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The Rickster has been fending off his “Social Security-as-criminal-enterprise words” ever since he tossed his revolver into the ring, but it turns out our neighbors in Galveston County have been the “test tube babies” of a brave new alternative social security universe. Back in the 70s, county workers used a short-lived federal provision and voted to opt out of social security. Instead, they decided to place their retirement cash into one of Dubya’s favorite pet policies: Personal savings accounts. It’s been forty some years, so how did that bold maneuver work out for these intrepid Gulf coasters? For the majority,...

Social Security is a "Ponzi scheme for these young people," said Gov. Rick Perry in his first debate as a presidential candidate. "The idea ... that the current program is going to be there for them is a lie." Pressed by the moderator, Perry did not back down. He doubled down, calling Social Security a "monstrous lie to our kids." Is not such language provocative, Perry was asked. Retort: "Maybe it's time to have some provocative language in this country." Since Barry Goldwater suggested the program be privatized and LBJ ran an ad of a Social Security card being scissored...

Even after an op-ed in USA Today and a strong exposition of his position in last night’s debate, Rick Perry still draws heat for his characterization of Social Security as a “monstrous lie.” A new CNN/ORC poll, for example, reveals that 72 percent of registered voters say Perry’s description of the program is “inaccurate,” while just 27 percent say it is “truthful.” More of the breakdown from WSJ’s Washington Wire: The survey also shows that 59 percent of tea party supporters disagree with Mr. Perry’s characterization.Still, 55 percent of those polled say there’s a serious problem with Social Security that...

Someone around here has to know. It's nearly impossible to cut through the liberal media noise machine and find Mitt's words, but I know one of you freepers around here knows where to find it. Rush talked about it today, so we know Mitt said it: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2777387/posts Tell us where and when.

During his Monday show, Limbaugh warned the 2012 Republican field not to use Perry's remarks against him. He specifically named Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "I've not endorsed anybody and this is not an endorsement" Limbaugh said. "But be very careful if you start attacking Rick Perry on Social Security and the 'Ponzi scheme.' There are too many of you out there who have already said that yourselves -- Mitt Romney. Mitt, you have already called it a Ponzi scheme. And worse." "I've got a whole list of people here - media and outside -...

Broadcast on: CNN Broadcast time: 8pm EDT/5pm PDT The Candidates: Michele Bachmann Bachmann is serving her 3rd full term in the U.S. House. Founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, she earned a Master of Laws degree, worked as a tax attorney, and was a foster mother for 23 teenagers. She is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Herman Cain Cain is the former chief executive of Godfather's Pizza and former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He lost the Georgia Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in 2004. He was recently...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a sharp challenge to the GOP, President Barack Obama proposed paying for his costly new jobs plan Monday with tax hikes that Republicans have already rejected, and he accused them of political motives if they still refuse to go along. "The only thing that's stopping it is politics," Obama declared. The president's proposal drew criticism from House Speaker John Boehner, who'd previously responded in cautious but somewhat receptive tones to the $447 billion jobs plan made up of tax cuts and new spending that Obama first proposed in an address to Congress last Thursday. "It would...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry made waves during a recent Republican presidential debate when he referred to Social Security – one of the entitlement programs responsible for our nation’s skyrocketing debt – as a “Ponzi scheme.” “You cannot keep the status quo in place and call it anything other than a Ponzi scheme,” Perry said. “It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you’re paying into a program that’s going to be there. Anybody that’s for the status quo with Social Security today is involved with a monstrous lie to our kids,...

Until a half a minute ago, liberals called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, too. Is Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry a courageous and welcome truth teller for calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, or is he being needlessly provocative instead? Or maybe you think Perry’s Ponzi comparison is just plain wrong. I favor the truth-teller option, but the debate will surely go on. In any case, it’s certain that Perry’s Ponzi-scheme claim is in no way original. Not only have a raft of conservatives called Social Security a Ponzi scheme over the years, quite a few very...

Ponzi Social Security May Be the Wedge Issue for Youth Voters Chriss W. Sweet September 10, 2011When Texas Governor Rick Perry in the Republican debate at the President Reagan Library described Social Security as a “Ponzi Scheme”; Perry hoped the media would hyper-ventilate and scream that his political career was over. Back in 1982, Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill legendarily damaged the President’s and the Republican’s popularity by spinning that Reagan’s efforts to return Social Security to solvency was an effort to destroy the program. Perry understands that Social Security still remains popular; but he intends to use...

