FRQ 15

An entitlement program is one that all people qualify for regardless of need. THe primary source of revenue for the Social Security program is income taxes. As the population grows, the average age increases so there are more people on Social Security. The graph indicates that the pay out of Social Security will soon exceed the pay in, meaning that the people receiving Social Security will be greater than those paying taxes into Social Security and the program will run out of money. Age expectancy is longer and birthrates are down, causing the American population to become older overall. If the eligibility for Social Security were raised, then less people would be eligible for the benefit, thus decreasing the load put on the younger population, extending the depth of the reserve.


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2006-2 In recent decades, entitlement programs have constituted a substantial portion of the United States federal budget. Social Security is the largest entitlement program in the US. From the information in the chart above, and your knowledge of the US government and politics, perform the following tasks.
(a) define entitlement program
(b) What is the primary source of revenue for the Social Security program
(c) Identify one threat to the future of the Social security program should the trends depicted in the chart continue
(d) Describe on demographic trend that threatens the future of the Social Security program and explain how it is responsible for the threat that you identified in (c )
(e) Explain how any one of the trends in the chart above would change if the age of eligibility for social security were raised.