re: #90 subsailor68

If there was any question as to whether or not Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, this should help answer it:

Ida May Fuller

From the SSA’s own web site:

Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.

So, it would appear that the $22,864.17 above what she “invested” had to be paid by future “investors”.

Yep, that’s a Ponzi scheme. And now that the baby boomers are hitting retirement….oops, we’re running out of new investors.

Here’s another:

“The earliest reported applicant for a lump-sum benefit was a retired Cleveland motorman named Ernest Ackerman, who retired one day after the Social Security program began. During his one day of participation in the program, a nickel was withheld from Mr. Ackerman’s pay for Social Security, and, upon retiring, he received a lump-sum payment of 17 cents.”