Social Security Anniversary

Last Sunday, August 14, 2011, was the 76th anniversary of FDR's signing of the Social Security Act.

My great grandmother, who was born in 1870, was a sixty-five year old widow the year the act was signed. I don't know if she ever received much in the way of benefits after they started being paid in 1942. I do know that she received most of her support the old fashioned way - from her children.

In fact, she never owned or even rented a place of her own. She would simply live with one of her children until she decided it was time to move on. She would pack a suitcase, get on the bus and travel to the town where another child lived. The first the next host knew about it would be when the phone rang and my great grandmother announced, "I'm at the depot. Come get me."

It helped that seven of her children lived to adulthood. That spread the burden a bit.

Last Sunday was also the 76th anniversary of efforts to attack or do away with social security. That battle isn't over.