Social Security--a Ponzi Scheme?

The bitter young man who called Social Security the “Greatest Ponzi Scheme” has some good points. (And a few bad ones.)

I hope I won’t be expelled from the American Assn. of Retired Persons for saying that.

Social Security is the greatest American economic development of my lifetime. It will never go out of business. Every sensible person knows that, and the young man should.

But let’s admit it--it has become a pension/welfare system, not the actuarially based insurance system it was designed to be. It goes to the poor, and it goes to the rich, in amounts only vaguely related to contributions.

I say tax the whole amount, just as private pensions are taxed. Recipients with very little income would pay no tax, so it wouldn’t hurt them. Wealthier people receiving the quasi-welfare payments would be giving back some of the “free” portion of Social Security checks.

That’s vastly better than a complicated “means” test.

I would pay the tax, and I’m ready to do it. Just waiting for my President and my congressmen to ask me. Frankly, they don’t have the guts to ask. Our own President has told us we “don’t deserve” to pay more taxes; let the next generations balance the budget.

If we did, we might lose our image--to posterity--as the Free Lunch generation of the 1980s.

JOHN McSWEENEY

Studio City