At Least Ponzi Didn't Force People to Enroll | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

At Least Ponzi Didn't Force People to Enroll | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Some defenders of the current system insist that it is not because, well, as USA Today editorialized, "Ponzi schemes are a criminal enterprise; Social Security is not." But this is simply a tautology that says nothing about the program's structure. Those young workers who will be forced to pay more in taxes while getting less in benefits will not take much comfort from Social Security's legality.

But those taxes and benefit cuts do point out one area where Social Security is different from a Ponzi scheme. Though it's usually a swindle, people sign up for a Ponzi scheme voluntarily. Once Ponzi was unable to talk enough people into investing with him, his scheme collapsed. People participate in Social Security because ... the government makes them. And if the Social Security system begins to run short of people paying into the system, as it is now, it can always force those people to pay more.

That's what the program has done more than 40 times since it began. Even after adjusting for inflation, Social Security payroll taxes have increased by more than 800 percent since the program began.'

'Under current law, if nothing changes, a 30-year-old worker today can expect to receive just 76 percent of the benefits that he has been promised. That will be far less than the amount of money he could have had if he had been able to invest his Social Security taxes privately. In fact, many young workers will be lucky if they receive back as much in benefits as they pay into the system.'