Ponzi Scheme

[Guest]

The Madoff hedge fund fraud has been described as the largest Ponzi scheme in history. It isn't even close. The largest title belongs to the US Government and the Social Security program. The US Government currently has about $70 Trillion unfunded liabilities. The definition of a Ponzi scheme is to pay earlier investors with funds from new ones. Exactly how Social Security and the other entitlement programs works.

[Guest]

Tho this is a "legal" ponzi scheme. Govt can do what businesses cant. This has long been the case.

[Guest]

Polzi schemes need more and more new suckers to keep paying the early-ins. The government can't change that. Think about what $70 TRILLION in debt means. And we keep adding programs, federal, state and local.

[Guest]

This "Ponzi scheme" will work as long as the economy is prosperous and people continue to come here looking for work. The in-and-out ratio of money flow has to be maintained in a certain range for the scheme to work.

If you are pessimistic about this country's future, then emigrate to another place that will have a better future should work. I know Jim Rogers (the guy who made billions of dollars with George Soros) moved to Singapore already.

[Guest]

Even in a prosperous economy the social security system can't sustan itself and can only survive with more and more national debt and supplimenting from taxes. In the 40's there were 70 workers contributing wages for every person receiving money from the system. In the next decade with the baby boomers entering mass retirement and a smaller generation taking their place in the workforce there will be 2 people contributing wages for every person receiving funds from the system. The math just doesn't add up.

[Guest]

yes - it's long been known that the SS system can't maintain itself in the long run just based on demographics. Understanding this has nothing to do with being pessimistic about this country, just realistic.

[Guest]

Interesting article that relates to this thread:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/06/news/economy/social.security.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009010709

[Guest]

What a suprise! CNN says it's not a ponzi scheme. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it's a duck. In the mean time, CBO said that we will have 1000 baby boomers a day signing up for social security for the next 20 years. They also say that the dollars coming in will be less than the dollars going out by 2017. Anybody see a crunch coming?

[Guest]

Sorry, missed a zero. It is 10,000 a day baby boomers for the next 20 years.