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Another Government Ponzi Scheme Starts To Crack - Do You Depend On It?
Submitted by Nick Giamburino of International Man
Another Government Ponzi Scheme Starts to Crack - Do You Depend on It?
Government employees get to do a lot of things that would land an ordinary citizen in prison.
For example, it’s legal for them to threaten and commit offensive, rather than defensive, violence. They can take property from others without their consent. They spy on anyone’s email and bank accounts whenever they please. They go into trillions of dollars in debt and then stick the unborn with the bill. They counterfeit the currency. They lie with misleading statistics and use accounting wizardry no business could get away. And this just scratches the surface…
The U.S. government also gets to run a special type of Ponzi scheme.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary a Ponzi scheme is:
[A]n investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks.
In the private sector, people who run Ponzi schemes are rightly punished for their fraud. But when the government runs a Ponzi scheme, something very different happens.
It’s no secret that the Social Security system is effectively one giant Ponzi scheme.
Actually, I think it’s worse. That’s because the government uses force and the threat of force to coerce people into it. People don’t have the option to opt out. They either pay the tax for Social Security or someone with a gun will show up sooner or later. I imagine Bernie Madoff’s firm would have lasted a lot longer had he been able to operate this way.
This whole practice is particularly egregious for young people. They have no chance at collecting the future benefits the government has promised to them. But they’re hardly the only people that are going to be disappointed in the system, which will eventually break down.
There are simply too many people cashing out at the top and not enough people paying in… even with the government’s coercion. That’s a function of demographics, but also the economic reality in which there are fewer people with quality jobs for the government to sink its fangs into. I expect both of those trends to increase and strain the system.
Actually, it’s already starting to happen.
Recently, the government announced that there would be no Social Security benefit increase next year. That’s only happened twice before in the past 40 years.
You see, the government links Social Security benefit increases to their own measure of inflation. If the government says “no inflation” then there are no benefit increases. It’s like letting a student grade his own paper.
So it’s no surprise that the official definition of inflation is not reflective of the real increases in the costs of living most people feel.
Medical care costs are skyrocketing. Rent and food prices are reaching record highs in many areas. Electricity and utility costs are soaring. Taxes, of course, are going nowhere but up.
But the government says there’s no shred of inflation. In actuality, it amounts to a stealth decrease in benefits.
One reason for this is that they constantly change the way they calculate inflation so as to understate it. Free market analysts have long documented this sham. If you take a global view, it’s easy to see that fudging official inflation statistics is standard operating procedure for most governments.
Incidentally, governments and the financial media don’t even understand what inflation is in the first place.
To them, inflation means an increase in prices. But that is not at all how the word was originally used. Inflation initially meant an increase in the supply of money and nothing else. Rising prices were a consequent of inflation, not inflation itself.
It’s not being overly fussy to insist on the word’s proper usage. It’s actually an important distinction. The perversion of its usage has only helped proponents of big government. To use “inflation” to mean a rise in prices confuses cause and effect. More importantly, it also deflects attention away from the real source of the problem…central bank money printing.
And that problem shows no signs of abating. In fact, I think the opposite is the case. The money printing is just getting started.
At least this is what we should prudently expect as long as the U.S. government needs to finance its astronomical spending, fueled by welfare and warfare policies.
As long as the government spends money, it will find some way to make you pay for it - either through direct taxation, money printing, or debt (which represents deferred taxation/money printing).
It’s as simple as that.
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Not yet, but they better not mess with it, when it's my turn to stop paying into the Piggy-bank and start collecting my fair share.
Baby Boomers already spent Social Security
Seniors already spent their Social Security. It’s gone.
Seniors not only declined to fight those who took and spent their social security, but even worse, seniors voted for their front men, and thus seniors are guilty in direct proportion to their age – except of course to the extent they voted libertarian …
Yeah … that’s what I thought.
Seniors should not worry if they were decent people who raised their kids well; whereas, those seniors who let the government schools and universities and TV raise their kids will probably not fair so well.
Many seniors are now holding back progress by demanding that newer generations compensate them for their lack of wisdom and courage, and thus they also lack responsibility and honesty. Seniors are now being played (like so many other groups) in a divide and conquer strategy straight out of The Prince. Unfortunately, seniors cannot bring themselves to join the fight against The Prince until they admit that their money is simply gone and that no man has a right to the fruits of other men’s labor.
The whiniest and most self entitled by far among seniors is the Baby Boomers – hence the title of this article.
Baby Boomers are the most short sighted generation.
Baby boomers not only voted for the politicians who spent all their SS, they also voted for the politicians who created the programs that have been spending the SS contributions of Generation X. Then Baby Boomer politicians spent even more money and saddled us with additional debt after spending our SS contributions.
Baby Boomers are the most guilty generation.
Now Baby Boomers want Generation X, and our kids, to accept a cut in our future SS benefits so that we can pay Baby Boomers full SS benefits today.
Baby Boomers are the most selfish generation.
Baby Boomers whine that FDR and JFK promised them that if they let the government spend their SS tax dollars on welfare and warfare, then Generation X and our kids would pay for their retirement.
Seriously!?
Baby boomers are the most gullible generation.
Generation X has no choice in the debt slavery forced upon us. Government debt is Taxation without Representation. Baby Boomers are guilty of Taxation without Representation.
Baby Boomers are the most fascist generation.
One of the only ways to save America is to stop collecting SS taxes and to stop sending SS checks to Baby Boomers and anyone after them.
Although Baby Boomers deserve no Social Security at all, I would be willing to accept Walter William’s plan to stop collecting SS taxes and to then divide up all federal land amongst those who paid in already.
