Social Security is set up exactly like a Ponzi scheme, an illegal con game that relies on a constantly expanding base on the bottom to pay off the people on the top. If Social Security were run by anyone other than the government, its practice would be illegal. But birthrates have declined sharply — Generation X is less than half the size of the Baby Boomers. Social Security will need to be either eliminated or totally transformed to avoid driving the federal government into bankruptcy. And Medicare is in even worse shape.
