At an event hosted by the Investment Company Institute, former Republican Senator Alan Simpson told the group that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, "not a retirement program.”
At the event, held on Friday, Simpson also called the members of retirement lobbying group, AARP, “38 million people bound together by love of airline discounts” and derided the group as concerned only about its own profit, according to Ryan Grim of HuffPo.
BTW, Grim in his article goes on to show how he confronted Simpson with various data to prove the Social Security System is sound, but he failed to point out that the SS Trust Fund has gone cash flow negative as of last year and that the SS Fund is starting to liquidate its portfolio of Treasury securities and thus competing with the Treasury to raise funds in the open market.
I don't know if the author of this article is stupid or just forgot that the SS payroll tax was reduced by about 2% this year. What do you expect to happen to a program that needs to pay more each week, but has the funds cut?
ReplyDeleteAlso the author fails to grasp the simple concept that ALL investments are Ponzi Schemes. If everyone starts selling a stock, it's price plummets - because stocks are not backed by ANYTHING of value - it's all market sentiment. Stocks are nothing but worthless digital paper - having any value at all only as long as people are willing to buy them: just like EVERY other investment.
Get used to this idea: try to ruin SS, the only retirement for most Americans, and We The People will run over you like a freight train hitting a pop can.
Alan Simpson is a coward, like Boehner, otherwise Mr Simpson would have said this while in office. However he saw WE THE PEOPLE hand Mr Bush his ass on a platter when he tried to dismantle Social Security so he waited until he is out of office. Mr. Boehner saw it too, and although dismantling SS is one of his greatest dreams, for which the wall street fat cats give him large under-the-table cash payments to achieve, he will not say that is his goal outloud. He prefers his ass attached. BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, YOU MESS WITH SS AND WE THE PEOPLE WILL TAKE YOU OUT LIKE HITTING A PISSANT WITH A SLEDGE-HAMMER IN THE NEXT ELECTION.
ReplyDeleteOur rotten criminal politicians allowed corporations to stop paying pensions and to ship our jobs overseas, but you mess with SS, our only retirement and WE THE PEOPLE will knock you half way into the middle of next week, AND DON'T YOU EVER FORGET IT.
Raise that payroll tax to 10% and make the system robust.