William Blake — ‘To generalize is to be an idiot.’
Serious question: Are Federal Government employees getting raises?
"Baby boomers not only voted for the politicians who spent all their SS, they also voted for the politicians who created the programs that have been spending the SS contributions of Generation X."
I'm a boomer, and anyone who thinks that the way any of us voted (though I can't remember when I last participated in this useless exercise) would have made any difference with regard to how our "representatives" would have voted deserves what he gets.
We are done as a nation, and if you aren't planning for its demise, you are planning for your demise.
"There are simply too many people cashing out at the top and not enough people paying in… even with the government’s coercion."
LOL. Nice try. Social security isn't going anywhere. Right now there is a cap on the wages that are taxed. Remove the cap and it is clear sailing.
Go ahead and shout "baby boomers this" and "baby boomers that". You're completely wrong and it doesn't matter.
While you are shouting just bend over and grab your socks.
GOD does not 'depend' on anything man made! Laughable!
Man is a Fallen Angel and hence a part of God. The "War of the Gods" (including what is happening in the crucible we call Earth) is sanctioned by the unknowable abstract motion / space that is the Deific Principle. Our (man's) task is to awaken our Consciousness gain some wisdom, clean up our Karma and transcend this world of suffering.
Remember, in order to forge a True blade (Soul) you need intense heat and lots of hammer blows. We have both in abundance courtesy of the psychopaths trying to enslave us all.
nyc/dc stole the money. now they dont want to pay it back.
how about the 100+ trillion on the dc balance sheet? the satanists don't like to talk about that.
sell some of that shit (bought/maintained with ss funds) and shore up the fund. and stfu about means testing
a stroke of genius replacing the stolen money with non-marketable securities. if they had given the fund regular treasuries they could be sold into the market to recoup the losses.
land, minerals, etc
Student loan notes, Illinois pension bonds and stock in Solindra.
Student loan notes, Illinois pension bonds and stock in Solindra.
@dick buttkiss- you may not have, but it's an entire generation of people that were gullible enough to fall for the lies. Of course they didn't vote for anyone telling them outright that they were just going to take the money from their kids and grand kids. But looking under the surface, that was the ONLY way all that was getting funded( or they thought they would just print it all).
Case in point, look up some video footage of the aging tea party crowd a few years back. Screaming for cuts in spending, but every time entitlements came up, it's "hands off my social security" Talking about obamacare "we don't want your socialist commie-care" while at the same time "no cuts to Medicare" while never understanding the irony of those statements. Medicare and social security for boomers will bankrupt us long before obamacare even gets a chance.
You can say all you want about how boomers did or did not know this would happen or allowed it to happen, the fact is they will be having the wealth of all younger generations funneled to them until they die, and when they do, all that will be left is debt. These insane benefits will not be around for younger people.
Granted, as Ben Franklin said, "When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic." But that's all the people, not just Boomers (think student loans), which is to say it's all a ploy of the political class to win votes from what has long been a dumbed-down, docile, and dependent people. Our Republic ended in the process, as republics are based first and foremost on the protection of individual rights that aren't subject to a vote. Instead, ours have been trampled on by the issuance of other rights, i.e., positive rights that can't be met without taking by force from others.
And down the rathole we've gone, one positive right after another, until everyone owes so much to everyone else that the debts can never be paid back. On the contrary, only a Great Default can clear the late, and the longer our "leaders" manage to postpone it with their endless fiscal and monetary shenanigans, the worse the default will be.
Serious Answer: It just doesn't 'fuckin' matter. The whole U$D Ponzi scheme is unraveling. I'll say this slow for those who have not quite grasped this yet:
If your wealth, your retirement plan, your savings or your money that you save is denominated in United States Federal Reserve Notes, you are in for a world of hurt. It is not too late to deversify, but you must hurry and do not tarry.
Government cannot run a Ponzi. A Ponzi is volutary.
You bet, and the admin gets bonuses too
Well, I never even knew about all this government crap
until I retired, got a computer and started reading all this doom and gloom stuff.
Am a lot wiser now, but innocently contributed like a good patriotic American all my life etc .......
Yeah, went to Vietnam to "stop the spread of communism", guess we showed them ! ! ! !
A baby boomer.....
william blake is the idiot -- one MUST generalize to communicate
Your commentary is immature, self serving, and illustrates the strategic power of divide and conquer admirably. Congratulations on becoming a subservient lackey to the Powers That Be
Boomers did everything - not. Same .001 percent insane control freaks from each generation going back to pre history has fucked everything up royally for ordinary people.
All you gotta worry about is some fake money the control freaks made up.
We had to deal with control freaks who wanted to destroy every living thing on earth 33 times over with atomic weapons, and polluted things so bad the air was solid shit in most cities, lead was part of gasoline, and rivers actually caught fire and burned due to the pollution in them.
So, what did boomers do ? We dealt with the cards the previous generation dealt us. We effected change, we slowed down the madness, but we could not eradicate it.
Now, because you are so fucking perfect, and know exactly what is wrong with the world, go do the same - just remember - in your own generation, there is still the .001 percent that are criminally insane, and will stop at nothing to stop you.
Good fucking luck, you are gonna need it.
A member of the " Are You Experienced ? " generation. See you when you break on through to the other side.
I already said that you are not guilty to the extent that you voited libertarian ...
Yeah ... That's what I thought ...
You voted for the .001%'s front men (Democrats and Republicans), didn't cha?
