

Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme? - tokenadult
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/economicsunbound/archives/2008/12/is_social_secur.html

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mattmcknight
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".

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demallien
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.

