Social Security turns 78

On this day in 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, providing, for the first time ever, guaranteed income for retirees and creating a system of unemployment benefits. Ever since then, Wall Street and their politicians have been trying to cut, undermine, demonize and privatize this most successful and cherished government program. A broad coalition of Americans and organizations, including seniors, disabled, unions, civil rights and women’s groups, nonprofits, elected officials and others continue to mobilize to save Social Security from these attacks and pass legislation to improve benefits. This loose coalition also is fighting the current Obama administration proposal to cut benefits using a formula called chained CPI.

In the video below, Jessica Desvarieux, producer of The Real News Network, interviews Nicole Woo of the Center for Economic and Policy Research on the history and current state of the Social Security trust fund.

For a list of peoplesworld.org stories on Social Security click here.

Photo: Protestors demonstrate proposed cuts to Social Security and other programs last year in Chicago, Dec. 10, 2012. (PW)