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<p>When Antonio Badamo had to quit his job as a machine operator after open heart surgery, Social Security was there for him.</p><p>&#8220;It was something. &#8230; It helped, but it wasn&#8217;t much,&#8221; Badamo said of the disability benefit &#8212; a relatively meager amount compared to the take-home pay he had relied on to support himself, his wife and three children. &#8220;But if it wasn&#8217;t for that, what would we do?&#8221;</p><p>A resident of the Tresckow section of Banks Township, a small Carbon County village just south of Hazleton, the 76-year-old Italian immigrant reflected on his introduction to Social Security after helping serve up lunch to fellow senior citizens at the Hazleton Active Adult Center on Friday, which marked the 80th anniversary of the Social Security Act.</p><p>President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the legislation on Aug. 14, 1935, establishing a national plan to provide economic security for the nation&#8217;s workers.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s the greatest security program for older people, and it&#8217;s wonderful for disabled people,&#8221; Ed Harris said before he and his wife, Marilyn, enjoyed a lunch of beef stroganoff, buttered noodles and mixed vegetables at the senior center.</p><p>Harris, 74, of Hazleton, recalled receiving his first benefits check when he took early retirement at age 62. &#8220;It was a wonderful thing. It was a feeling of security, and that&#8217;s always a welcome thing. It&#8217;s one of the things we hope to have in life but we don&#8217;t always have.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Extra income?</strong></p><p>Larry Piehota, on the other hand, said the start of his Social Security benefits &#8220;didn&#8217;t matter&#8221; to him, given that he has &#8220;a sufficient pension plan,&#8221; although he admitted that the start-up of his benefits &#8220;was nice. Anytime you get extra money, it&#8217;s a nice thing.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;A lot of people today depend on it for a living, and that was not the purpose. It was just supposed to be for supplemental income,&#8221; said the 73-year-old Hazleton resident, who is president of the PPL Retirees Club.</p><p>But because so many people do rely on Social Security as their only source of income, Piehota said he believes cost-of-living adjustments should be based on something other than just the Consumer Price Index. &#8220;Social Security (recipients) should get the increases congressmen and senators get,&#8221; he said.</p><p><strong>Run the numbers</strong></p><p>Since the first benefit payment was made to Ernest Ackerman on March 11, 1937, the Social Security Administration has paid out $15.2 trillion in benefits and administrative costs, while taking in $18 trillion, largely from Social Security taxes paid by workers and employers.</p><p>On Jan. 31, 1940, Social Security issued the first monthly retirement check in the amount of $22.54 to Ida May Fuller, of Ludlow, Vermont.</p><p>In June of this year, the average monthly benefit for a retired worker was $1,335.</p><p>All totaled, Social Security paid out $71.7 billion in 2014 to 59 million people in retirement, disability and survivor benefits in 2014, and $93.4 million of that went to 93,399 Luzerne County residents &#8212; 29.3 percent of the county population.</p><p>And according to the 2015 Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds Report, Social Security took in $884 billion last year, including $98 billion in interest earnings, and had $859 billion in expenditures.</p><p><strong>Uncertain future</strong></p><p>The report also points out that Social Security&#8217;s cost exceeded its tax income in 2014, and also exceeded its non-interest income, as it has since 2010. And this relationship is projected to continue throughout the short-range period (2015 through 2024) and beyond.</p><p>Beginning in 2020, its annual cost is expected to exceed total income, and therefore the combined reserves will begin to decline. Old Age and Survivor Benefits fund reserves are expected to be depleted by 2035, the report notes, and the program would be able to pay only about 85 percent of costs.</p><p>Some advocate for raising the retirement age and/or increasing the Social Security tax, which now stand at 67 years of age and 6.2 percent, respectively. Others advocate for privatizing Social Security, which would allow workers to control their own retirement money through personal investment accounts.</p><p>Supporters of privatization contend that retirees would have the freedom to invest their retirement money in the stock market as they wish, theoretically earning higher returns than with government-invested funds.</p><p>Critics argue that investing retirement money is too complicated and risky because individuals can lose their retirement safety net through bad decisions.</p><p>The issue remains one big political hot potato. And until some consensus is reached, it&#8217;s impossible to know what Social Security will look like when it turns one century old.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Harris </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081715socialsecurity_Harris_toned.jpg</photo0><caption0>Harris </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081715socialsecurity_Badamo_toned.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Badamo </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081715socialsecurity_Badamo_toned.jpg</photo1><caption1>Badamo </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Plan to provide economic security for workers turned 80 on Friday</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>BY THE NUMBERS</strong></p><p>Here&#8217;s a look at how Social Security benefits were distributed in Luzerne County in 2014.</p><p>&#8226; $68.9 million in retirement benefits paid out &#8212; $66.98 million to 52,475 retired workers, $1.53 million to 2,205 spouses and $400,000 to 640 children.</p><p>&#8226; $9.09 million in survivor benefits &#8212; $7.24 million to 5,940 widow(er)s and parents, and $1.84 million to 2,260 children.</p><p>&#8226; $15.40 million in disability benefits &#8212; $14.47 million to 12,525 disabled workers, $56,000 to 195 spouses and $874,000 to $2,490 children.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Seniors reflect on benefits of Social Security