turn be stimulated by the increased purchasing power of the newly employed, whose wages under the program ranged from $15 to $90 per month. Although this administration lasted only 8 years it gave the understanding that a middle class American society would have to commence, for the economy to operate.

The assistance, which was given to workers during the New Deal, was to be eroded by the Reagan administration. Reagan's economic policies towards middle to lower class workers recognized the economic imbalance of American society as a problem, which could not be solved by so called subordination of the American taxpayer. The implication of this was that the government would not subsidize, using taxpayer money, administrations and programs that were similar to those of the New Deal. One can derive this conclusion by looking at Reagan's policy towards cutting unemployment insurance and his hesitation towards raising the minimum wage. Unemployment insurance, which gave workers six months in which they would be paid by the government after they had been laid off, was eliminated and minimum wage was not raised throughout the 8 years of the Reagan presidency Social Security is another example of how the Reagan administration moved away from the New Deal politics of Roosevelt. Social Security during the Roosevelt era was a program which established a permanent national old-age pension system through employer and employee contributions.

This program was installed because of the growing number of elderly who were unable to work and therefore became poverty stricken. The program at this time would be termed by individuals making defined contributions toward their own retirement through a payroll tax 'We are compelled to employ the active interest of the Nation as a whole through government in order to encourage a greater security for each individual who composes it' Throughout the Reagan administration Social Security drastically changed. In 1983 the Reagan administration altered Social Security by signing the largest tax increase in US history. Social Security was also amended by the addition of a tax ceiling, which was set at $60,600-above. So somebody making $600,000 or $6,000,000 a year pays the same Social Security tax as somebody making $60,000. Thus, a family at the 1983 median income of $32,800 paid out 7.65 percent of its income in Social Security taxes.

A family making ten times that ($378,000) paid out 1.46 percent of its income. And a family making 100 times the median income ($3,780,000) paid out one-tenth of 1 percent. During the years of the Great Depression our country solved its economic problems by assisting those whose social position did not allow them to complement the nations economy. The belief was that with assistance and training these individuals would help the country attain economic stability. As years passed Roosevelt dream of accomplishing economic equality through government assistance died and the belief of attaining economic stability through individual preservation of wealth surfaced.

This belief brought the Reagan presidency to fruition and a counter-revolution towards the of the New Deal ideals began to take place. Although, Reagan's methods for economic stability were drastically different than those of Roosevelt, they both strive d for the betterment of American social economic security. Done by Dan g ergs.