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A comment on Social Security: The Biggest Ponzi Scheme on Earth (By Milton Friedman). Parent comment

Re:Social Security: The Biggest Ponzi Scheme on Earth (By Mi... by mattchew on Monday January 05, 2009 @09:44AM (#420474)
Social Security isn't a Ponzi scheme because it would work perfectly well if the population remained stable over time, or shrank. And it would even be alright if it grew slowly and linearly.

Only if benefits match contributions. If benefits exceed contributions, you do have a Ponzi scheme, and you have to find ways to funnel increasing amounts of money into the system.

Social Security taxes, as a percentage of income, have risen continuously since the program was started, well before the baby boomers started retiring:

http://www.ssa.gov/history/pdf/t2a3.pdf

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Re:Social Security: The Biggest Ponzi Scheme on Earth (By Mi... by tptacek on Monday January 05, 2009 @09:52AM (#420489)
Again: that's not what the words "ponzi scheme" means. You could be arguing that "if benefits exceed contributions, you have a budget deficit", but that wouldn't be as emotionally manipulative, and it would also be boring.

Social Security taxes as a percentage of income were raised sharply in the '80s precisely because the baby boomers hadn't retired.

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