Posted on 08/29/2011 11:34:13 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is standing firm in insisting that Social Security, the federal government’s insurance programs for retirees and disabled, is a Ponzi scheme designed to deceive the young.
In a weekend campaign stop in Ottumwa, Iowa, Perry, who has surged into the lead in the Republican presidential sweepstakes in at least one major poll, repeated his characterization of the social insurance program that is generally supported by the electorate. He has made the same point before, especially in his book, “Fed Up!,” though at one point his campaign tried to explain that he had softened his language.
“It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people,” Perry insisted. “The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie.”
At a later stop in Des Moines, he also threw cold water on his own campaign’s efforts to portray his position in a more tempered light. “I haven’t backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right,” he said.
Perry’s stand is the type of vintage ferocity that the governor has generated in his Texas political career and even in his limited time as a GOP presidential hopeful. For example, he has suggested that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke would be behaving in a “treasonous” fashion, if he loosened the money supply in a presidential election year.
Despite complaints from some quarters that his choice of words in condemning the Fed was too strong, Perry has stood firm in that area as well, raising questions about when a colorful and forceful position crosses the line into political gaffe.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Well, it IS!
(I just wish I could believe that he really believes the things he says.)Oy.
He’s got the guts, but this may be his downfall.
The TRUTH is the TRUTH! Simple as that!
Social Security is, and always has been, nothing more than a government run Ponzi scheme! Anyone who doesn’t believe that should start a PRIVATE insurance company based on that exact model and see how long it take for them to throw you in jail!
You could be right, but Perry is a canny politician. It may be that he has correctly determined that the public is ready for the truth. We’ll see.
You got that one right. It should be obvious when we see the government owing SS $2.5 Trillion. They use SS taxes for the general fund and spend it all as they get it. If SS is to survive, this has to stop and repay th $2.5 Trillion.
This is a man with the right stuff to defeat Zer0 who is nothing but a team player for the leftist cronies around him.
SS is on a perfectly sound footing, except for the math.
Of course it's a ponzi scheme.
He’s right about that.
Tax payers are diddled out of their money so Congress can appropriate it to buy votes and stay in office. PERIOD!
Bernie Madoff has nothing on our own government......The fact that Perry’s statements are being called “controversial” is more proof of the complicity of the MSM in the destruction of our republic.
Ponzi scheme is correct
You don’t believe that for one minute.
Someone cue ‘Captain Obvious’...
Oh, oh... He let the cat out of the bag.
The truth is the truth. If I had had a private non speculative retirement portfolio and had been required to deposit into it every month I would be getting 2-3 times the return. Rick Perry is right. And Paul Ryan is right about Medicare. It would be a lot cheaper to just pay the insurance premiums for private insurance for seniors and let them choose their own doctors etc. they would get more bang for their buck and it would eliminate the waste and fraud.
I absolutely loathe SS. People should get what they paid into it. They don’t. I like Chile’s system more.
Agree with others that this might be Perry’s Achilles heel for him. The Dems will harp about how Perry is such a meanie for wanting to throw Granny to the curb.
Yet watch which countries the Dem harpies flock to when SS REALLY goes belly up.
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