The Social Security program is a pact between workers and their employers that they will contribute to a common fund to ensure that those who are no longer part of the work force will have a basic income on which to live. It represents our commitment as a society to the belief that workers should not live in dread that a disability, death, or old age could leave them or their families destitute.

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977: (ed. Best Books on, 1977) - ISBN: 9781623767662