DIDN'T CHA?!
lol.
maybe if you scream a little louder--try a nice "libertarian" pitch!
as far as libertarians, i disagree, libertarians don't go far enough. anyone who accepts the premise of a state that has the right to commit acts of agression towards its people, deserves to live as a serf.
as far as your silly tirade against "boomers" (a made-up concept, btw), the trajectory of the country was more or less set, just like the roman empire. nations will rise and fall, that's just the way of things. we are on a very small piece of that arc. when an empire achieves success and dominance, hard work and virtue go by the wayside, gluttony, lust, greed, and apathy are the mode of the day, and collapse follows.
it's as foolish as ranting angrily about the fact that you're going to get old and die one day.
Yes, we would be better off if the state dissolved. Rule of Market would be the next leap forward.
Do you really not see the problem with people claiming that SS is the original money they paid in? Don't you see that they already spent that money by their own choice? Do you really have no problem with people asking government to take money from young people and give it to them?
"Yes, we would be better off if the state dissolved. Rule of Market would be the next leap forward"
Surely you would agree that the markets today are completely manipulated?
Wondering what makes you think it would be any different if the state was dissolved?
Star Treks Ferengi are the closest I can come to Market Rule. They would sell their mother if the price was right.
Ferengis are fictional and are not humans ...
If a human acted like a Ferenghi in a free market, then another human would pop a cap in his ass.
Go ahead and read Rule of Market - The Next Leap Forward. It's really the least you can do.
Do you really not see the problem with people claiming that SS is the original money they paid in?
i don't care for false claims, but people claim untrue things all the time. there are greater problems to be concerned about.
Don't you see that they already spent that money by their own choice?
you're saying that people spent money by their own choice, when the state, through coercive means, caused them to pay in to the system? money obtained through coercion cannot legitimately said to be given by choice. or you mean something different?
Do you really have no problem with people asking government to take money from young people and give it to them?
i have a problem with the government doing *anything*, and i don't approve of people encouraging the government to do anything.
"you're saying that people spent money by their own choice, when the state, through coercive means, caused them to pay in to the system? money obtained through coercion cannot legitimately said to be given by choice. or you mean something different?"
It was their choice if they voted Democrat or Republican - wasn't it? Perhpas there were no other choices on their ballots, so if they didn't vote and also protested in some way (instead of just not voting), like handing out a pamphlet or carrying a sign in front of the capitol, and if they maintained that position all their lives, then I would agree it was not their choice, but I have not met ONE such person, and I lived in the DC area for 14 years where I was active in such discussion like I am now.
there are people such as myself who don't vote and who view voting as a misguided mistake, because the system is rigged and i refuse to give the system any legitimacy or waste my time or attention on a corrupt broken farce that has no moral basis to exist. just because we *can* vote demo or repub doesn't mean i will, and doesn't mean that any funds that are stolen from me under threat have been legitimately "spent".
"... people claim untrue things all the time. there are greater problems to be concerned about"
I am concerned about many things, and this multi-trillion dollar untrue claim is one of them.
SS is, by law and design, part of the general fund. There are no accounts, just promises. The bastards spent it to buy the necessary votes, nothing more. When they needed more votes, they simply expanded the pool of takers without ever expanding how its paid for.
I remember growing up and hearing the Democrat candidate literally say he would get them folks more "benefits", but if they voted for dat Rebublican, why, that fat rascal would "cut your check".
FORWARD INEVITABLE SOVIET!
There's a $1.8 Trillion surplus in the SS fund. That's money that we boomers paid in, in excess of what was paid out.
Many people say, "That money's already been spent!" No shit, Festus. It's in Treasury Bonds. ALL Treasury Bonds are "money that's already been spent". The Treasury Bonds the Chinese are holding, the Japanese are holding, the insurance companies and pension funds are holding, that wealthy Americans are holding, and that the Fed is holding are ALL "money that's already been spent". That's what Treasury Bonds represent.
Tell all those other Treasury Bond holders that their bonds are no good and see what happens. I don't want the government to take money from young people and give it to me - I want a reasonable portion of what I've paid in back. If the idiots in Washington have spent way more than they've taken in and need to haircut somebody they can haircut the Chinese and Japanese and whoever else is holding U.S.Treasury Bonds. The LAST haircut should be to the American working class, not the first.
If by "Surplus" you mean worthless $UST, then yes. Otherwise,
and its gone...
FORWARD EDWARD BERNAYS!
" I don't want the government to take money from young people and give it to me - I want a reasonable portion of what I've paid in back. "
I'm sorry, but you fail to grasp that the money you paid in when you were younger WAS ALREADY SPENT paying old people durin gthe 1960s-70-80s
and its gone. it all gone, all thats left is to coerce the younger peoplee into keeping it going.
I am 49 born in 66.
We have been told since high school that there would be no social security for our generation. that we are paying into a broken system.
An my genertion just let it roll.
Kudos to the next generation for saying enough is enough.
The boomers lived through the greatest prosperity the world has even known, and many who are wealthy now are NOT writing checks to help their kids and grand kids buy a first home or pay for college.
Some (possibly many)are sitting on some huge pension, or investment portfolion and STILL want to collect a SS check for life.
You know what, Fuck Them.
They made their money, ok fine keep it, but don't come looking ot take my children's money to support your old age.
My generation is fucked already, dipshits for the most part, guilty of not doing a damm thing when the math was spelled out for us in simple high school level terms.
There should have been a Bundy Ranch episode on the US Congressional lawn 20 years ago. or at least right after some of the more stupid shit like Waco and Ruby Ridge.
or the conviction of Irwin Schiff,
or post 9/11 with Tower 7's "miracle collapse" and the "Pull it " comment by Silverstein. (the truth that guy knows should have been extracted via nail gun a long time ago)
But we did not do squat.
