The biggest Ponzi scheme of them all is social security:

[heypa]

Social security( a misnomer) is a government Ponzi scheme.
Madoff was a commercial Ponzi scheme.
A government Ponzi scheme discloses how they will screw you and then makes you buy into it.
A commercial Ponzi scheme misleads you but no one forces you to buy into it.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Quote from tradersboredom:

it won't go bankrupt, just they won't have social security, no welfare etc.

no unemployment benefits if you lose your job.

none of that socialism stuff.

Which is fine, I just want all my money back that I paid in to SSN. I want all lost wages that I could have made but my employer(s) had to pay for unemployment. I also want my taxes lowered that had/have to cover the welfare stuff. Got no problem at all...soon as I get my check.

 

[Random.Capital]

Quote from GTS:

I disagree.

You are free to. However, you are not using the standard definition of "ponzi", which does not have any perception or knowledge components.

A Ponzi is simply any scheme that generates profits for earlier participants by the skimming the proceeds from later participants. Whether anybody involved knows what is going on or not is irrelevant to the definition, although it may certainly imply the level of fraud involved.

Cheers.

 

[GTS]

Quote from Random.Capital:
You are free to. However, you are not using the standard definition of "ponzi", which does not have any perception or knowledge components.

A Ponzi is simply any scheme that generates profits for earlier participants by the skimming the proceeds from later participants. Whether anybody involved knows what is going on or not is irrelevant to the definition, although it may certainly imply the level of fraud involved.

Apparently what you consider "the standard definition" is not held by everyone; your definition omits fraud which is a key component.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/ponzischeme.asp?viewed=1

A fraudulent investing scam that promises high rates of return at little risk to investors. The scheme generates returns for older investors by acquiring new investors. This scam actually yields the promised returns to earlier investors, as long as there are more new investors.

http://www.answers.com/topic/ponzi-scheme

An investment swindle in which high profits are promised from fictitious sources and early investors are paid off with funds raised from later ones.

SS satisfies neither definition.

 

[Mav88]

If Bush hadn't squandered so much money on the phoney war he started in Iraq, why should it be such an issue? The guy didn't even get the clearance from U.N. but he makes charges against Russia in front of the world body when it invades Georgia. One thing for sure about us Americans is that we love double-standard.

The cost of the bailouts was 2-8 trillion in 3 months, the war was a trillion in 6 years. Bailouts and social welfare make wars seem like mere earmarks.

 

[ipatent]

Quote from Mav88:

If Bush hadn't squandered so much money on the phoney war he started in Iraq, why should it be such an issue? The guy didn't even get the clearance from U.N. but he makes charges against Russia in front of the world body when it invades Georgia. One thing for sure about us Americans is that we love double-standard.

The cost of the bailouts was 2-8 trillion in 3 months, the war was a trillion in 6 years. Bailouts and social welfare make wars seem like mere earmarks.

Power and fair don't make a good couple.

 

[stock777]

Be careful looking too hard.

Chances are YOUR lifestyle is financed by some kind of scam somewhere.

Should equilibrium be restored, you may wind up back where your ancestors lived, under the bridge or in an Appalachian shanty.

 

[Pekelo]

Quote from GTS:


SS satisfies neither definition.

It does. Just because it is not high returns nor secretive it is still a Ponzi, where early birds get the goods and latecomers get screwed.

A Ponzi usually collapses when there are no more newcomers to the system. Since the US population is getting older and less workers are paying into the system and more retirees are taking out the money, the system can not be sustained.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Quote from Mav88:

If Bush hadn't squandered so much money on the phoney war he started in Iraq, why should it be such an issue? The guy didn't even get the clearance from U.N. but he makes charges against Russia in front of the world body when it invades Georgia. One thing for sure about us Americans is that we love double-standard.

The cost of the bailouts was 2-8 trillion in 3 months, the war was a trillion in 6 years. Bailouts and social welfare make wars seem like mere earmarks.

This is Bush Derangement Syndrome taken to the extreme. SSN is broke because of Bush? OMFG!

 

[harkm]

It doesn't really matter. They will just inflate their way out it.