It is a "Ponzi" by definition, any argument to the contrary just makes you look ignorant.
HyogaRott Send a noteboard - 02/03/2013 12:02:46 PM
A "Ponzi" is a investment scheme (the word has negative connotations but none are intended here) that utilizes current receipts to pay for current benefits. This is what SS does. All the misinformed folks who say "Don't mess with MY Social Security, I paid for it, it isn't an entitlement." are simply flat out wrong.
I am paying for my father's Social Security check, just like he paid for his father's, and my kids will be paying for mine.
It is a Ponzi, because of how it is structured, not if it has worked in the past, or can continue to work in the future or how large the pool of forced contributions is. How big the forced contribution is, versus how pitiful the payout is the ONLY reason it has lasted this long.
This message last edited by HyogaRott on 02/03/2013 at 12:09:15 PM
Can You Name the Largest US Program to ANNUALLY Collect More Than It Spent for 75 Straight Years?
- 28/02/2013 11:03:18 PM
1315 Views
Medicare? *NM*
- 28/02/2013 11:38:22 PM
524 Views
No, Medicare has only been around about half as long.
- 28/02/2013 11:56:32 PM
816 Views
Medicare has its own problems, and caused many more. You really do not want to have this debate.
- 03/03/2013 03:03:15 PM
736 Views
No, I do not, because Medicare and torts are invariably scapegoated for all problems with healthcare
- 04/03/2013 12:52:37 AM
803 Views
I can argue with anyone on this (and have) btut first we need to break out that dictionary
- 04/03/2013 04:45:06 AM
724 Views
I am sure you can and have; ability to form arguments does not automatically grant them validity.
- 11/03/2013 09:56:11 PM
791 Views
Like I said, short conversation, once everyone uses the same definitions.
- 13/03/2013 03:28:52 PM
787 Views
From the way you're shitting yourself with glee, I'm going to say Social Security.
- 01/03/2013 12:45:50 AM
911 Views
Also unlike Ponzis, Social Security was not meant to profit—it just did anyway. For 75 years.
- 01/03/2013 01:55:46 AM
759 Views
It is a "Ponzi" by definition, any argument to the contrary just makes you look ignorant.
- 02/03/2013 12:02:46 PM
828 Views
Wait: An insurer is saying insurance is a Ponzi scheme? 
- 04/03/2013 12:56:30 AM
795 Views
- 04/03/2013 12:56:30 AM
795 Views
You are making even lese sense than usual... Quite an acomplishment. *NM*
- 04/03/2013 03:31:39 AM
494 Views
Maybe, but my math usually checks, and I never have to explain what I omitted.
- 11/03/2013 09:55:50 PM
882 Views
My math ALWAYS "checks" - it isn't personal, you are just making absolutely no sense, *NM*
- 13/03/2013 03:27:11 PM
432 Views
It's the world's greatest Ponzi scheme, since the government forces us to give money to it.
- 01/03/2013 01:05:05 PM
749 Views
Yes, "government forcing people to give money" defines a Ponzi; speeding tickets are Ponzis. 
- 01/03/2013 03:53:02 PM
877 Views
- 01/03/2013 03:53:02 PM
877 Views
Good lord my friend.....
- 02/03/2013 04:19:35 AM
788 Views
I will just link what Isaac said; maybe then you will pay attention to it.
- 02/03/2013 04:56:34 AM
828 Views
I really think you terribly misread what I said *NM*
- 02/03/2013 06:59:56 AM
433 Views
I really do not think I did.
- 04/03/2013 01:43:02 AM
867 Views
I'm pretty confident you have
- 04/03/2013 11:49:19 AM
853 Views
We evidently disagree on what constitutes a Ponzi scheme.
- 11/03/2013 09:56:27 PM
777 Views
No, I agree with a clear definiton, you seem not to want to absorb that
- 11/03/2013 10:24:47 PM
924 Views
Re: Yes, "government forcing people to give money" defines a Ponzi; speeding tickets are Ponzis.
- 02/03/2013 12:22:34 PM
846 Views
- 02/03/2013 12:22:34 PM
846 Views
Fraud="money contributed is NOT invested for the contributor, but instead redistributed to others"?
- 04/03/2013 12:51:30 AM
774 Views
You can try and misrepresent what I have said all you want, you are still wrong.
- 04/03/2013 03:45:24 AM
853 Views
Dude, how is QUOTING you misrepresenting you?! And why must I ALWAYS ask that in these threads?
- 11/03/2013 09:56:18 PM
825 Views
- 11/03/2013 09:56:18 PM
825 Views
Okay, that's a really weird or naive standard to judge SS by
- 01/03/2013 05:25:11 PM
799 Views
Great; will you put that on a postcard to Cannoli, A2K, Rick Perry and the rest of your party? 
