- 6,384
- 15,461
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2004
He committed a terrible act of fraud and it is good that he was punished but why is he jailed for running a ponzi scheme while Social Security is not onlystill open for business when it gives a much lower return, it is far larger in scale, it is common knowledge that benefits for youn gand even middle aged peoeplwill be cut even futher and it only recieves "contributions" through force (by having the IRS and the implied power confiscation, imprisonment andeven death that government posses).
Bernie Madoff frauded a tiny fraction of the US population into his scheme, he created great returns for those who got in early, he would have let you takeyour money out if you had asked him and before the fund collapsed and his crimes will not end up bankrupting the Country.
In contrast, Social Security takes money from every workers' income, there is no opting out of this scheme. It never gave a very good rate of return toeven its first set of "investors" (In every year, social security delivers less, in some cases substantially less money, compared to the alternatescenario where an employee invests 7.5% of his paycheck, with his boss match, in mutual funds for 30 years and then switching to bonds and other saferinvestes within a decade or so of retirement age. Even if that worker starts his or her working life during a stock market peak and retires right after a stockmarket bubble bursting, his or return has always been higher then social security's rate of return). You cannot cash out your share of this"fund" until you are very old or dissabled and the reason for this is that unlike a mutual fund, SS is no such fund. It is merely a box full ofIOU's, with the cash having been taken to wage wars and buy votes.
Finally, Bernie Madoff has harmed his clients and has further weakned trust, albeit very slightly in many cases, in financial markets and on the part ofinvestors. The damage pretty much stops at this point. On the other hand, Social Security, along with Medicare and othet New Deal and GreatSociety programssimply cannot handle the financial and Demographic pressures and will end up defaulting on its promises, defaulting on other promises or raising taxes to ratestah tae so high that it causes tax revenues to fall and the US will then have to eventually default on some or all of its obligations.
So, I ask, why is it is that Bernie Madoff's terrible act is being called one of the worst white collar crimes ever committed while a version that isexponentially worse in every way is being carried out before our very eyes by Uncle Sam? Where is the anger over the Ponzi scheme to end all Ponzi scheme thatwe ironically call Social Security?
Bernie Madoff frauded a tiny fraction of the US population into his scheme, he created great returns for those who got in early, he would have let you takeyour money out if you had asked him and before the fund collapsed and his crimes will not end up bankrupting the Country.
In contrast, Social Security takes money from every workers' income, there is no opting out of this scheme. It never gave a very good rate of return toeven its first set of "investors" (In every year, social security delivers less, in some cases substantially less money, compared to the alternatescenario where an employee invests 7.5% of his paycheck, with his boss match, in mutual funds for 30 years and then switching to bonds and other saferinvestes within a decade or so of retirement age. Even if that worker starts his or her working life during a stock market peak and retires right after a stockmarket bubble bursting, his or return has always been higher then social security's rate of return). You cannot cash out your share of this"fund" until you are very old or dissabled and the reason for this is that unlike a mutual fund, SS is no such fund. It is merely a box full ofIOU's, with the cash having been taken to wage wars and buy votes.
Finally, Bernie Madoff has harmed his clients and has further weakned trust, albeit very slightly in many cases, in financial markets and on the part ofinvestors. The damage pretty much stops at this point. On the other hand, Social Security, along with Medicare and othet New Deal and GreatSociety programssimply cannot handle the financial and Demographic pressures and will end up defaulting on its promises, defaulting on other promises or raising taxes to ratestah tae so high that it causes tax revenues to fall and the US will then have to eventually default on some or all of its obligations.
So, I ask, why is it is that Bernie Madoff's terrible act is being called one of the worst white collar crimes ever committed while a version that isexponentially worse in every way is being carried out before our very eyes by Uncle Sam? Where is the anger over the Ponzi scheme to end all Ponzi scheme thatwe ironically call Social Security?