Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?

businessweek.com

3 pointstokenadult2 comments

It does have a lot in common with one- except I am legally obligated to pay in because other people were conned. People are getting paid by new investors, and I guess the whole plan was kick started with people getting payments despite not paying in. The other striking thing is that the government has been siphoning off the excess investment for years, instead of saving it for when people need it. The whole plan is about to get payment heavy, and I hope it changes soon before I have to pay much more in. I don't plan to be able to get anything out.

I really don't buy the author's assumption of infinite growth. Also, the comments on that site are completely batshit insane. So many people are incredibly angry at "corporations".

Yes, the author seems to skim over the major difference between a Ponzi scheme, and Social Security - the government forces everyone to participate in Social Security, and can simply choose to reduce payouts (benefits) if things get too hard.

Also remember that Ponzi schemes work because people are greedy, and want to get rich quick - nobody gets rich from Social Security. This ties into the first point, because the need to make people rich fast means that a Ponzi scheme can't just simply reduce payouts without causing the whole pyramid to collapse.

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