The seniors looking to keep SS going are looking to extort the money from their own grandchildren, who might be worthless tatoo and piercing meth head tweaker fucks or hardwrking folks trying to save for a first house. the current generation is a mixed bag, oh well.
Either way, SS is a "coersion Ponzi" you can't even opt out until we launch an armed sit down on the congressional lawn
Short of 1 million AR-15s with 6 mag each in civilian hands on the DC lawn not a Damm thing will Change.
anyone want to launch a website to promote a One Million AR15 March on DC?
Future Jimbo -
I don't vote, dip shit.
Why ?
Because Republicans are red, and Democrats are blue.
And neither one of them gives a fuck about you.
Libertarians ?
Rainbow skittle shitting unicorn abusers have a better chance of getting enough votes to run the country.
You are truly a Klingon from Uranus.
Oh. Wait - you lived in D.C. for 14 years.
You are not responsible for being fucked up beyond all repair - just don't infect the rest of us.
I don't know, luck may not be what it takes in this case. That relentless breathy march of psychopathic psuedo-logic should serve him well in the .001%. He should be getting paid for that shit.
Woah - someone is getting very defensive.....Tell me what crappy hand was delievered to the boomers? They basically had a pristine earth, endless opportunity (due to the the thinning of the herd with two wars), good wages, a decent cost of living. They created a ponzi scheme and the sociopaths have stocked away all the assets away from the future generations. So why don't you get mad at your fellow boomers and relax when the truth hits you in the face.
lazy comments by lazysunday.
there are no "boomers", it's a made-up concept. it's like saying it's ok to fuck an 18-year old girl, but if you fuck a 17-year old girl, well, that's just wrong and you're going to jail. it's a completely arbitrary distinction.
and no, it's not boomers that created a ponzi scheme as you claim, it's the financial parasite class, which has fatally infected its host since 1913.
"it's not boomers that created a ponzi scheme as you claim, it's the financial parasite class, which has fatally infected its host since 1913."
I agree with that except you give the "greatest" generation a pass. Sorry but the WWII generation ALLOWED it to happen. Willfully ignorant to the fascist FDR and all too full of FEAR and NATIONALISM to see thorugh the crap that crippled piece of shit was selling. Then as they aged AND WENT THROUGH THEIR PRIME, gave birth to the "boomers", they never lifted a finger to roll it all back. In fact they along with their spawn DOUBLED DOWN on all the bad choices both at home and abroad. EMPIRE marched on, Leviathon swelled through the shit for brains "Great Society" pile of dung and all anyone form both generations did was pat themselves on the back for being so "expectional".
Sorry but we are here now in the mess we are in not soley because of The Fed and the income tax amendment but because of the actions and choices of two very, very shitty, willfully ignorant, amazingly selfish, arrogant generations. Without the decisions and actions of these people The Fed would just be a national bank and the income tax law may just have only applied to the original high flyers and still be set at single digits.
No one FORCED these people to Ponzi finance wars or aggression, The Free Shit Army and the entire Corporatist State. They chose all this. And funny thing a whole bunch of them got pretty rich of it all, retired comfortably, and lived rather swell unlike the fortune awaiting their grandkids who get to clean up the mess.
Lot's of ad hominems and defensive attitude, but where are your counter arguments?
ad hominem:
"appealing to one's prejudices, emotions, or special interests rather than to one's intellect or reason" OR
"An attack upon an opponent in order to discredit their arguement or opinion"
And what would you call your first post attacking boomers?
Future Jim: "Baby Boomers are whiny, self entitled, short sighted, guilty, selfish, gullible, fascists."
Boomer: "What you said isn't true!"
Future Jim: "Nice ad hominem you've got going there you whiny, self entitled, short sighted, guilty, selfish, gullible, fascist."
rejected,
No wonder boomers bloomed fields of lawyers.
Justify justify justify.....
SILVERGEDDON,
Boomers trampled a wide swath in any direction they were led.
All here comprehend majority rule, aka stampede if boomers.
"We dealt with the cards the previous generation dealt us."
Thus, what you have left behind are only tattered remnants.
Please disagree with specific generalizations (majority rule except for each
individual boomer) to remove tell tale signs of the stampede.
The Free Shit Army is strong in this thread.
I'm guessing that most seniors in this thread only just now realized that they are part of the Free Shit Army.
Future Jim is the leader of the throw shit army.
weak ad hominem
The world dart throwing championships start sometime soon. You should sign up for it.
he has just bought in to the wrong BS. I don't blame him for being upset and angry, hell I'm upset and angry but he is blaming the wrong group.
You have a conflict of interest. The government is offering to take money from young people and give it to you, and you want to get it, but you also want to claim you are entitled to it - I assume to ease your conscience.
I am trying to see how far ZHers will go to maintain their cognitive dissonance when they are offered other people's money. Pretty darned far it would appear.
ZHers are superior to the general popualtion, so if ZHers are this easily bought off with other people's money, then there is little hope forthe general population.
Conflict of interest my ass - you want to shape a narrative that does not exist, except in your own mind. Help us out, plug in an extension cord you have shoved up your ass. Pretty fireworks will make you a useful member of society for a few seconds.
I have also noticed that each time I made these same arguments in the past, ZHers were were more receptive the further back we go, so that means the percentage of ZHers who are part of the Free Shit Army is increasing.
It may be for the best if America's young and productive are subject to onerous taxation, with zero expectation of benefit to themselves. Change will come, but the population has to be motivated to achieve it.
Tell you what Jimbo,,, PAy me the $250,000 I paid into SS that was robbed to nursemaid the X'ers and millennials with a small 3% interest and I'll forgo SS.
No checks,,, cash baby.
"Nursemaid"? That's your argument?
