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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Social Security Turns 80 - Benefits Earned Provide Financial Haven For Seniors

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Monday, August 17, 2015   

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – It was 80 years ago this month that President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, changing America forever.

The act guaranteed that senior citizens would not grow old penniless.

Sarah Jennings, director for AARP-South Dakota, says the program is held in high regard.

"Americans of all ages continue to really have strong feelings of support for the program,” she states. “Social Security remains a core part of our retirement security, and has been popular throughout generations and across all political ideologies."

One in five South Dakota residents receive Social Security benefits, totaling about $2.1 billion in 2012. In addition to seniors, Social Security also helps many people with disabilities.

Jennings says Social Security benefits are critical to a large number of senior citizens in the state.

"Social Security provides on average a little under $1,200 a month for an average benefit per retiree,” she points out. “Half of our South Dakotans who are getting Social Security for the retirement benefit rely on that fund for 50 percent of their monthly income, and we actually have 30 percent of South Dakotans who get Social Security rely on that check for all of their monthly income."

Jennings says Social Security should not be thought of as an entitlement.

"When I am speaking to groups of college students or recent graduates, I always make sure that they realize that if they've received a paycheck they have already started paying into their Social Security benefits,” she stresses. “So, it is something that we all pay into over a lifetime of work, and so it is something that is not an entitlement, it is an earned benefit."

Overall, Social Security generates about $3.4 billion each year in economic output for South Dakota.





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