Social Insecurity

Social Security is self-abolishing. It is was economists call a Ponzi Scheme or Pyramid Scheme, or demolitions guys call a ticking time bomb.

What is a Ponzi Scheme? Ponzi was a confidence trickster who realized he could pay off investors their principle and interest by attracting a second group of investors and using the money loaned from them to pay the first group; and then a third group of investors would pay the second group; and a fourth group would pay the third; and the scheme could work indefinitely without any good or service of any value ever being produced or sold, PROVIDED each group of investors is larger than the group before them, and provided there is no upper limit to the number of groups. You borrow one dollar from one guy promising to pay him back two: you borrow two dollars from two men promising to pay them back four; and four dollars from four guys promising them to pay back eight; in only a few iterations, you are borrowing from the entire population of the earth.

The problem with a Ponzi Scheme is that it cannot last forever.

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