Toon time: Tom the Dancing Bug

[geardaddy]

[FSogol]

1. K & R. n/t

[argonchloride]

2. Somebody on the boobtube called Social Security a Ponzi scheme the other day

I just heard a snip and didn't catch who said it. There's a lot of truth to it in any case.

[JNelson6563]

3. Yeah, those plans that help the greater good, nothin' but scams.

You sure you're in the right place? :shrug:

Julie

[argonchloride]

4. Is it your contention that Ponzi schemes help the 'greater good'?

Whatever that is...

[Hissyspit]

5. I think you took a wrong turn near Albequerque...

And Julie is clearly arguing that Social Security is not a Ponzi Scheme, because it isn't.

[argonchloride]

7. Actually, I was born in Albuquerque...I think SS is a great program but it

absolutely does fit the classic definition of a Ponzi. What else would you call a system that depends on more and more contributions to pay off previous investors? (By the way, plenty of Democrats have made the same comment...is there some rule around here against reporting on what public officials say...in public?)

[Hissyspit]

9. LOL Yes, you made the wrong turn when you were born!

Sorry, just kidding.

Seriously, a key element of a Ponzi Scheme is fraud. There is no fraud in Social Security. Social Security also does NOT depend on more and more contributions technically, although it is not fraudulent to assume population growth and inflation. You are putting in money now to help people now in return for being helped later. That is not a Ponzi Scheme.

No, there is no rule on reporting on what public officials say in public, but people here are not too fond of fallacious Republican Talking Points being repeated without critical analysis.

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. "More and more?"

With a more or less constant workforce, the system sustains itself indefinitely. It's when the workforce (or, more exactly, its aggergated income) diminishes that the previous generation may find themselves with less funds to pay THEIR benefits. Other possible cause for a systemic failure is maladministration. But none of that is intrinsic to the system's mechanics.

Therefore, SS isn't a Ponzi scheme, despite what RW pundits put in the Kool-Aid you drank.

[geardaddy]

6. Enjoy your short stay.

n/t

[argonchloride]

8. Thank you but did I miss something? Didn't you put the cartoon up that calls the USA

a giant Ponzi scheme?

[geardaddy]

11. A Ponzi scheme for the rich.

n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Any economy that depends on constant expansion to stay healthy DOES resemble a Ponzi scheme.

Unlike SS.

[Wednesdays]

14. OMG...I think you're onto something

And uh-oh, don't look now, but here come the black helicopters from the UN.

[malaise]

17. Funny that he didn't call insurance a ponzi scheme

Guess he receives campaign funds from them. Ah well.

[ThomWV]

12. I'm surprised this got so many K&Rs, I find it asinine at best

I certainly don't see anything funny about it and to suggest that the founding fathers were simply developing a ponzi scheme based on manifest destiny is simply asinine.

[Jim Lane]

15. I read it the opposite way

Is it asinine to suggest that the founding fathers were developing a Ponzi scheme? Yes, it is. That's the point of the satire. We've been running the country in a way that's not at all like what the Framers envisioned.

It's a criticism of our recent rules, not of Benny, T.J., and Johnny A.

[Hissyspit]

18. That's how I read it, too.

Especially knowing Tom The Dancing Bug. It certainly has some depth as satire, I would argue.

[malaise]

16. Perfect n/t