Freedom, Responsibility ... and What? Social Security Reform — An Explanation

I originally caught this P.J. O'Rourke article in The Atlantic recently and meant to mention it, but got busy and didn't have a link to make it easy for you to check it out. (Sending web surfers to a bookstore is a bit tricky, ya know?) Well, the Cato Institute was kind enough to reprint it and I strongly recommend you check it out.

P.J.'s rep as a humorist obscures his ability to make what's promoted as being too arcane for mere mortals painfully simple to grasp by anyone. Bob Costas, on his "Later" show, pointed out the Rolling Stone piece P.J. wrote that explained the S&L scandal in simple terms. I've never bought the idea that people are too stupid to understand politics and the economy when they can manage fantasy football leagues and speak Klingon - the only thing stopping them from understanding the scam politicians are running on us is their own willful ignorance, with a dollop of fear of finding out what the scoundrels are up to.

The Social Security Trust Fund that's supposed to last us until 2042 — there isn't any money in it. There never was. Modern money, so-called "fiat money," is a government IOU. The government cannot create a trust fund by saving its own IOUs any more than I can create a trust fund by writing "I start getting money when I turn twenty-one" on a piece of paper. The Social Security Trust Fund is just such a piece of paper. Except it says, "I start getting money when I turn sixty-five — the government promises."

Consult American Indians for a further discussion of government promises.

Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. If you or I tried to run a pyramid scam like this, we'd go to prison. The government, however, is free to give us the Unlubed Fist® and then tell us we're ungrateful for not wanting a second helping of SOL.

Wake up before it's too late!!!