People aren't successful because of your government schools. People are successful in spite of government schools. Just like the government school monopoly, your money was used to reward cronies, thwart competition, and hold back better ideas.
After crippling young people with with your crony polluted police state, now you ask government to take money from young people and give it to you? Have you no shame?
You're a real piece of work there Jimbo. I'm at the end of the boomer generation, but still working. I pay high taxes, including SS. I don't get sick days, or collect unemployment. What exactly do you think the government has been doing to me since I was young? That's right, $300K. ,no interest added. I just want what was stolen from me when my body is worn out and physical work is no longer possible. I suppose you advocate extermination when people no longer fit your definition of useful? What a fucking jackass......
Your choice to occupy the position you appear to dislike.
Be cautious with expectations.
The American Dream is over.
Rejected - your $250,000 has already been spent - either to pay for Social Security to current recipients - or borrowed by Congress to buy condoms (or whatever). It's gone! Social Security is set up to force current workers to pay for current retirees. You figure out what happens when there are even fewer numbers of current workers, and many of those either stop working or are being paid low wages - while the number of retirees collecting increases substantially.
@ rejected
"nursemaid" the xers? NO ONE nursemaided me or ANYONE else I know from my generation. We were handed a shit sandwich by our parents and grandparents and will be paying YOUR tab until far after we die if that were possible.
The two generations that came before me gutted this nation of its wealth, spread war, empre, and death across the globe, and racked up a rather nice bonuses living on the dole of the MIC welfare/warfare complex through "investments" and such.
You are the parasite generation lacking all morals and overflowing with hubris that it astounds any ratiional thinker.
You should feel lucky that you haven't been EATEN.
"You are the parasite generation lacking all morals and overflowing with hubris that it astounds any ratiional thinker."
Contrary to what you, Future Jim and others of a similar mindset think, not all of us boomers are like the Clintons. Actually, FJ had one decent suggestion: give away Federal land in exchange for monies paid in to SS. I fear that in a few years it won't matter. If Fukushima radiation doesn't get us, WW III will. Or the hordes of refugees and illegals flooding the USA will turn it into a totalitarian hellhole. SS will probably be the least of our problems.
Future Jim - go fuck your hat.
I never got fuck all for free, knew 50 years ago Social Security was a lie, and don't give a fuck either. I work for my upkeep, and always will.
Yeah, I am a member of the Free Shit Army all right - shoot me your mailing address, and I will lay up a big clinker for you shipped priority mail so you get it fresh.
It's hard to reply because your rant is so incoherent, but I am CLEARY advocating that the government NOT take money from young people and give it to old people, so if I am so wrong, then you MUST be arguing for government to take money from young people and give it to old people.
Also, I am CLEARLY arguing aginst big government, cronyism, and the police state, so if I am so wrong, then you MUST be arguing FOR big government, cronyism, and the police state.
If the incoherence of your reply is because I have driven you to drink ... may I suggest my recipe for relief of cynicism?
Future Jimbo.
I don't drink.
My recipe for relief of cynicism is 42.5 grains of IMR 4060, 175 gr hollow point boat tails, match primers, and grouping within a 12 inch circle at 600 yards.
Makes me smile every fucking time.
Jim, there is a majority of boomers on zerohedge, you can't win here.
I do see their point that if they have been paying their share, they should deserve to get what they were taxed for, after all it is not their fault that the goverments wasted trillions on wars abroad and bailing out bankers.
The bigger issue here is what is the moral justification to keep taxing millenials, generation X, Y and anyone beyond for benifits they will never get to enjoy... look at it in Europe, my parents generation could retire on some countries at age 62, in some others at age 65 with all benefits... now they age is 67, by the time I am old fart it will be 70, and with companies squeezing productivity out of workers the way they do, we will be lucky if I live a couple years after retirement, provided that I am able to be employed somehow past age 60 and provided the world don't go to shit before.
Is it fair? absolutely no. Is it their fault? Not entirely.
What piss me off is that, as a whole, they have a total lack of empathy for anyone besides their direct children and they keep having their condescending talk down attitude whithout realizing how extremely luckly they were to live on the period where there was some actual economic growth. In their eyes we are all lazy and entitled, but they never had to deal with having to pay tens of thousands for a crappy college education, inflated housing bubble, higher taxation, terrible job market, H1B invasion, trillions of goverment debt we will have to pay, etc...
At this point, I don't even care anymore, the world is going to shit and I at least I am doing the responsible thing of not bringing children to this world, knowing they will even have it worse than me....
FUCK YOU! Bill Clinton used the money for "other purposes" and also"reformed" Glass Steagall, which he refuted and left the WH broke. They all cashed in on this and sprede the dough around to those who enforce the law (JUST US DEPT). Remember that we are not in the club, but getting clubbed. Don't forget it.
See all six links in this post. Then research it.
How does any of that justify taking money from young people and giving it to you?
I haven't received a fucking dime. In fact, I have never have had welfare either. I know that SS is toast and will work till I drop. I enjoy the challenge of life and working with young people to realize that. There are a few cases that are worthy of external help, However, this free shit needs to come to an end for all able bodied persons. WE (meaning the guys and gals) working our asses off to support lazy assholes and corrupt politicians who rely on (lazy useless fucks) for votes and their pensions need serious reform NOW.
The most important item is how much did the average worker pay in over, say 50 years, and dies at 65. Please think about this. Many I know between the age of 25-35 managed to get SSI disabilty for MENTAL PROBLEMS, which is correctly defined as they do not want to work or are really fucking lazy. The ones who dangled that carrot are the 1 percenters who sold you out both job wise and psychologically who are now wealthy beaureaucrats/politicians. They sold us out too.
Think about it.