- 01/03/2013 07:39:44 PM
822 Views
- 01/03/2013 07:39:44 PM
822 Views
I don't think I'd be telling them anything they don't already know... I mostly agree with them
- 02/03/2013 05:38:56 AM
936 Views
Means testing is flat out WRONG, and the contribution limit is a sticky debate
- 02/03/2013 12:43:09 PM
751 Views
Tell that to him not me, I didn't express an opinion and my implied one obviously doesn't favor it
- 02/03/2013 05:28:14 PM
882 Views
I was, I just hit the repy under the wrong post. He was the first to bering the two topics up. *NM*
- 03/03/2013 04:09:34 AM
431 Views
It is insurance against old age poverty, not a longevity lottery.
- 04/03/2013 02:00:24 AM
857 Views
It is not insurance, it is a pension plan, that also contains an overpriced LT disability insurance.
- 04/03/2013 04:00:42 AM
854 Views
Social Security Insurance; says so right on the label.
- 11/03/2013 09:53:33 PM
992 Views
You can call it BedroomWindowVitamins but it does not change what it acutally IS.
- 13/03/2013 04:34:42 PM
772 Views
"Sustainable"=/="profitable;" bankruptcy was not always a given, as your fellows claim..
- 04/03/2013 01:35:04 AM
755 Views
Sustainable often means profitable, they are not universally synonmous but both at once is ideal
- 04/03/2013 12:25:45 PM
753 Views
That is the IDEAL, but NOT point: Sustainability needs no profit, yet profit ensures sustainability.
- 11/03/2013 09:56:48 PM
1211 Views
Your attacks on republican ideals would have more credit if you understood them
- 02/03/2013 04:27:34 AM
809 Views
An ironic charge, since their defenses of those ideals typically suffer from the same defect.
- 02/03/2013 04:51:32 AM
786 Views
- 02/03/2013 04:51:32 AM
786 Views
I'm rubber you're glue, whatever you say bounces of me and sticks to you. nyah, nyah, nyah
- 02/03/2013 12:58:10 PM
730 Views
"Unsustainable"=/="meeting monthly obligations for 75 YEARS and still having $2.5 trillion left."
- 04/03/2013 01:03:09 AM
847 Views
Please look up the definition of sustainable. Hint: "its worked so far" isn't it.
- 04/03/2013 04:25:19 AM
812 Views
"As it is currently constructed/funded" is one HELL of a qualifier.
- 04/03/2013 04:41:30 AM
873 Views
You just don't get it, or apparently are so in love with your political ideology you won't.
- 04/03/2013 04:58:15 AM
680 Views
I believe if you check civilizations record you will find the human population has steadily risen.
- 04/03/2013 05:08:38 AM
787 Views
*sigh*
- 04/03/2013 12:15:22 PM
744 Views
Birth RATES have fallen; POPULATION steadily rose in every period except the Black Deaths peak.
- 11/03/2013 09:56:36 PM
1010 Views
Ironic that you would make my point while arguing against
- 04/03/2013 06:12:29 PM
695 Views
?
- 11/03/2013 09:56:59 PM
862 Views
you mistate his posistion and then rationalize that you know what he really meant
- 13/03/2013 12:06:44 PM
709 Views
aH yes the great liberal investmetn/retirement plan that offers me a NEGATIGVE rate of return...
- 02/03/2013 11:51:50 AM
724 Views
Do you sincerely believe people earning $14,560/year can afford investing 4% of it?
- 04/03/2013 12:53:30 AM
884 Views
*sigh*
- 04/03/2013 03:43:08 AM
716 Views
I tried it with compound interest; $44.80/month at 4% for 50 years still does not get to $1.25 mill.
- 04/03/2013 04:24:51 AM
797 Views
Here are some clues.
- 04/03/2013 04:37:39 AM
662 Views
It is math, not the Riddle of the Sphinx: EIther it adds up or does not.
- 04/03/2013 05:02:39 AM
814 Views
Math is simple - Either you know how to calculate it or you don't
- 04/03/2013 11:55:24 AM
896 Views
SS is supposed to supplement a proper pension, not provide your sole income after retirement
- 05/03/2013 03:53:03 AM
677 Views
Did you bother to actually read anything?
- 05/03/2013 02:32:16 PM
747 Views
do *YOU* know what "living in poverty" means?
- 05/03/2013 05:49:14 PM
810 Views
Re: do *YOU* know what "living in poverty" means? --- yeah, I've BEEN there.
- 05/03/2013 08:01:33 PM
786 Views
how about respond to a post with logic and civility instead of being a troll for once?
- 05/03/2013 11:03:00 PM
871 Views
All I have used is civility and logic, or least as much civility as was warrented.
- 06/03/2013 04:28:04 AM
822 Views
yeah, it's my fault for stooping to your level....
- 08/03/2013 07:22:24 PM
860 Views
Re: yeah, it's my fault for stooping to your level....
- 10/03/2013 01:42:26 PM
733 Views
i'm not going to keep going in circles so i will finish with this....
- 11/03/2013 10:08:53 PM
1080 Views
"Rah! Rah! Rah!" Can we please cut out all this blather and bile?
- 05/03/2013 11:53:41 PM
751 Views