Social Security – aka Ponzi Scheme
On the first day we enter the Work Force, a percentage of our earnings, and not as a tax, yet is taken, matched cent-by-cent by our employer(s), and that amount is sent to Social Security Offices, in Washington DC.
If that same amount were deposited into a bank, it wouldn’t make us millionaires, but still would be a cozy nest-egg, and the money would be ours, no matter how long, or short a time, we lived.
The way the law now reads, is if we live until we reach that ‘retirement’ age, of 62, the money flow is reversed and a deposit, with the amount depending upon what was taken from us, over the years and sent to SS, is made each month into our chosen bank. And, as of now, no matter how long we continue to live, the payments keep coming, and there are those healthy people who live long after 62, and end up being real winners.
However, if we die before reaching 62, (even 61 and eleven months), it’s just plain tough luck, for our heirs will find it wasn’t a ‘bank’ where our money was deposited. Our heirs find that the money we’ve paid, all our working lives, isn’t ours. And yes, I know, if we have an ‘early’ death, our heirs get a $250.00 check, and if our children are under the age of 18, they too get small checks until they’re 18. Real generous with ‘our’ money.
That is one great big, tough rule that, willy-nilly, is set in stone. We either live until we reach that magic age, or we lose every red cent that has been taken from our wages, month after month, year after year. Well, see the previous paragraph.
And you can try to take your case to the Supreme Court, but others have fought this battle with negative results, so, even trying would be a waste of time. Yes, we worked for the money. It was part of our Gross Pay. It was taken from our wages. And our boss(es) matched each cent of it, but if we die, even though only by days short of that magic date, you get just the pittance mentioned above.
And, whisper, whisper, whisper, it’s been rumored that many a doctor has ‘helped’ someone remain alive for a few days, or (more?) in order to reach that date.
I understand that no longer is our money deposited under our names, but into a Big Fund, and is actually what others have called the very same as a Ponzi scheme, where there must be lots of newcomers coming on board, to keep the game rolling. And you are no longer even a name, just that nine digit SS number we now get as children.
And if, someday the national birth rate declines and fewer people ‘pay’ in to the scheme, who knows what will happen to those who reach 62 and get a notice telling them that there just isn’t any money left in the coffers. Ponzi schemes have failed many a time. And, to put off such a threat, Washington has lifted the retirment age up to 66 to delay payments to us.
It’s what I call a dirty trick. and if a regular bank tried to operate by the same rules, they would soon be ‘out of business’ and someone in jail for trying.
We have no other choice but to trust the government, but the more I learn about what ‘they’ do with our money, the more cynical I become. LBJ had the power and had gone a long way to elliminate the ‘bugs’ out of SS, but he lost his/our chance when he became too power hungry and forgot all else but Vietnam, got us into that war, and we were left worse off, in so many ways, than before he came into office with his grand promises. No wonder he chose not to run again, for he knew exactly what he had lost, and the horror he got us into.
The way it is now, is that we donate a certain amount of money to the government, (and, several times they have raised that amount) from each paycheck, and, at times, they also have used it in other ways. And don’t try to get an explanation as to when, and by what magic, OUR money became THEIR money, but that’s how it is. Only it took us/me a long time to figure that out.
Like all money we pay in taxes, (only this isn’t a tax, remember) once Washington gets their hands on it, we’ve lost all control of its use. Just ask your Congressman, or Hatch, your Senator, the date when it stopped being Our money. and why you can’t get even a percentage back, no matter if you don’t live quite to your 62nd birth date. Worth a try. At least you’d make them squirm, if they even bother to reply. But I bet they won’t.