Reasonable Governance
Bad Management
Vote now.
i suspect the vast majority of the funds scammed / stolen by the federal government goes not to social welfare entitlements, but to handouts to cronys - wall street bailouts, interest to made-up phony money conjured out of thin air, boondoggles to defence contractors, subsidies to big ag and big pharma, etc, etc.
You need a few percent for votes, especially from dead people and the useless (insert here).
From $9 an hour for part time zero skilled yobs at the convenience stores.... really? lol.,,,,, Most of it will be printed up.
Tell you something,,, Social Security pales when considering the money they gave the bankers around the world to bail them out and the money they spend on the MIC.
Starve MIC and the bankers.... No Way! You want to starve grandma getting $600 per month. You try living on that.
The rest of the crony polluting police state is a net loss and should dissolve.
It is SS that people think is the same money they paid in originally, when in fact, they re just asking the government to take money from young people and give it to them.
Furthermore asshole, I WILL NOT TAKE from my children or grandchildren. But if you insist I take from yours... Kiss my ass. I have a dynamic life on little. My kudo's on all that feel the same way. I will give till the day I die even it be a smile and thank you.
It's hard to reply because your rant is so incoherent, but I am CLEARY advocating that the government NOT take money from young people and give it to old people, so if I am so wrong, then you MUST be arguing for government to take money from young people and give it to old people.
Also, I am CLEARLY arguing aginst big government, cronyism, and the police state, so if I am so wrong, then you MUST be arguing FOR big government, cronyism, and the police state.
If the incoherence of your reply is because I have driven you to drink ... may I suggest my recipe for relief of cynicism?
There are a very few cases that I would be agreeable to making that donation. My rant is regarding those who are able and capable to be productive in many capacities but prefer to fuck off, make babies and live on welfare etc.. I could write a book on this shit and many who work on the inside (welfare) who depend on their salaries and retirement know well what I am talking about. I will upvote you and prefer fresh rosemary, oregano buds and lemon thyme on my Ribeye with a little pink himalayan salt.
Occasionally an 18yo of this works too as will a good Cabernet.
That's exactly how I like my steaks. I like the 12 year olds myself. They have the big bottles that that appeal to my sense of value and I am so greatful to afford such a treat.
Comprehend your statements evolved from generational defense to:
" me Me ME" #1 song on the boomer billboard charts !
Typical.
Future Jimbo.
I'l bet you are a closet Social Security lover. Just can't quite out yourself yet.
Fifty years old ? You are lagging behind on the education curve.
Let me know when they graduate you from elementary school.
Keep drinking the MSM koolaid.
Hello Future Jim,
I am a GenXer never got a dime and have paid into the system for 32 years. Once upon a time I was full of piss and vinegar too. SS is a beautiful concept that only wealthy nations can afford. The U.S. is no longer wealthy. We are shit out of luck. The Dollar will not be worth a turd in a toilet bowl by the time I hit retirement. I'd like to stop paying SS but they steal it from my paychecks. None of the people on ZH alter that reality and probably like to stop their contributions as well. SS is just another tax as the Dollar circles the bowl. Best advice I can offer is to Hedge accordingly.
No mention of the 2.7 trillion that was robbed from the SS fund was spent on unnecessary wars and on welfare for those same generations you claim are being victimized.
Baby boomers are old but even they weren't around when FDR signed the SS bill. JFK was killed by the spooks and didn't have enough time to do anything and neither made any such promises.
Fascism took hold of America in 2001,,, a year when boomers started retiring.
And the most horrid of horrid ponzi schemes ever mandated was enabled by those basement dwelling X'ers and millennials voting for Obama twice hoping for free shit and got ObamaCare which is multiple times worse than SS ever was.
And finally it isn't SS that will take your ussa down,,, it's the Student loans GIVEN to the younger generations that will never be repaid, the section 8 housing and all the other freebies they don't pay for. At least the boomers paid in something for SS,,, unlike the millennials that never got weened.
Finally, if you want to blame someone for Social Security problems blame the ones that looted it. If you want to blame someone for no decent jobs blame those same people for off shoring the production. 80% of the boomers were against NAFTA, CAFTA and the rest. Heck 80% of the X'ers and millennials don't even know what TPP is and the other 20% are too busy sexting each other to care.
Just like you will have no say in the TPP and other going ons in Washington the boomers had no say in Social Security and the trade treaties of their time.
Obviously, just like boomers, later generations are innocent to the extent they voted for libertarians. For example, I am 50 years old and completely innocent. It can be done.
Also, unlike boomers, later generations admit they have been robbed and do not claim they want the government to rob younger people and give them the money.
How does anything you said justify using the government to take money from young people and give it to you?
Tell you what... you blame boomers for not correcting these wrongs,,, voting for all the wrong pols. How'bout you and your generation(s) get out there and do it!
Show us boomers how it's done big guy.
Because if you don't then your really no better than what your accusing us of. Yes?
One of the many ways I live what I say is my work at www.EndOfInnocence.com. Check it out. It's really the least you can do.
I have also never acepted money from the government, even when I could, even when I needed it.
I also vote libertarian.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
nice website.
Your not going to like how this turns out. Civil wars arnt for the faint of heart. Everything burns, and everything breaks.
I only know burnt and broken. Civial war has already started. Cant wait to spread it around.
Here you go. My guess is that it is seasonally adjusted to include global warming.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html
If you're 50, you missed being a boomer by probably less than 1 year...big deal. Dupe or troll, you tell me.
Yeah, but if he was a boomer we would make an exception to the rule... or law for one boomer.
Ok Bruce Jenner and all just like him, or in your case and anyone different or you think you are different.
