TheGreat&PowerfulOz

[🌲] Coinbase to launch 24/7 and Perpetual Style Futures in the US

On the @JoeRogan Experience, @ElonMusk correctly called Social Security a Ponzi Scheme. I told Joe the same thing during one of my experiences on his podcast. However, Elon stopped short of explaining why Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme. My father used to say that the Social Security Administration should erect a statue of Charles Ponzi to adorn its lobby. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme because benefits paid to current retirees come from taxes paid by current workers. Those workers, in turn, are hoping that when they retire, their benefits will be paid by the next generation of workers, who will pay taxes under the same expectation. This is the very definition of a Ponzi scheme. The only difference between the Social Security Ponzi and the original scheme invented by Charles Ponzi himself is that participation in the Social Security Ponzi is mandatory. That makes it much worse, as even those who know it's a Ponzi scheme are forced to participate. But Social Security was not sold to the public as a Ponzi scheme, but as a funded retirement program. The government committed fraud by calling Social Security taxes "premiums" and the payments "benefits." Then they created a fake "trust fund" to create the false impression that Social Security was actually funded. However, all the money collected was spent. None of it was set aside to pay future beneficiaries. Sure, the government put its own IOUs in the form of government bonds in the trust fund. But government bonds are not an asset to the government. You can't write yourself a check and then claim it as an asset. Shortly after Social Security was passed, its constitutionality was challenged in the courts. The Act was correctly challenged as nowhere in the Constitution is the government authorized to operate a retirement program. But contrary to what it was telling the public, the government argued that Social Security wasn't a retirement program. That the Social Security tax was in reality just another income tax, and that the benefits were another welfare program. The government argued that Social Security taxes were completely unrelated to Social Security benefits, and that paying taxes did not entitle anyone to receive benefits. The 8th Circuit, saying we cannot "close our eyes to what is obvious," ruled Social Security unconstitutional. But in a horrible decision, a politically motivated Supreme Court did close their eyes, and reversed the courageous decision of the 8th Circuit. Justices McReynolds and Butler wrote an excellent dissent.