A Ponzi scheme is an illegal investment where money paid to earlier investors is paid by the newest persons contributing with little chance of being paid themselves.
A spokesperson for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare responded to statements made by politicians that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
Dan Adcock is Government Relations and Policy Director at the organization. He says statements made by politicians are often done to prepare the public for changes....
"..its to pave the way for benefit cuts because if you can persuade the public that Social Security is in trouble then it's a lot easier to make unpopular benefit cuts...."
Adcock says the Social Security Trust Fund has more than $2.8 trillion dollars that Adcock says guarantees full benefits until the year 2034. After that point, there will be enough money to pay almost 80 percent of benefits. He says money will still be coming into the system.
He says changes in who pays into the system were made that stripped revenue. He says LeBron James, a wealthy athlete, pays the same amount of Social Security tax after a certain point as any other taxpayer. He says there's also an agenda among some politicians to privatize the system.
