Yup.

SSI is the definition of a ponzi scheme. There is no reason the rates for those paying in should have to go up to pay for those taking out if it isn't.

Does anyone ever actually read those risk disclaimers at the bottom of the page that brokerage houses send out, or since we're in the computer age sometimes they are a couple pages over. I guess they are there for entertainment.

So is there a school to teach you to trade in your preferred market ( oh we're investing, not trading)? If there is such a school, how long does it take to learn enough to get your risk to acceptable levels? While at the same time make ends meet and raise a couple kids while working a real job. I know just invest in low risk places, and with it comes low returns. Might be best to only invest in those companies that are too big to fail.

I guess those giveaways of $600 to the tax payers and $300 per child was a free lunch to stimulate the economy, but Fannie and Freddie still went under. Throwing good money after bad must be a lesson that someone was absent on that day back in 2008.

If knowledge is such a great factor in laying up your nest egg, then how could the smartest of the smartest ever let brokerage and clearing houses go belly up, (after all they are in the know aren't they)?

Its very hard for a working person to trade. Either they get burned right off and never go back or if they win big then its only a short jump to say, why work I'm too smart for that and then your on your way to being a professional gambler ( oh how romantic )!

"Risk disclaimer" the above is only for your entertainment, so believe as you like in the tooth fairy or the Federal Reserve to have your best interest at heart. If you believe in supply and demand then your on your way (they demand and you supply).

How many would save for retirement on their own really, the way I figure it from what I paid in during my lifetime I will get that back in about 5 years and about the same time span for what my employers put in it was a bit higher. I put about $10,000 into Medicare and the employers did the same and am now covered at 65 with about $300 taken out now to cover all medical costs. My thinking is did I pay enough to cover for what I might get back, can't think of a Ponzi scam that pays out like that for so many years.

Where can a guy 65 get insurance coverage for $300 a month now for just paying in $10,000 and his employer another $10,000 as $20,000 will not go far for medical bills today!

SSI is disability coverage and that's like a lottery winning for some you get the Max at whatever age you qualify for it no matter what age you are if I read that right.

SS was based on people only living to about 65 or less not sure of the projected number but the life span has increased many years in the last 40 years so what did that do to the system? Last I knew the death rate was around $250a drop in the bucket really.

It's not the government's job to take care of a person when they are young and it isnt when they are old.

Must be the way a persons raised, I personally have worked with and around people older than me my entire life. I ALWAYS understood that my social security money was going to help those that mentored and inspired me through my working career. As a society if we can't take care of our elderly ….then shame on us.

I'm collecting so keep paying in.

Of all the roles government plays, I guess the social programs seem to be the most sticky. The social thing didn't really wind up until the "New Deal" which was the fix for when the banks decided to sit themselves upon easy street by making huge bets on the stock market. Seems the same beast still lurks about, just in different variations and colors. All that money that seems to go to vapor really don't, it goes someplace? The old money doesn't like to feed on itself, for this reason it needs new , less experienced money coming into the market. What better way than to have a government coordinated way to bring your savings into the pot. You can argue the governments role in social programs all you want, but to have a organized government program to put you savings in the market is just ludicrous. If its not a government run thing then people will not throw their money into the program. So if you have say half that don't invest and half that does then at some point the the ones that don't invest may be living on the street, but it could that those chasing after a pie in the sky might be the ones that lose their saving. At which time then its the so called governments job to again rescue the people from themselves. Thus a government run program for the rich.

You can shake the sack out anyway you like, but until people get values in order, in which people work and actually produce something instead of just shifting money around from one group to another, then you are going to get the same results of the past performance.

I believe its biblical, if you don't work then you don't eat.

As a stand alone social security system ….It was a great Idea. Why it got tapped into to create a society of deadbeat loafers is probably the bigger question.

I suppose you're right, some of us were raised it's one's own responsibility to provide for themselves.



Once the birth rates started to drop it was destined to fail.

I'm okay with providing for myself and the elderly at the same time. I doubt the birth rates had anything to do with it. It's most likely the volume of deadbeats who have been allowed to tap into the system at a young age . ( Can't work...my back hurts … Ok here's your check )

Careful now....plenty of forum readers are collecting SSI checks.

If you don't think low birth rates have anything to do with it you don't understand how the program is funded.

It requires substantially more people paying in than are receiving. The working age population is decreasing while the retired age are increasing.

Just because you are perfectly fine with giving your money doesn't mean you are entitled to mine. I would have been substantial money ahead had I been allowed to keep the money paid in my name and invested for retirement on my own.

Pike, my last quote was sarcasm...We are the most compassionate nation on earth , to our own detriment. I've know of lots of young people who collected , who we're able to work the system. If the money was used for retirement like it 's original purpose.

Yep..That's an interesting comment..How are these people paid?..They have no valid ID..They can't get a bank account..more than likely they have no smart phones..nor do they internet access..In fact when they cross the border the US of A has no idea of who or what they are..looks like the floodgates of fraud has open..IMO

tt

Tyranny of the majority. Sucks being an unrecognized minority in the U.S. No body cares what you want. Individual retirements plans should not be forced on people. People should have the freedom to fail or succeed at this. However, people apparently are not brought up with the old thought process of taking care of themselves and their extended family. Most of the people who were forced to pay into SSI think they are somehow getting their money back so it is a zero sum game; not a Ponzi Scheme. Ponzi schemes always fail when you run out of new investors. That is probably why the government made private sector ones illegal.

People live too long.
In the future people will have an expiry date put on them.

How does one not pay into SS lots of reasons for it going broke as well not enough people to make it work working maybe. More likely to many illegals entering the country living off of it. Skews the statistics of working people putting into it. Its a sad fact that people won’t watch out for their future but that is also why your forced to pay taxes or get in big trouble Unless your a fake pastor. Because the government knows people would not save up to pay either therefor its taken out automatically

Yep.."The Whole WORLD Is A PONZI Scheme"...

." Only 44 percent of private sector workers even participate in a 401k."

Add in the government employees and people who save for their retirement without a 401k and you would have easily over 50% ( a majority ) of Americans that are responsible enough to save for their own retirement.

Most people will save for their retirement voluntarily, even when the government is doing it for them. More would if the government quit. The few that wouldn't, you reap what you sow.

I dont think the debt matters the way the system is now.... We need to get away from the federal reserve and get real money that is backed by something and get away from fiat currency. That would be a start.