Note: For those of you who might not be students of History, FDR is President Franklin Delano Roosevelt just like JFK is symbol of President John F. Kennedy. end note.
begin quote from Google AI:
While
it's true that poverty rates among the elderly were significantly
higher before the implementation of Social Security, the claim that 78%
of elders died in poverty before FDR is an exaggeration. Social Security, enacted in 1935, helped to dramatically reduce elderly poverty, but it didn't eliminate it entirely.
Here's a more accurate breakdown:
- Pre-Social Security Poverty:Before Social Security, poverty rates among the elderly were indeed high, with estimates suggesting that a large portion of the elderly population lived in poverty.
Social Security's Impact:
The
Social Security Act of 1935, a cornerstone of the New Deal, introduced a
system of old-age pensions and other social programs that significantly
reduced poverty among the elderly.
Poverty Rate Decline:
Social Security helped to slash elderly poverty rates from as high as 78% in 1939 to 35% in 1959, and to 10% by 1995.
Social Security as a Retirement Stool:
Social
Security is often referred to as one leg of a three-legged retirement
stool, along with private pensions and personal savings.
Current Elderly Poverty:
In
2022, the national poverty rate of people age 65 and over was 10.9%,
significantly lower than the national and the child poverty rates.
Social Security and Elderly Poverty | NBER
Social
Security is often mentioned as a likely contributor to the decline in
elderly poverty. Enacted in 1935, the Social Security...
National Bureau of Economic Research
Social Security Lifts More People Above the Poverty Line Than Any ...
Jan
21, 2025 — Without Social Security, the poverty rate for those aged 65
and over would meet or exceed 40 percent in nearly a third...
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Show all
Generative AI is experimental.
Mar 26, 2025 — (THE CONVERSATION) In 1959, more than a third of all elderly Americans lived in poverty. Slashing that number to under 10 percent by the late ...
Prior to the passage of the Social Security Act, elder poverty in the US was around 2/3rds (it is now around 10%).
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