Question.2428 - One of the biggest ecological phenomena of the twentieth century was the Dust Bowl. The severe droughts that caused dust storms in the Southwest and Southern Plains started in 1930 and continued for several years. How did the Dust Bowl affect farmers and communities in these regions? What efforts did FDR and the government make for those affected? Do you think it was enough? The Social Security What were the key features of Roosevelt's Social Security Act of 1935 and how was he able to get it passed? One of the brilliant features of the plan was the payroll tax, which Roosevelt noted "with those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my Social Security program." What efforts have been made to change Social Security and what has happened to those efforts. What are some of the challenges Social Security faces today and how can they be addressed? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Act https://www.britannica.com/topic/Social-Security-Act-United-States-1935
Answer Below:
DUST BOWL The Dust Bowl impacted the farmers as their crops withered and died. The fertile top soil ploughed by the farmers for years were blown away in the air within minutes. The storm had left the land susceptible to droughts and unreceptive for cultivation. The cattle turned blind while the fine sand stuffed their stomachs. Farmers had a hard time navigating through the dust storm and had to tie themselves into guiding ropes to walk from their homes to the sheds. The families in the region have to wear masks all the time and spades and broom their home every morning and hung wet sheets over doors and windows to keep the dust away. The children became susceptible to "dust pneumonia." Under the New Deal plan, the Farm Security Administration gave emergency assistance, encouraged soil conservation, relocated farmers on more fertile lands, and assisted refugee farm labourers who were forceful removed from their land. Furthermore, the Soil Conservation Service aided farmers to make their land fertile again and avert soil erosion. Taylor Grazing Act controlled cattle feeding on overused public ranges. Under Roosevelt’s Shelterbelt Project, over 200 million trees to be planted in various regions in the South, which helped to break the winds and moderated the Dust Bowl. Thus, the efforts made by FDR and the government tackled the Dust Bowl crisis from many fronts. What were the factors that caused the Dust Bowl? The Social Security The key features of Roosevelt's Social Security Act of 1935 were the two types of provisions for old-age security: (1) Central assistance to the States to allow them to give cash pensions to the needy elderly people, and (2) a framework of Federal old-age beenfits for retired workers. In 1934, Resident Franklin Roosevelt established a committee dealing with economic security to consider the demands of the five million old people who had enrolled with the Townsend clubs to ask for a $200 monthly pension for everyone over the age of 60. After evaluating the suggestions, the FDR government enacted the Social Security Act in 1935, which provisioned for old age benefits to be sponsored by a payroll tax on employers and employees. (Price, 2022) In 1939, amendments were made to the Act and included the spouse and children below the age of 16 of a retired worker were eligible to payments under the provision of Old-Age Insurance and at the event of premature death of the worker under the Survivors Insurance program. The rising life expectancy of people in United States has resulted in higher total pay outs. And of the same continues then the future beneficiaries will have to suffer a cut in payments at certain point of time. The solution is to determine the actual needy of the payments, and filter out those beneficiaries who are dependent on their children or have an additional source of income. What impact does the rising inflation has on the Social Security program? Reference Price, T. E. (2022). Social Security History. Retrieved from Social Security Admoinistration: https://www.ssa.gov/history/50ed.html#:~:text=The%20Social%20Security%20Act%20estab lished,age%20benefits%20for%20retired%20workers.More Articles From History