Change is good, especially in rules and laws... to make exceptions.
F-ing brilliant.
The main reason the oligarchs hate SS for retirement is everyone pays into it then people collect based on age, not who knows who. The oligarchs love to spend gov't money, but it must go into their own pockets.
You are being played. Oligarchs don't hate SS. Why do you think they promote socialism? They want you to be more dependent on government - not less.
Here's how it works, Jim: False promises are used to get people to invest in the system. Once the money is invested, it is stolen. When the theft is discovered, the victims are blamed. People like you fall for that and thus become the victims of the next scam. The wealthy operators of the scam watch the victims fight each other for scraps of food that fall from their table onto the floor and toast each other's success while planning their next rape of the masses.
"Baby Boomers are the most short sighted generation."
Boomers are definately short sided, but I doubt they are the worst. Most of the millinial votes and even Gen-X also vote for socialism and ponzi schemes. Lets also not forget the Silent/WW2 generation that kickstarted Socialism with FDR. It was under FDR that the gov't started SS.
The FED owes the SS Trust Fun over $2.5 Trillion that they admit to.
I'm assuming you are the spawn of these so-called "boomers"?
You're Swedish?
The US population are all sent to "FEDERAL public schools"... where the subject matter is carefully scripted. Economincs and banking are NOT included. The people are told from the cradle that the NEED "experts" and "specialists" to deal with medicine, dentistry, automotive repairs, for certain banking and real estate purchases..... insurance matters, investments... etc etc etc.
The Baby Boomers.. are not different than any of the generations that came before them. They had no alternative source of information such as the internet search engines to exploit until they were adults and working every day to "pay the banksters the payments on the credit that they had been told they HAD to take to even get a roof over their heads".....
The believed that the Democrats would take care of their future and that the experts would arrange the complex matters for them, and that the Republicans would "keep them safe and working".... They were propagandized every day of their lives to believe this falacy.
So they paid into the "system" and their trusted officials and bureaucrats STOLE them blind... but did it safely because the dumb-shit Baby Boomers wouldn't find out until at least 20 or 30 YEARS passed and by that time the thieves would be long gone to a white sand beach on a South Sea island. EASY MONEY~!!!!!
So, what is it that you propose? Just say "Its all their fault anyway, so let them starve and freeze to death and relieve the younger generation of any burdens... after all they are all about useless now anyway... they are too old to produce anything worthwhile."
IS that about the right way to interpret your post? Stop sending those SS checks to the Baby Boomers, and tell them "Yah, we know you paid money that you worked for into this insurance fund for 30 years, but the fact is that your trusted politicians ripped you off, and so get used to living in an ally or a storm drain and eating out of dumpsters."
Have I gotten your plan/attitude down pretty well? Gottcha......
This article is racists.
no. it is not a ponzi scheme. it is an extortion racket. there is a difference.
Its already in the Red for about $80 Billion this year. There is a plan to raise the payroll tax by 2% in 2016 to make up the deficit. The Hike is part of the Budget battle.
FWIW: unless your already 55 or older don't expect to see a penny.
I knew back in the fifties that there wasn't gonna be a fucking pinch of coon shit worth of pension sitting there waiting for me after contributing to Social Security for my entire working life.
Keep working, or die, bitchez.
It's how you stay alive - if you don't use it, you lose it - both physical and mental faculties rot without activity.
Fuck them and their useless hand out.
Now you know where it it went...
A dozen eggs 6 months ago was $1.69. Today, the same brand, same size, same store, 1 dozen = $3.09.
No inflation, yeah. Fuck you, obama.
Check out Google - it's cool
You and your up voters can't possibly be that stupid, can you?
God, I weep for my country.
smeggy - your eggs cost more because they are 'better' now. the eggs didnt actually go up in price. get with the program...
Well, to be fair, egg prices are up due to the tens of millions of egg laying hens that had to be euthanized for avian flu. Should take a little while to work itself out.
Essentially donations to the Clinton Initiative Fund and Legal Defense Fund for bad management.
There is at least one alternative to paying into Social Security.
Become a Member of Congress.
Insider trading and a few other perks too.
No shit, every social welfare system by any government is a ponzi scheme. With the falling birth rate across every western country, everyone of them is going to look like Bernie.
The demographics. That's why you'll need some immigrants - millions of them - to keep this plantation going.
Like it or not.
I agree with this. I would argue if in America they made every illegal a citizen if they buy a house, they would replenish all these social 'engineering' funds in a flash and print a GDP number of infinity.
Lois Learner just walked scott free with a fat pension. Fuck the facist shits.
More deranged bullshit from the anarchists/nihilist retards at Zero Hedge.
We've been hearing your rants of imminent doom since like...forever. Give it a break, you're fucking clueless.
The free Shit Army picked up on this and cashed in. Sit back and smoke a doobie or 10 plus whatevet fits your fancy. We pay for your section 8 housing and you get the child care credits etc... Go ahead and play video games all day long. It won't be forgotton. FUCK YOU.
Modern industry is also a ponzi scheme. No debt, no industry. The machines do not pay for themselves and Ludwig Von Mises cannot make it so.
retarded comment.
machines can be bought with capital (savings). debt is not a requirement of investing capital.
One of the govt's methods for keeping this scam afloat just a little while longer appears to be to import 3-4 low wage workers from the third world for every SS recipient, in order to add payments into the system...
This week I had to go to the police station to get my drivers licence back that I had to turn for a week because I drove a little bit to fast.
I noticed a small sign on the pc of the officer in front of my while I tried to look on his screen.
It said: "please don't use the info for personal use, only for official cases".
I guess that says it all because why else would they make a sign for it.
