To Scheme or Not to Scheme... That is the Question

It appears that Democrats as well as Republicans equally are reprimanding Governor Rick Perry for his categorization of the Social Security retirement system as a “Ponzi scheme.” Instead of pondering on what he’s trying to get across, many immediately come to the defense of the system and instantly contort Perry’s stance into one where he’s determined to abolish the program instantly upon becoming President. Let’s face it folks, the shock of the current and growing senior citizen population draws the need to at least evaluate the current Social Security Program.

So that we’re all clear, as defined by Wikipedia, a Ponzi scheme is “a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep the scheme going.”

 To be fair, the Social Security retirement program did not begin as a Ponzi scheme. At its conception, the initial person to receive benefits in the United States contributed nearly twenty-five dollars and collected benefits of nearly twenty-five thousand before her death. The dilemmas with the programs emerge from the reality that the average citizen presently lives much longer following retirement than when the program was started in 1935. Additionally, the federal government has unceasingly reached into the Social Security Trust fund to subsidize its deficiency consumption. They procure the money debited from our paychecks and utilize it as they wish. Often substituting it with an IOU, however that IOU does not achieve the credits that could be gained in alternative investments. With folks lasting longer along and with us taking in a bit less, the time/compounding belief cannot imaginably compensate the extended portion of time seniors of the present are anticipated to receive.

Although I am “Pure Texan,” I admit to not being as big a fan of Governor Perry and his idealisms as my fellow Empower Texans cohorts who wrote “Excuse Me, But It Is A Ponzi Scheme.” I honestly do not know as much as I should about Governor Perry's politics and integrity. Still, I admire his boldness to voice out clearly as he discerns it regardless of all the chastisement he is getting for not illuminating ''diplomacy”. Many politicians are too afraid to bring about the issue of Social Security for apprehension of not winning the senior vote. I arbitrarily consider that it brings forth a new perspective on boldness to listen to a candidate voice their opinion.