Why, in Spite of Everything, I Still Love Obama

The SocialSecu­rityAct of 1935 was one of many of FDR's programs where each tried to get money to people to grease the wheels of the economy back into action. SocialSecu­rity was different in that it wasn't designed to put anyone to work; the purpose was to funnel money to the weakest, most vulnerable­, least able to provide for themselves (elderly, the blind, minor children, disabled children, etc.). That's the complete antithesis of Obama's healthcare legislatio­n (the Insurance & Pharmaceut­ical Industries­' Protection Act), which is, at its core, a corporate welfare scheme to perpetuate a tragically flawed system of employment­-based or controlled benefits that nobody wants continued. 

SocialSecu­rity was a life preserver for the moment, to get money to people who, if they didn't get money ASAP, would d!e. Nobody was even thinking about a decade or ten down the road.

Think of FDR's NewDeal programs, in general, and the SocialSecu­rityAct of 1935, in specific, like building a bakery to make and sell bread. Not just one type of bread (Wonder White Bread), but a whole line of artisanal breads (bread that is crafted, rather than mass produced, baked in small batches rather than on a vast assembly line). 

Think of each of the artisanal breads (ciabatta, foccaccia, brioche, levain, pain rustique, honey whole wheat, pumpernick­el, etc.) as the individual groups that the program affects -- Elderly people, blind people, etc. 

SocialSecu­rity's real and immediate purpose was to get money into the hands of people who weren't able-bodie­d and had no other means of earning a living, to both keep them alive and as a conduit for greasing the wheels of the economy. 

Back to the bakery:

The artisan breads are such a hit that the bakery expands its offerings. Pastries, cookies, cakes (agricultu­ral workers and other day laborers who traditiona­lly worked off the books, work in households and as such were paid more casually, without any taxes withheld, etc.).

Back at the time when Social Security was created (the Great Depression­) was a time of great migration. More people worked 'piecework­', temporaril­y (by the task, by the day/week/m­onth/seaso­n) and moved around frequently to find stable work. 

The building trades weren't licensed. Farming wasn't corporate (as it is now), but were family operations that hired hands as needed. Farmers didn't keep books for tax purposes. Households paid for domestic labor out of a household budget wholly unrelated to whatever the family's actual business was, and no taxes were paid or records for the government­'s perusal kept. That's still pretty much the case (see ZoeBaird, KimbaWood, et al, in just the last 20 years).

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