Tomorrow is the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act. It currently provides financial security for more than 74 million Americans.
A recent survey from the American Association of Retired Persons found that 95 percent of Americans approve of the program.
In 2024, more than 20 percent of the federal budget was spent on social security. In an effort to reduce spending, in the last year, the Trump administration has made the largest staffing cuts in the program's history. Out of more than 57,000 employees, more than 7,000 positions were cut.
Those who still work for Social Security say this has made it more difficult for them to do their jobs.
Because of decreasing tax revenue, the Social Security fund is expected to be insolvent by 2032. This would mean reducing benefits by more than 20 percent. For some, that could come out to $18,000 a year. This could have an outsized impact in the Bay Area, where the population of people who are 65 or older is increasing rapidly.
Tomorrow the American Federation of Government Employees is organizing rallies across the country. They want officials to fully staff the SSA, draw attention to its importance, and demand that wealthy individuals pay their fair share of taxes to fund the program.
