Persuasive Paper - Grace 6th grade Comp

Grace is refining her skills as a writer.  Her challenge was to tackle a large problem in a persuasive paper.  Here is the results!  John and I did not help her other than a draft review :o)

Social Security:

Past, Present, and Future

Name: Grace Denson

Date: January 8, 2013

Class: Composition

Grade: 6^th

What is Social Security? Social Security is a government program that pays seniors once they get out of the work force. Social Security was instituted during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency as part of the New Deal program in 1935. Up until this program, people worked until they died. The purpose of Social Security is to remove older workers so younger people can have jobs. 

A very common misconception though is that money taken out of your paycheck for Social Security is saved for you. The money you pay is handed out to the older people on Social Security.  However, Social Security is supposed to run out of money in a very short amount of time. It is predicted to run out of money in the year 2043. That seems like a long time, but it is 2013 already! That only leaves thirty years left in the life of the program. In fact, Social Security was supposed to run out of money in the 1970’s. The only reason Social Security kept going was the baby boomers that came after WWII. Now that all those people are retiring, there just aren’t enough workers to support the retired ones. The system worked a while, but Social Security doesn’t work anymore. The problem is clear, but the solution isn’t.

What should we do about Social Security? The program isn’t going to hold out much longer, so we should privatize it. If Social Security was to be privatized, here’s how it would work. The money you currently pay into Social Security would go into a private account. When you retire, your money would be waiting for you.

How is this solution better than Social Security as it is? Social Security can’t guarantee you’ll get money when you retire. The money comes and goes. With privatized Social Security, you’ll have access to the money that you put in your account. If Social Security was to be privatized, you wouldn’t have to rely on the younger workers to make money for you. The system would be more stable.

Other people don’t agree with this idea. They argue that if you didn’t save when you were young, you could still have a source of income. Social Security’s whole point is to get older people out of the workforce. Privatized Social Security would still get people out of the work force, but you would be using your own money for retirement.

Social Security has been around a while, so for some people the concept is difficult to grasp. Some people say that Social Security is too large to privatize effectively. Other people worry this change might cause more people to be in poverty.  Another point is that it wouldn’t be public anymore.  It wouldn’t be public because you’d have your own account with your money in it though.

Social Security was never a stable system, but this might be our chance to change it into a stable system. Privatized Social Security wouldn’t rely on a pyramid of people, just you. Privatized Social Security could potentially last for quite a long time. Social Security is falling apart, so privatizing it could be a chance to change the future of American citizens. Are you going to stand in the past, or reach into the future?

Bibliography:

"An Argument for Privatizing Social Security." Money Talks RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2013. .

"Politics Opinions." Should Social Security Be Privatized? N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2013. .

"Privatize Social Security." Privatize Social Security. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2013. .

"Social Security Basics." Social Security Basics - Just Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2013. .