On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 17:13:18 -0400, "George Z. Bush"
wrote:

For the benefit of those too young to remember the way things were when Social
Security was enacted, we were a society who largely took care of our elderly
through the efforts of families, churches, and small, tight-knit communities.
The economic disaster created by the depression in the early 30s proved that
those sources were inadequate to care for the declining years of older citizens
no longer able to pay their own way. In addition, society was in a process of
flux, as a result of which families often broke apart and landed in different
parts of the country, and church and community ties were severed by older people
moving about the country seeking ways to make a living. If I remember it right,
that was the rationale that brought on the Social Security program, in which
people would be expected to contribute to their own declining years wherever
they lived and regardless of support available to them from other than
themselves.

I was just a young teenager in those years (early to mid 30s), but that's the
way I remember it. Have I got it right?

George Z.


Sounds pretty close to me. Nice historic perspective.
Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8