End the Social Security Ponzi Scheme Now

Presidential candidate George W. Bush’s call for the partial privatization of Social Security doesn’t go far enough — the only real solution is to eliminate it, said a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.

“Social Security is not an investment plan, but a government-sponsored Ponzi scheme,” said Robert W. Tracinski. “Like a Ponzi scheme, Social Security uses current workers’ premiums to pay for immediate government spending — while future benefits come from the taxes extracted from younger workers. This is not news to most people, but the absurdity of Social Security lies in the fact that it is considered untouchable.”

Tracinski noted that what keeps Social Security alive and flourishing is the morality used to justify it.

“Social Security’s purpose is not to help you pay for your own retirement, but to force you to pay for your neighbor’s retirement or your neighbor’s parents’ retirement,” he said. “The Left loves Social Security because everyone is made dependent on the government — and no one is allowed to provide for himself. The Left doesn’t view such a program as a failure: It succeeds at achieving their anti-individualist ideal — even at the cost of draining the people’s wealth and making it harder for them to plan for their own retirement.”

Tracinski said that Social Security’s destructive anti-individualist morality is the reason why any half measures aren’t enough. The only way to “fix” the program is to eliminate it outright, and to allow people to accumulate private investments to provide for their own retirement.

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