It is refreshing to see Social Security getting the critique it has long deserved. While one can expose it as a ponzi scheme as Charles did in his editorial, the limited space offered by print publications makes it impossible to share the complete story.

Readers interested in learning how Congress has abused the system to literally steel over $2.7T (that's trillion) from our retirement savings accounts should take the time to read the story, "The Truth about Social Security" at the following link.

www.nextinning.com/socialsecurity2.php

Regards, Paul McWilliams
editor in chief, Next Inning Technical Research

Insurance is pooling of risks and funds to cover losses.

Social Security is not insurance - it's not even a trust fund - it's todays workers paying for those who have already retired. The so called 'trust fund' is merely the float between money received and money paid out (theoretically - the money should be invested for the benefit of the employees - but it's not) which is why Social Security is in trouble because the number of recipients is rapidly climbing (yesterday SS Director reported 10,000 new applications a day) while the workforce in total is declining - so you have more drain on the fund that funds coming it - leading to a future deficit in the fund.

I believe the term is an unfunded future liability.

We have enough deficits already... we don't need another one. Perhaps the economy would recover more quickly if the largest debtor would stop continuing to spend more than it makes - the US Government.