I want my time back I just spent reading this worthless piece of shit article.
ok, but only if you give me the time back i spent reading your worthless comment. deal?
T'would be nice if someone was actually trying to solve the problem instead of making it worse with a "I gotta get mine" and a blame is on someone mentality.
I see no one in government trying to actually do something about it. We hear lots and lots of nice sounding words, but actions seem to be the exact opposite. Those who tell you what they think you want to hear and then do something else should be running nothing. This country has caught a case of the corruptions.
Banks are the money factory not government. 97% of money supply is bank credit loaned into existence with a debt instrument. Additionally it is loaned at interest. If something so fundamental is gotten wrong by author, then what else did he get wrong?
reading comp. exelent!
Can I be lazy for a moment ?
My wife and I are in our early 60's. We have not yet filed for SS. At some point there is some sort of mandatory Medicare tax. How exactly does that work. Is it inflicted on us even if we never file for SS ? Thanks
Watch carefully what you do. I recommend 'Get What's Yours' by Kotlikoff. He also has a lot of short articles on the Internet and I am sure he talks about your situation. Even if you wait until 70 you have to pay for Medicare out of pocket when you hit full retirement age. I don't remember if they force you to get Medicare, but if you decide to get it later it will cost you much more (typical of a Ponzi scheme!)
Not a smidgeon of corruption @ the IRS, and not a smidgeon of inflation. Hey American taxpayer, FUCK YOU!
Its the third rail of politics ya. Well guess what? The money/Value is not there. Sorry.
"[A]n investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks".
Nope, sorry. Social Security is funded by taxes paid by workers like me to pay for the retirement of the elderly so they won't have to eat cat food. I suggest that the oligarchs complain a little more about the worthless greedy empire-building military-industrial complex Killing Machine. However, that won't happen as the oligarchs are too busy cashing in.
I will bet dollars to doughnuts that Social Security will be declared bankrupt and will be merged into welfare and unemployment benefits. Basically - if you need money you will get Obama Cash. Of course there will be lots of complicated formulas calculated by well paid government contractors - but it will become a one-stop shop for the purpose of handing out government money. And you can bet that there will be some type of means testing, and that you will be paying more out of each paycheck. Just as the EU welfare model collapses under the weight of refugees, the U.S. will imitate their socialist policies and it will last until the collapse. Not possible you say - just look at our borders - and demographics - and how soon we will cross over to 51% of the voters living on the dole.
Once 51% of the voters start collecting government checks - who is going to stop the system or cut them off?
"Once 51% of the voters start collecting government checks - who is going to stop the system or cut them off?"
Answer: Math
Not necessarily. At my income level I am funding more than one retiree into just Social Security, so pretty good math for them.
When you compare the private retirement system (Social Security) to state and federal retirement systems, it’s a Ponzi on steroids.
Consider, for the year 2012, some 480,000 retired California state workers, who averaged 19.93 years of service, were paid annual pensions of $30,456. By comparison, if a privately-employed person had retired in 2014 at the age of 66 after 40 years of work, the largest annual retirement amount he could qualify for would only be $27,442.
(Ret Ben means, “Retirement Benefit”.)
It raises the question, ‘Is social Security Shortchanging Taxpayers?’
In 1993, the federal government raised taxes late in the year and made the increase *retroactive* back to January. I had to write a check for five figures to cover my back taxes. They gave people three years to pay, but I simply wrote the check and handed it over. What else could I do?
How is this even legal, I wondered? If they can alter the deal retroactively, I reasoned, what's to prevent them from simply taking it all?
Out of pique and because I was bored by my work, I decided to shut down my business and retire, age 41. I've since lived a very bohemian life. I spend very, very little money because I do all of my own chores and know how to fix the stuff that needs fixing. I stayed out of debt, had savings and that gave me freedom.
Last year, I started drawing on social security. It's a pittance but no worries: I can live off the zero interest I collect in my savings account.
My sympathies are for the young, but blaming others will get you nowhere. You cannot control boomers or the rich or the government or Wall Street or whomever you've chosen to blame. Forget about it...you control only yourself and even there only if you have exceptional discipline and character.
Say no to debt and servitude. Save some money and give yourself some real options.
I was not born rich. I had nothing when I hit 30. I was eating one meal a day for months. I literally dug ditches for my daily bread for awhile. My condolences if you have weak back.
Control no. Hang yes.
Amusing thought...disturbing, but amusing.
Blaming people for what they do will get you everywhere you need to be.
Bush had it right again, put Social Security into the Market.
The cockroaches, the sixers, would still figure out a way to steal it.
Bernie Madoff got ripped off.
Yea, it's a Ponzi Scheme.
But I'll say this, when I look at a list of of all the dumb shit the government spends money on, Social Security is WAY down on the list as far as what offends me.
The fact that nearly 1 out of 5 people are on food stamps is FAR more troubling.
If I'm making a list of parasites, senior citizens drawing SS is not what's destroying this once great nation.
I don't know...directly stealing the fruits of my labor under the pretense of allowing me to have a fraction back later in life is pretty offensive.
You are correct. You will now get nothing back. Pretense over. Just steal. What you gonna do about it?
I'm a boomer still working. Welcome to my club. You millenials and x'rs seem to think we didn't pay in all our life or something. That's the point.
Exactly.
I'm decades away from retirement, but if we're going to prioritize government spending, the people that paid into the promise their whole life should be at the front of the line. Even if the promise was bullshit.
Let me know when the people that get free housing, free food stamps, free birth control, free health and free ObamaPhones get theirs taken away so we can then have a rational discussion about what to do with the people that played by the rules.
I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.
Ray Davies - Kinks
20th Century Man