Is it a Pyramid or a Ponzi scheme?

Social Security not such a good deal for workers anymore
Definition of a Ponzi Scheme
Definition of a Pyramid scheme
It seems, according to the latest reports on the American Social Security system that current recipients will be unlike their predecessors: They will get less from Social Security than they put in it.
It seems that, up to now, when a person retired on Social Security that they received more in payments than they put in. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, now that the baby boomer generation is starting to retire and take Social Security, it seems that the money coming in from taxes is going to be less than the payments going out. That doesn’t sound so good, does it?
Well, the good thing for the Social Security system, there is this huge trust fund set up to make up the differences. You see, the federal government (i.e. Congress) has invested all the extra money taken in over the years in federal treasury notes. Those, you should know, are the best, most secure investments you can make. They are guaranteed by the government, even if the Federal Reserve just has to print some more money to cover them.
Anyway, this trust fund should last, under current calculations, until about 2030, until it runs dry. Then the question comes how does the U.S. government keep its promises to all those millions of workers who have paid into the system … that will be interesting, but unfortunately, I doubt very seriously I will be around to see how the government answers it. It will, however, be left to my children and my American grandchildren to figure out how to solve that dilemma.
You see, instead of investing in something that creates wealth, the government was forced to invest in itself. Unfortunately, despite what you may have been taught or told, the government rarely creates wealth … it mostly uses it for the benefit of the people it governs. People make wealth, which is then taxed and taken by the government to use on worthy projects to help the people that are governed by the government … or not so worthy projects, depending on the integrity of the individuals elected to make the decisions (and those they hire) on how the government largess will be disbursed.
In the case of Social Security, workers essentially have been subsidizing the disabled and retirees while receiving a promise from the government that should they become disabled or when they retire at 62-65-67 or whenever, that the younger generation will subsidize their older years.
Actually, it is a wonderful concept. It is one of those beautiful things that we just think is the greatest thing that we can do for our seniors. Unfortunately, like most utopian ideas, it tends to fail in practice. And that is what we are seeing now.
Now, I know you are thinking: Well, you are retired and disabled, don’t you benefit from Social Security? Yup! I do. I paid into the system for 40-plus years, holding up my end of the contract, so I think it is time for the rest of you folks to hold up your end of the contract. Don’t like it? You should have read the small print. Of course, I won’t go into the battles I have had to fight to get the government to honor its contracts with me, but heck, that is what you pay lawyers for, right? (Even if it cost me a pretty penny)
Still, I doubt, with my health, that I will live to get back all I paid into the system (had I been able to invest it in something that produces wealth), so I guess that the system wins (as usual with me, it seems) another round.
However, if you think about it: Social Security qualifies as one of the longest running Ponzi schemes or Pyramid schemes, both of which make suckers of the people who come in at the end … and, interestingly enough, are illegal in the United States and will get you sent to prison … except if you are a member of the U.S. Government’s elected contingent, then you are protected by sovereign immunity (as are all those minions who administer and regulate the system you designed).
Sort of makes you a little angry, doesn’t it? If it doesn’t, it should.
But don’t take your anger out on me. I just played the game by the rules my society and government laid out for me. I basically held up my side of the bargain and now it is time for you to hold up your end of the bargain. Sucks, doesn’t it.