itscandidlycara:

So this needs to be addressed.

Look I hate Rick Perry to pieces, but social security very much falls into the definition of what a “ponzi scheme” is.

Business analysts define a ponzi scheme as

An operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation.

Do not get me wrong: I am for social security and government run healthcare. But the Economist in me needs to point out that that is in fact accurate.

Wrong. That definition only applies to (ostensibly) profit-seeking enterprises. SS has no “investors.” It’s a tax you have to pay. SS is not competing for investor capital with IBM or GE or REITs. Ponzis are designed to defraud; they are opaque. SS is a pyramid scheme, yes, but it was designed to be transparent. We all have a good idea of what’s going in and out (unlike a Ponzi scheme), and that’s why we know SS has a problem. Madoff and Enron were nasty surprises no one saw coming.