Friday, September 23, 2011

Social Security Is Not A Ponzi Scheme


I had this discussion with my father.  Here is an article by Dean Baker showing that if Social Security is a ponzi scheme, then so is the entire US government and most businesses.  Below is a snippet:

"The way in which Social Security is ostensibly similar to a Ponzi scheme is that it depends on new workers in the future to meet obligations that it incurs today. This also happens to be true of any debt issued by either the government or the private sector.
If the size of the working population in the United States collapsed tomorrow, then it would not have the tax revenue to pay off government bonds. Similarly, if the public stopped buying General Electric's products, it would also be unable to pay off its bondholders. Yet no one in their right mind would describe the bonds issued by the federal government or General Electric as Ponzi schemes."
 The image below is from Mother Jones:

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