STAR PARKER: Of Course Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme

"You can't hear too many times that, despite what many still think, Social Security isn't any kind of investment plan, and there is no account that you're paying into that is yours."


I have a great plan for "saving" Social Security.

Today's average U.S. life expectancy is 78 years. Let's make the retirement age to collect Social Security 79.

Presto. The "system" is saved (or until life expectancy increases, at which point we can raise the retirement age again).

Pretty dumb? Sure. But if the goal is "saving" the system, nothing would work better.
Wait a minute you say. It's not about the "system" but about saving me, my children, my grandchildren, my neighbors. It's about making individuals better off.


But if the point is making individuals better off, why do we only hear assurances from most politicians that they will "save the system"?

The "solution" that I have proposed here is one extreme example how Social Security, if we insist on keeping it as it is today, can be "saved."

How about raising your taxes to get the same amount of payout at retirement?

How about leaving your taxes the same but requiring that you pay them for a longer period of time, raising the retirement age to collect?

Can you imagine getting a call from your bank that they have run out of money so to save your CD they have to cut the interest rate on it in half? Or that you can't cash in your one-year CD for another two years?


If you wouldn't tolerate this from your bank, why would you tolerate it from your government? Is it any sad wonder that the credit rating of our government bonds have been cut? You can't trust the people in charge.

So what about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's claim that Social Security is a "lie" and a "Ponzi scheme"?

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