eglamkowski's Journal: On Ponzi Schemes

For those not familiar with the term, the background:
http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/ponzi/

Social security, medicare, medicaid - all Ponzi schemes. I bet the old political codgers in the 1960s and 1970s didn't expect these things to last as long as they have, they probably only expected it to last long enough for themselves to get the benefits and then it'd collapse (as all Ponzi schemes eventually must).

It's all democrats want to do - take money from today's workers with the promise of paying them back even more in the future. Classic Ponzi. Of course, Mr. Ponzi was arrested and thrown in jail for what he did to his "investors". That's what we should do to every politician who votes in favor of social security or medicare or medicaid or any other government concoted Ponzi scheme - arrest them and throw them in jail on the same charges used against Mr. Ponzi. Just because the government can force us into their Ponzi scheme doesn't make it any less of a Ponzi scheme.

Ponzi

[Iamthefallen]

There is a slight difference however. A nationwide government mandated Ponzi scheme can work for a long long time as throughout history the population is increasing a bit more for each generation. In a smaller pond it fails simply because there are no more fish to catch, but in life the number of people is virtually unlimited. The immediate problem with retirement funds in countries like Sweden is caused from an anomaly, WWII, which was such a strong anomaly that it threw the system off. The post war genera

Re:Ponzi

[eglamkowski]

The difference is this: In a privately run ponzi scheme, nobody is forcibly taking your money from you and "investing" it in the scam. The government, however, DOES forcibly take your money (try not paying your taxes...) and puts it into the scam whether you want them to or not.

That's the key difference anytime the government is involved: they can (and do) use force to achieve their goals. Which is why they shouldn't be allowed to do most of the things they currently do. Bleh.

Re:Ponzi

[Red Warrior]

A nationwide government mandated Ponzi scheme can work for a long long time
I could kite checks for years before getting caught, too. Doesn't make it right. At some point, any Ponzi scheme MUST fail. When you give people MORE than they put in, that added value MUST come from SOMEWHERE. SOMEWHERE needs to be somewhere other than "the new investors". In simplest terms, it is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I don't see much difference between the government mandated schemes and the way insurance companies work. P

re: On Ponzi schemes

[algebraist]

I hear what you say and these federal programs are Ponzi schemes in the way you describe. However, the programs are, of course, legal, since they are legislation, have not been repealed, and have not been declared unconstitutional.

The implication of your statement is that law should be consistent but the U.S. Code, the Constitution, and any other workable system of law is not, probably cannot be, and properly shouldn't be. If it were consistent, it would not be possible to have special cases in exceptio