Social
Security:
a social
insurance program funded through dedicated payroll taxes called FICA
(Federal Insurance Contributions Act). Tax deposits are formally entrusted
to Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, or Federal Disability
Insurance Trust Fund, Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund or the Federal
Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. The main part of the program is
sometimes abbreviated (OASDI), in reference to its three beneficiaries (OA
for retirement, S for widows and survivors income, D for the disabled, and I
for insurance). When initially signed into law by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt in 1935, the term Social Security covered unemployment
insurance as well. The term, in everyday speech, is used only to refer to
the benefits for retirement, disability, survivorship, and death, which are
the four main benefits provided by traditional private-sector pension plans.
In 2004 the U.S. Social Security system paid out almost $500 billion in
benefits. By dollars paid, the U.S. Social Security program is the largest
government program in the world.