Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I am a Thief

I am a thief. I get money from people who earn it. I get money that hasn’t been earned yet from people who will earn it. I get money that hasn’t been earned yet from people who haven’t been born yet.

I don’t do the actual stealing myself – a big crime syndicate does that work. This syndicate is the biggest in the world. It dwarfs all other criminal activities. It dwarfs all legal business in the United States. This syndicate is the United States government, and it steals from working people to give me “entitlements”. These “entitlements” are referred to by the inaccurate names of Social Security and Medicare.

Of course, I could have refused to sign up for these institutionalized dens of thievery. However, hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from me on behalf of non-working people older than I. At least a million in opportunity cost (potential increase from investment) was taken, making my nest egg is much less than what it should have been. So I joined the legions of other old people who lead a life of crime by ripping off younger people.

You might think that younger people would cotton to these scams, but so far, not many have figured it out. They think that they are paying for their own future retirement by having over 15% of their income taken every paycheck. But the youngsters are paying for my retirement and that of millions of other geezers and geezettes. There is no investment and no guarantee that the kids will get anything.

As today’s younger people age, there will be fewer and fewer new young people to replace them. Therefore, Social Security and Medicare have over-promised to the tune of $100 trillion. That's TRILLION with a T. The so-called trust fund for these programs consists of government bonds – just more government debt. The government can’t use its bond debt to pay off entitlement debt. No amount of tax increases could fill the gap. Cutting benefits slightly won’t fill the gap. And the politicos in Washington, all whom suffer a greater or lesser degree of Potomapsychosis (the madness of Washington power), are unlikely to solve this problem.

Meanwhile, I have to keep on accepting stolen goods. I don’t feel all that guilty, though. For one, I paid thousands for other retirees during my working life. Also, there are three members of my immediate family who are younger than I am and “contributing” to my retirement via FICA. They will eventually benefit from my top-of-the-food-chain position in the Ponzi scheme of things. Of course, if the suckers at the bottom finally figure out that entitlements are a scam, there will be hell to pay, but I’ll collect my pittance till then.

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posted by Dick T. @ 2:04 PM 0 comments

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Are Social Security and Medicare Ponzi Schemes?

Chuck Asay’s recent cartoon implying that Social Security and Medicare are Ponzi schemes is an insult! How dare Asay besmirch the merely bad name of Ponzi by associating it with the truly monstrous pyramid schemes of FDR, LBJ and LBJ’s heir George W. Bush!

Ponzi was an honest swindler, and today’s Madoff is the same. These men merely lied and cheated to rip off unsuspecting investors. But they couldn’t force anybody into their trick plans the way our utterly corrupt political system can. And Ponzi accounting practices just cannot compare to the sham accounting of these government programs.

Here are some facts about these programs:

  • When Social Security began, there were 17 workers per retiree. Now, there are about 2.5, and the number of workers to retiree is still declining.
  • The original retirement age was set at 65, which was quite cynical, given that 1935’s life expectancy was 65.
  • More and more workers have been forced into the Social Security program. For example, certain Missouri public school employees are scheduled to be switched from their much better retirement system to Social Security. A pyramid scheme always needs more participants.
  • Medicare’s unfunded liability as of 2006 was $70 trillion in 2006; Social Security’s about $16 trillion. Taxes will go up and/or benefits will be reduced to sustain these con games.
  • As our benevolent government robs Peter to pay Paul, part of Paul’s money for Social Security and Medicare is actually being spent on other things. But not to worry, Paul, because the government leaves an IOU to itself for every dollar it diverts.
  • There are 65 million or so Baby Boomers. If, like me, you are one of these folks, be afraid, be very afraid, for you may not get what was promised. If you are younger, be afraid, be very afraid, for the Baby Boomers might get what was promised and you will have to pay for it.
Pyramid swindles? Definitely. But don’t call them Ponzi schemes. They are much worse than that.

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posted by Dick T. @ 12:22 AM 0 comments