Posted on 09/21/2011 2:58:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee on Tuesday drew fire from Democrats for backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s description of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme.”
Social Security fits the technical definition of a Ponzi scheme, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told conservative Laura Ingraham on her radio show.
“It’s not a criminal enterprise, but it’s a pay-as-you-go system, where earlier investors — or say, taxpayers — get a positive rate of return, and the most recent investors — or taxpayers — get a negative rate of return,” he said. “That is how those schemes work.”
Perry’s description of the Social Security as a “Ponzi sceheme” has been attacked by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Perry’s leading challenger for the GOP presidential nomination. Romney criticized Perry for scaring seniors and wanting to abolish the program, warning that the Republican nominee needs to work to reform the program.
“They’re both right,” Ryan said of Perry and Romney. “[Social Security] is not working, it is going bankrupt, and current seniors will be jeopardized the most by the status quo.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pushed back against Ryan’s comments.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Ron Paul Compares Social Security & Medicare To Slavery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzc1Dx530uc
It’s the same idea as “Macaca” — you use words to carve people up — and it’s selective “outrage” — manufactured for political “gotcha.”
Sorry but it was a Ponzi scheme from day one!
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation. Just like Social Security!
I think its absolutely preposterous that I have to pay into something that I will probably never get access to since it will be bankrupt by the time Im ready to tap into it. This is worse than a ponzi scheme, at least in a ponzi scheme the victims are unaware of their plight.
So did big mouth Laura agree or disagree?
And aren't held in it at the point of a gun or paid with freshly printed paper!
From the article:
The poker site had promised players that their accounts were protected and wouldn't be touched. But authorities say that, as of March, the company had only $60 million left in its bank accounts to cover the $390 million it owed to players. It routinely mingled player money with its own finances, and took cash from some customers to pay out winnings due to others, prosecutors said.Hmmmm. Sound familiar? Does the Social Security Trust Fund ring a bell? Social Security a Ponzi scheme? You be the judge.
I am a dissenting voice here, I know, but I think SS is a good idea, and it has been a good idea since 1935. I disagree that it is a ponzi scheme. My analogy is that it is like a group of people who get together to buy lotto tickets, in hope that they win in the future. The bigger the group, the better the odds of winning, and the smaller the take. SS is so big that winning is a certainty, but what you win is only a modest amount.
People who say “I’ll never get a penny back from it” are wise, because they will pay their 6.2% of salary, and still wisely invest for retirement out of the remaining 93.8% of salary. But you youngsters should know — I said the exact same thing in the early 1980s, before Reagan fixed SS for 50 years. And I’m looking forward now to my $1400/month to be collected in the not too distant future. (Plus - and this is important - if I die, my wife gets that. SS is also a life insurance policy for those of us who are married.)
I view SS as a tiny, wise side investment, that even if benefits are cut by 25% (as is the worst case projection for the next 100 years), it is still better than putting that 6.2% under the mattress. What you may not be considering is that SS is not hurt by inflation - high inflation, wages go up, and social security revenue goes up! And while you might put that 6.2% in stocks, remember that the DJIA has been growing slower than inflation for over a dozen years, and there’s no reason to expect it to do better in the near future.
SS is safe, wise, and more sure than any other investment you can make, including your mattress (because of inflation). Over 60 million Americans get social security right now. I think if any one of them complains, they are being hypocrits. And if you accept your social security check after complaining like I hear people here complain, you’ll be a hypocrit, too. But at least you’ll be a hypocrit who can buy groceries even if all your other investments collapse.
Okay..give it up!! You work for Congress, right?
No, but I will be drawing a SS check in the not too distant future. I admit my defense of it is not without self-interest. But I do honestly believe it is a brilliant idea conceived by Americans and has been a strong benefit to America for 75 years, and will continue to be a strong benefit to America for many, many more.
Remember - there are no workable alternatives. The idea of government-run personal investments should be horrific to true conservatives - do you really want to give government the power to control your cash? (SS is only 6.2% of your pay - you still have the other 93.8% to invest on your own without government involvement.) And the idea of halting SS checks would be an economy destroyer, not to mention a tragedy for the 15 million who have no other income to speak of.
(And always remember - SS involves no investment, no corruption, only 1% overhead, is totally inflation proof, and is as solid as America.)
The Feds are right this minute...spending your SSI monies on plenty of OTHER things.
THEY CONTROL IT!!
Not to mention FRiend....it's going BROKE!!!
Email going around—passing along...
Re: Social Security funds — it is maddening... Workers believe they’re footing retirements, older people believe they’re robbed, politicians use it to get votes and the government doesn’t want it to become privately operated....
Not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes.
If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that’s close to $220,500. If you calculate the future value of 4,500 per year (yours & your employer’s contribution) at a simple 5% (less an what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you would have $892,919.98. If you took out only 3% per year, you’d receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you’re 95 if you retire at age 65) and that’s with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you’d have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month. The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madhoff ever dreamed of.
Entitlement my ass, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn’t make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!
Congressional benefits, aka, free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now THAT’S welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement entitlements?
We’re “broke” and can’t help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless, etc.! In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti , Chile , and Turkey... And now Pakistan... home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!
Our retired seniors living on a ‘fixed income’ receive no aid nor do they get any breaks while our government and religious organizations pour Hundreds of Billions of $$$$$$’s and Tons of Food to Foreign Countries!
They have the unmitigated GALL to call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when its time for us to collect, the government is running out of money.
Why did the government borrow from it in the first place?
Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave ‘US’ the same support they give to other countries.
Sad isn’t it?
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