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Stanley Druckenmiller: How Washington Really Redistributes Income
WSJ ^ | 10-21-13 | James Freeman

Posted on 10/27/2013 10:56:52 AM PDT by TurboZamboni

Stan Druckenmiller makes an unlikely class warrior. He's a member of the 1%—make that the 0.001%—one of the most successful money managers of all time, and 60 years old to boot. But lately he has been touring college campuses promoting a message of income redistribution you don't hear out of Washington. It's how federal entitlements like Medicare and Social Security are letting Mr. Druckenmiller's generation rip off all those doting Barack Obama voters in Generation X, Y and Z. "I have been shocked at the reception. I had planned to only visit Bowdoin, " his alma mater in Maine, he says. But he has since been invited to multiple campuses, and even the kids at Stanford and Berkeley have welcomed his theme of generational theft. Harlem Children's Zone President Geoffrey Canada and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh have joined him at stops along the tour. Mr. Druckenmiller describes the reaction of students: "The biggest question I got was, 'How do we start a movement?' And my answer was 'I'm a 60-year-old washed-up money manager. I don't know how to start a movement. That's your job. But we did it in Vietnam without Twitter and without Facebook and without any social media. That's your job.' But the enthusiasm—they get it."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: bankrupt; change; college; debt; hope; income; socialsecurity; soshsecurity; spending
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To: griswold3

Will we get to wear stars before they kill us?


21 posted on 10/27/2013 1:31:39 PM PDT by GOPJ ( We've grown to trust MSM hatred. When the MSM hates one of us it's an endorsement.)
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To: gartrell bibberts

And Medicare is a worse income re-distribution mechanism, you pay in based on your income (no cap) and take out based on your medical bills. Obamacare also imposed expands the Medicare tax on individuals making over $200K and married couples amking over $250K.


22 posted on 10/27/2013 1:34:35 PM PDT by wfu_deacons
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To: TurboZamboni

How am I ripping off the Obama generation after paying into the MediCare and Social Security system for 45 years? Not even in the same dictionary as the word entitlement!


23 posted on 10/27/2013 2:23:43 PM PDT by Cyman
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To: wfu_deacons

” IS SOCIAL SECURITY A PONZI SCHEME ? “

On CNBC TV’s “Squawk Box” Rick Santelli asked guest host Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times foreign Affairs Columnist, and author of his new book “ That Used to be Us, “ the following question: “ Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme ? “ Tom replied, “ Your question is idiotic ! “ Rick then replied: “ Your answer is idiotic! “


From Wikipedia:

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep the scheme going.

That might as well have been an entry for “Social Security System,” except for the short term part. But returns, at least for older Americans, have been far in excess of what they put IN to the system.

Recall some people sued Carter when he raised the retirement age in the 1970’s. Plaintiff argued that the gubmint had a contract with the people. Another myth. The Supremes ruled SS is a legislated entitlement and Congress is granted wide latitude to change it. In other words, Congress can spend all of SS money on a one month orgy on the DC mall and the only thing the American people can do is vote the bastards out of office. That is why SS is the worst “contract” to accept. At least a 401k is your money and the provider has contractual obligations to the original terms of the agreement and one can sue them if they violate the contractual terms. SS does not have this feature.

And a Ponzi Scheme is voluntary.
If you are smart and cautious, you can avoid them completely. Sosh security is enforced by the law, so no amount of planning can allow you to avoid getting scammed.
Sosh security is worse.


24 posted on 10/27/2013 2:38:39 PM PDT by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad & lived with his parents most his life.)
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To: TurboZamboni
And a Ponzi Scheme is voluntary...

Sosh security is worse.

Precisely. Somebody who holds a gun to your head to get you to invest in a Ponzi scheme isn't a con man, he's a robber.

I fell much better now that we have 0bamacare, though. I'll be living a long and happy life after I retire. Well, whatever organs they can harvest will, anyway. I'm teaching my kidneys Spanish.

25 posted on 10/27/2013 2:46:21 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: wfu_deacons

Social Secuirty Trustee admits it’s a Ponzi Scheme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITMEZImvNio

the SS Trustee also says that payroll taxes alone will have to be 30% in order to keep paying the current level of benefits.

“Writing yourself a check for $1,000,000 does not make you a millioniare”


26 posted on 10/27/2013 2:48:51 PM PDT by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad & lived with his parents most his life.)
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To: wfu_deacons

What you pay for Medicare won’t cover your costs

WASHINGTON — You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and think you deserve your money’s worth: full benefits after you retire.
Nearly three out of five people say in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll that they paid into the system so their benefits shouldn’t be cut.

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2010/12/31/business/530229.txt

most everyone’s addicted to their entitlement.


27 posted on 10/27/2013 2:51:46 PM PDT by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad & lived with his parents most his life.)
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To: gartrell bibberts

SS and Medicare are a Ponzi scheme and nothing else. As long as we had more workers than retirees, we were o.k. Now we have more retirees than workers and it’s not o.k.
If people only took the actual amount they paid in, that, too, would have created solvency.
P.S. - FICA is a tax, noting more, nothing less. It is not Insurance!!! It is YOUR Fault for being so gullible and failing to do the math.


28 posted on 10/27/2013 5:28:42 PM PDT by griswold3 (Post-Christian America is living on borrowed moral heritage)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin
This woman was actually conservative the way she lived but when she got to the voting booth all thought processes stopped.

I have know hundreds just like her over the years. Trying to change their minds is mission impossible.

29 posted on 10/27/2013 7:48:32 PM PDT by Ditto
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