The transition from the U.S. current Social Security systems to a new one would take forever since this is already the largest database in the world, and the cost would outweigh any benefits (Fornili, 2017). Currently, approximately 40 million citizens collect benefits, and to set up individual accounts would be difficult. It has been projected that the current system has a trust fund exhaustion date of 2037, but a projection of a privatized system had a trust fund exhaustion date of 2030 since the funding of any transition would require money to be taken out of the trust (Fornili, 2017). Also, this would generate more bureaucracy and more regulations. In this regard, if the U.S. government was to place the Social Security trust fund on the open market, then the country could run the risk of not having any safety when the economy is in turmoil, as was observed in the last few years (Crosbie & Swed, 2019). Also, many obvious safety issues arise with staffing and training if the U.S. was to privatize Social Security. The security risks are great; these employees could potentially create false identities, steal from pensions of private citizens, or stalk their relationships via querying the systems. Moreover, the cost to train, background check, and rehire the entire workforce would be costly.
Furthermore, in regard to the 'phasing out' of Social Security, Social Security is a basic need (Özcan, 2019). A large majority of the United States retired senior citizens, widows/widowers, and disabled persons collect these benefits. If you were to get rid of the program, it would greatly affect our economy as well as our standing as a first-world nation. People often do not wish to invest or plan for a future, and they expect help at that time (Fornili, 2017). A series of bad investments could force a person into needing welfare, even after they work for so many years, and that would not be fair, and the government does not need more taxpayer burdens.
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Consequently, the budgeting issues and such can be repaired by modification throughout the system, in avoidance of major overhaul (Fornili, 2017). Throughout the last 70 years, the U.S. government has had many successful overhauls to Social Security. While it is not ideal to have to need to repair, it has worked. In the long term, the country is looking for a way not to allow Social Security to be affected by major changes to the US population and to stop all borrowing from the trust.
Based on the economic point of view, the question of whether to privatize social security or not is debatable (Crosbie & Swed, 2019). The cost to convert Social Security into a system of personal accounts might be as much as 30 trillion dollars, which may not be affordable. Nonetheless, there is a lot of discussion about the option - one that is completely unaffordable. Therefore, the real question is why the U.S. government spends so much time talking about the issue that is entirely not affordable to the country as at now (Crosbie & Swed, 2019). The issue serves as a straw man for both parties. It is a diversion from the nothing that both parties are doing. An attempt to privatize social security in other countries has not been successful (Crosbie & Swed, 2019). The UK transitioned in the late 1980s to a private system, but the management and service fees were very high, thus making it unprofitable to the public. Therefore, we would also expect the public to be educated to make them aware of their investments to open up the issue of more stockbrokers, Wall Street, and poor choices.
On the other side, Crosbie and Swed (2019) believe that the privatization of Social Security would serve as a dog whistle for the uber-left of the party that wants to believe that the GOP is trying to pull a fast one with the greatest accomplishment of government. Therefore, the authors do not believe that privatizing social security is a good idea. It is a government program, and it should be controlled by the government (Crosbie & Swed, 2019). This program is conducted for the safety aid of older people, and it is not about the profit. Private companies usually look for profits meaning privatizing social security will make it easier for these companies to increase their profit by exploiting older citizens. To make it worse, without government surveillance, it will give freedom to private companies to use different strategies for their own benefits. A company has the same right as a normal person have but all too often when corruption occurs in the company, and no one has to pay the consequences, thus leading to fraud and theft.
Furthermore, social security claims are very hard to achieve. It was found in a study that 90% of the claim normally faces denial unless an individual has an attorney by their side. Therefore, if an individual is thinking of applying for the claim, then they may need strong legal representation to help them to get the benefits on their first attempt (Fornili, 2017). Social Security was originally set up as a base level below which the government should not allow citizens to fall. If an individual worked and paid into the system, when they left the workforce, there would be something there for them. It would not be much, based on how much a person made, but they would not be left in abject poverty because they did not have a measurable income. The income they received as a return on what they paid into the system would at least allow them to have a minimal level of security.
Nonetheless, there is a lot of money in the Social Security system that the financial types would like to get their hands on. This means that the Social Security Funds normally attract lots of interest, and if put in the hands of the private sector, they are likely to play games to their heart's content with people’s money and embezzle (Fornili, 2017). As long as Social Security is controlled and not subject to the whims of that mythical delusion "the magic of the marketplace," this kind of speculation is more or less controlled. Therefore, privatizing it is likely to make citizens suffer more. The author believes that the privatization of social security fund would do absolutely nothing but allow Wall Street to loot the whole trust fund. They would go from leeches to locusts. The very idea that Social Security could be better run by private for-profit corporations is laughable.
Finally, I believe that most of the American rely and depend upon this program, as they grow old. The Americans have a common concept that they can work with comfort when they can, and they will be rewarded through their work after they grow old and unable to work. Therefore, I believe if the social security program gets privatized, it will no longer be a secure system that the American can rely on. With time, it will be like a pension program and may end up as the company will find it more costly. This is why I believe it is not worth the risk of such an important program ending or being downsized. Hence, the government should not let this program to be privatized.
References
Crosbie, T., & Swed, O. (2019). Introduction: Sociology and the Privatization of Security. In The Sociology of Privatized Security (pp. 1-19). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Fornili, K. S. (2017). Socialized risk and privatized profit: What addictions nurses need to know about the potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Journal of addictions nursing , 28 (3), 157-165.
Özcan, İ. Ç. (2019). Should Turkish coastal safety services be privatized? An analysis based on finance literature. Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi , (60), 113-123.
