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Social Security is a 60 year old program which provides retirement benefits to working Americans. It also provides benefits to workers who become permanently disabled and to minor children when their working parent has died. Social Security is funded through payroll deductions made by employers and employees.
The Social Security tax collections are placed in a special trust fund to finance future Social Security payments to retirees. The federal government is presently borrowing from this trust fund to pay for the current budget deficit.
Because there will soon be a much greater ratio of retired persons to workers, many analysts and politicians are calling for changes in the structure of the Social Security program.
The U.S. Social Security program is similar to European programs although most European countries spend a larger portion of their economies on benefits.
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