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Social Security

Ah, Social Security.

The ultimate weapon in the war between the generations. Hand-crafted during the F.D.R. era, it's certainly doing all that it was intended to do, and then some.

Like a super-vampire, you can't kill it, and it keeps sucking the blood out of those upon whom it depends for sustenance (the up-and-coming generation).

Social Security implodes, politicians and retirees surprised

Submitted by bsfootprint on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 09:36
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Social Security Implodes, Politicians and Retirees Surprised

When Social Security implodes, it seems that only politicians and retirees will be surprised.

Well, OK, the kneepad media will feign surprise, too.

I suppose they'll be shocked, SHOCKED! when it happens. We'll hear the familiar cries: Why didn't someone warn us?

Then the finger-pointing will begin in earnest. Where did the money go? Was it the conservatives politicians? Was it the liberal politicians?

Got news for ya, buddy. It was just about all of them. At worst, they took part in the scam. At best, they looked the other way. Even the few who tried to warn you had to back away from dealing with Social Security, the third rail of American politics.

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Quote:  “The beauty about [Social Security] is that it is actuarially unsound. Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privileges that far exceed anything he has paid in.” – Paul Samuelson

Submitted by bsfootprint on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 22:06
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Economist Paul Samuelson, supporting and defending Social Security in his February 13, 1967 Newsweek column tells us without reservation: Social Security is indeed a Ponzi scheme.

Samuelson acknowledges:

  • Social Security depends on continual growth of younger workers joining the workforce to pay current recipients, and
  • Social Security recipients are paid benefits far in excess of anything they pay in during their working years.

Don't believe me? Here's a snippet from the book Social security: false consciousness and crisis By John Attarian:

Um.. what happens when the population is no longer growing? What happens when the taxable base upon which benefits rest is no longer greater than taxes paid historically by the generation now retired...?

I'd tell you but you'd probably hate me.

Via: Ed Driscoll.

Quote: 

The beauty about social insurance is that it is actuarially unsound. Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privileges that far exceed anything he has paid in. And exceed his payments by more than ten times as much (or five times, counting employer payments)!

How is this possible? It stems from the fact that the national product is growing at compound interest and can be expected to do so as far ahead as the eye cannot see. Always there are more youths than old folks in a growing population. More important, with real incomes growing at some 3 per cent per year, the taxable base upon which benefits rest in any period are much greater than the taxes paid historically by the generation now retired...

Social security is squarely based on what has been called the eighth wonder of the world—compound interest. A growing nation is the greatest Ponzi game ever contrived. And that is a fact, not a paradox.

Who Said It?: 
Paul Samuelson
Quote Source Links: 
http://books.google.com/books?id=zBQ0BzYdtiUC&pg=PA27&dq=%22the+beauty+about+social+insurance%22+samuelson
http://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/2011/09/08/the-beauty-of-social-insurance-is-that-it-is-actuarially-unsound/
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/ponzi_scheme_pedigree.html
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Ponzi was an amateur

Submitted by bsfootprint on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 14:04
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FDR: Ponzi was an Amateur

Charles Ponzi couldn't hold a candle to the creators of the long con chain-letter pyramid scheme known as Social Security.

Look: If a program requires ever-expanding numbers of new contributors at the bottom to keep the payouts coming to those at the top, it's a pyramid scheme, a Ponzi scheme, a chain-letter, a generational transfer scheme, a welfare program, or any number of other things, but it's not insurance, it's not an investment, it's not a retirement plan, and it's not a bank account. And because 'contributions' (taxes) are mandatory for most people, it's financial rape under color of authority. Got it?

When Social Security collapses, will anyone end up behind bars? Can we exhume FDR and try him for fraud? How about all the other politicians since then who talk about the phantasmagorical Social Security 'trust fund' or 'lock box'? (The only thing there is a pile of IOUs -- more debt.)


Update1

Rick Santelli hands it to Tom Friedman:

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000044440

Via: market-ticker.org

Update2

Here's a great quote from a liberal, Nobel prize-winning economist, acknowledging the Ponzi-ness of Social Security quoted in a book titled Social security: false consciousness and crisis:

The beauty of social insurance is that it is actuarially unsound. Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privileges that far exceed anything he has paid in... A growing nation is the greatest Ponzi scheme ever contrived. And that is a fact, not a paradox.

(Emphasis mine)

So: According to Paul Sameulson, defending Social Security... it is actuarially unsound and retirees receive benefit privileges far in excess of anything they have paid in.

Yup. It's a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid scheme, a generational transfer, it's welfare, or all of them. Get over it.


Sources: 
Rick Santelli Tells Arch Globalization Advocate Friedman He Is An Idiot (www.zerohedge.com)
Social Security is Not a Ponzi Scheme, Mr. Perry (It's worse!) (reason.com)
Social security: false consciousness and crisis (books.google.com)
Ponzi Scheme Pedigree (www.americanthinker.com)
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Quote:  “Social Security always creates more public debt!” – Allen Sloan

Submitted by bsfootprint on Wed, 08/11/2010 - 20:29
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The 2009 trustees report, available at http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2009/tr09.pdf, does not contain the exact quote. Is this a misquote or was the report edited after the fact? (I assume it's a misquote.)

Quote: 

Supposedly quoting the 2009 S.S. trustees report: "Neither the redemption of trust fund bonds, nor interest paid on those bonds, provides any new net income to the Treasury, which must finance redemptions and interest payments through some combination of increased taxation, reductions in other government spending, or additional borrowing from the public."

Who Said It?: 
Allen Sloan
Quote Source Links: 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/09/AR2010080905559.html
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2009/tr09.pdf
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