Not really. I responded to John's comments in the previous Social Security post, but think it's important enough to move to the top.
John, I don't think it's at all a Ponzi scheme in the traditional definition of that term. I think it was designed to be tinkered with over ongoing generations to keep up with the ebb and flow of american generations.
In the 80s, politicians realized that if left unchanged, it would run out of money. So, they raised the amount of money that people currently put into it. This caused it to have a growing surplus. The surplus will stop growing in approximately ten years or so and then will be tapped to pay the benefits of the so-called "greatest generation. Right now, if the government did nothing, it would still last well into the 2040s. If they tweak it minorly, it will likely go on for decades more. Paul Krugman has more.
And, yes, I might have some of the years slightly off, but this is the consensus of nonpartisan experts. They key, of course, is the nonpartisan part.
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I'd have to agree with Miles. The record of the current administration suggests that they prefer to lead through fear and intimidation. As we've seen with the war in Iraq, they have used WMD's and imminent threats and links to Al Qaeda to persuade the American public to support their actions. As we've learned they lied about all these threats.
So given their history, and the facts that Miles has pointed out about the health of Social Security, I expect that Republicans will use any lies to reach their goal of destroying Social Security. If they can convince Americans again, that their lies are true, they will succeed in destroying this nation's safety net, while continuing to fill their corporate pockets.
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