Social Security

Social security, also known as social insurance, refers to a wide range of government policies designed to redistribute income. Such policies are generally justified as collective protection against various hazards of life, including illness, old age, disability, unemployment, and poverty. In the United States, the term social security refers specifically to a program of taxing those who are currently working to support senior citizens and the disabled.

Government programs to alleviate economic hardship have deep historical roots. The English Poor Law of 1601 required localities to impose taxes to fund almshouses and other forms of poor relief, and similar poor laws were adopted by English-speaking colonies in North America. Modern social insurance, at least as it is understood today, arose in Imperial Germany under the chancellorship ...