A pretty good summary of how Social Security works (or doesn't work)

[tim_duncan2000]

The theft took several forms; one was income redistribution (shortchanging those who paid most to give to those who paid least). Another was a form of involuntary insurance in which everyone would be required to pay into the system, but anyone who died before retirement would get little back out, thus leaving more money for those who could still vote, i.e. the living. But the most important theft was intergenerational theft. The original recipients had paid little, if anything, into the system, yet received benefits. This was possible through the innovation known to prosecutors as a “Pyramid Scheme”. While people like to think they are paying for their own future retirement with their Social Security taxes, they are in fact paying for the current retirees. The money is taken from the young and given to the old, who “deserve” it because they paid for the old back when they were young -- all except for the original benefit recipients, who deserved their money for having voted for Roosevelt. The scheme worked, despite the fact that the average retiree received more in benefits than he paid in taxes, because there were always more young than old.

This was especially true at the outset of the program, when the retirement age was suspiciously near the average lifespan of the day. Thus, about half of all people would die before ever receiving a penny, and most of the rest could be counted on to die within a few years of retirement. Additionally, the system was created at a time when sex had a surprisingly direct correlation with pregnancy -- the birth control pill having not yet been invented, but sex having been known for some time. So the promise of Social Security, as originally offered, was something along the lines of “Have lots of kids and die young, and we’ll pay for your brief golden years by stealing from your kids, who’ll all think it’s ok, ‘cause later we’ll steal from their kids too.”

Looked at this way, it’s easy to see why the Social Security system is regarded as the greatest accomplishment of the Democratic party, and why it is the most hallowed of our government programs. That’s why the people that broke the promise should be so ashamed. These people include anyone who had fewer than five children or lived past 65. The prolific and dead are the bedrock upon which the system is built and deserve a round of applause. The rest of you, however, should stop whining about any proposed cut or alteration in benefits, because you have already failed to live up to your part of the promise, as originally agreed upon. Having unilaterally altered the contract in your favor, you should not be surprised when the whole system then needs recalibrating to take into account your selfish ways. You should be ashamed. But special blame must be heaped upon the drug industry, which as usual, is costing society billions. Were it not for Sulfa drugs, Penicillin, artificial estrogen and the like, the Social Security system would still be solvent as far as the eye can see. It’s easy to see why Michael Moore has singled the industry out as the target of his next Crockumentary.

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=6330

I thought that was a pretty interesting article because not many people look at that side of it.

 

[Bonnie]

Excellent article. It's incredible that the biggest entitlement program and the costliest is what Democrats hail as their greatest achievement......Really tells you what they are all about. And the bonus is this is one of the main reasons they use to scare people into voting for them.

 

[HorhayAtAMD]

Wow, I had never looked at it as a pyramid scheme but that makes an incredible amount of sense!