Mitt Romney didn’t wait long to begin his attack on Rick Perry over Social Security—his campaign is doing door-to-door distribution of a flier attacking Perry on the issue. The flier, which a campagn spokesman said is being left at the doors of Florida GOP primary voters, portrays the GOP primary as a two-candidate race—“Two candidates. Only one will protect what’s important to you,” is the headline. Of those two, it says, Perry is “reckless and wrong on Social Security.” The bold-face tagline: “Rick Perry: How can we trust anyone who wants to kill Social Security?” Romney, it says, favors “entitlement...

The Tampa Tribune posts a flier that the Mitt Romney campaign is distributing in Florida, attacking Rick Perry as "reckless and wrong on social security." The top of the flier has pictures of a smiling Romney and a surly-looking Perry, and reads: "Two candidates. Only one will protect what's important to you." Continue Reading "Rick Perry believes social security is a 'failure,'" the flier says, quoting the Texas governor's book. "Rick Perry believes Social Security is unconstitutional ... Rick Perry does not believe Social Security should exist ... How can we trust anyone who wants to kill Social Security?" Notably...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has gotten all kinds of grief from the smartest guys in the room crowd in New York and Washington for calling Social Security “a Ponzi Scheme,” and “a monstrous lie to our kids.” I can’t think of a more fitting place to demonstrate a Reaganesque honesty than the Reagan Library, with former First Lady Nancy Reagan looking on benignly as a couple of her crisply-coiffed Liberal Mainstream Media friends do their best to discredit the heirs to her husband’s political legacy. Reagan himself often spoke just as bluntly about liberalism’s many sacred cows, and he invariably...

Washington — A growing divide over Social Security splits the two leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, and the differences between Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney foreshadow a tricky political dance with older voters. Romney has seized on what he perceives as Perry’s vulnerability on a program that seniors hold dear, Democrats venerate as sacrosanct and Perry has labeled a “Ponzi scheme.” That sets up a battle for older voters in Iowa, retirees in Florida and the Sun Belt, and Baby Boomers everywhere worried about their own recession-scarred retirement plans. “If we nominate someone...

It has taken me a couple days to fully compose my thoughts on Wednesday's GOP debate on MSNBC. Like most, I was looking forward to seeing Rick Perry perform on stage for the first time. I like Rick Perry and would gladly support him, but he made two obvious blunders as far as I can see. One can be fixed, the other is his to own. I was and am still hoping that Governor Perry can improve himself as I am no great fan of Mitt Romney. While I prefer Rick Perry on the substance of the issues he failed...

According to the commentariat, Governor Rick Perry has stepped into a pile of electoral cow manure. Perry had the unrivaled gall to tell the truth about Social Security — that the program is, by design, a Ponzi scheme. As President Eloquent might say, the talking heads are “all wee-weed up.” Personally, I’d like to give Rick Perry a medal for courage and a laurel wreath for leadership. He has signaled his intention to speak truth boldly in terms real people can understand. Of course, Social Security is essentially a Ponzi scheme, fully dependent upon adequate numbers of new “investors” (workers)...

Betcha didn’t see this one coming. On MSNBC’s Thursday broadcast of “Hardball,” host Chris Matthews committed the mortal sin — he nearly parroted the theory that mortified so many of the network’s hosts and guests throughout the day. Matthews called Social Security “a Ponzi scheme” the day after Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry doubled down on his previous statements echoing that sentiment in the Republican debate (h/t Matt Lewis) Matthews first put forth what he thought Social Security was originally intended to be: “You pay for it while you work. When you retired and have no other form of income,...

Gov. Rick Perry has drawn a lot of criticism for calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” but the fact is that it bears more than a passing resemblance to one. In both cases earlier participants can only get their money back if new participants join; in both cases no wealth is actually created; in both cases the earlier participants get a better return than the later ones; and in both cases the system is unsustainable. But of course there are also differences. Ponzi schemes are run to make their originators a profit. The federal government is running Social Security at...

My friend Jazz Shaw worries that Rick Perry’s argument that Social Security in its present form is a “Ponzi scheme” leaves him vulnerable in a general election. Rick Santelli gave it a workout on CNBC today against the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who ends up sputtering into ad hominems when he can’t counter Santelli’s arguments about the nature of a collective that can’t pay out on its promises — and Santelli responds in kind. The Daily Caller provides the transcript and Greg Hengler provides the clip: This gets to the larger point about using blunt language to describe an...

Former George W. Bush and Rick Perry adviser Karl Rove said that it was an "odd moment" when his critique of the current Texas governor was mentioned in last night's presidential debate, and that he was "surprised" when Perry said that he had been "over the top for a long time." "Governor Perry is responsible for what he writes and says - what's he upset about?" Rove said on Fox News.