Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Ponzi Scheme That Works

"The beauty of social insurance is that it is actuarially unsound. Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privileges that far exceed anything he has paid in . . How is it possible? It stems from the fact that the national product is growing at a compound interest rate and can be expected to do so for as far ahead as the eye cannot see. . . A growing nation is the greatest Ponzi game ever contrived."
PAUL SAMUELSON (1967)



FROM: "Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?" by Alex Tabarrok, September 10, 2011.

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