How does social security act continue to affect the lives today?

. . . On the nature of the economic order, my assumption is that in this country we believe in a competitive economy with differential awards . . . Social security itself can, and in this country, does pay benefits in differing amounts to take account of differences in lost earnings. Yet at the same time it recognizes the actual or presumptive needs of beneficiaries. If we can agree on the kind of economic order we want, we still have the difficult job of reckoning with the forces on which its success depends . . . Thus we must consider the nation's productivity in deciding what social security benefits will be paid and under what conditions. Consider also, in a competitive society their effect on wage rates, on mobility of workers, on the business cycle and full employment. Mr. Altmeyer