Social Security Act of 1935

Social Security Act of 1935

Social Security Act of 1935 established old age insurance for much of the over 60 population. Half of the funds are provided by a payroll tax on workers and half is paid by employers. The act also provided federal unemployment insurance, welfare aid to low-income mothers (later amended to families), funding for individual state assistance to elderly individuals, and various other social insurance provisions.

Cry Wolf Quotes

Imagine the vast army of clerks which will be necessary to keep these records.

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Alf Landon, the 1936 Republican nominee for president.

The lash of the dictator will be felt and 25 million free Americans will for the first time submit themselves to a finger print test.

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Representative Daniel Reed (R-NY)

Effective January 1937, we are compelled by a Roosevelt New Deal law to make a 1 percent deduction from your wages and turn it over to the government. You might get this money back . . . but only if Congress decides to make the appropriations for this purpose.

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Two weeks before the election, workers in various Detroit plants found these placards at their workplaces. October, 1936.

Do not forget this: such an excessive tax on payrolls is beyond question a tax on employment. In prosperous times it slows down the advance of wages and holds back re-employment. In bad times it increases unemployment, and unemployment breaks wage scales.

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Alf Landon, the 1936 Republican nominee for president.