Is Social Security a form of embezzlement?

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I was always under the impression that money I pay into SSI is something I get later in life. But it turns out what I'm actually paying into is a massive bank account that is then immediately redistributed out to the others.

"U.S. Social Security is a social insurance program funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). Tax deposits are formally entrusted to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Sec ... _States%29

versus

"Some of the most complex (and potentially most lucrative) forms of embezzlement involve Ponzi-like financial schemes where high returns to early investors are paid out of funds received from later investors duped into believing they are themselves receiving entry into a high return investment scheme."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embezzlement

Other than being legal, how is social security different from a Ponzi-like embezzlement scheme?

do you think that social security is "high return investment scheme" ?

It is a Ponzi Scheme.

ruveyn

No, it isn't a Ponzi scheme.

No-one ever claimed that this was a "high return investment scheme," or that this was an investment scheme at all.

And, it was never "quite plain that social security must fail," until George Bush came along.

Social security is a transfer from people who are employed (and from employers) to people who have either retired or become disabled.

In order to collect, you need to have put in a minimum amount over a minimum number of years. The more you put in, the bigger the payout.

There was a trust fund established to cover the temporary bulge in payouts anticipated for retiring baby boomers. However, President Bush spent it all. That part of the arithmetic makes it "quite plain that social security must fail", in order to bring satisfaction to right wing idiots.

Without President Bush, there would have been no impending problem.

Now, we'll just have to increase misery temporarily during the baby boom retirement years--most likely by raising taxes, and possibly by reducing benefits. It seems only fair, since George Bush hosted an orgy of wreckless spending combined with irrational tax cuts. We'll have to pay the piper eventually.

Once the baby boomers have become extinct, the situation will right itself in terms of a balance between workers and retirees.

If it isn't there, then how do you consider it "high return?"

When you pay to Social Security, the government just simply changes the number to your bank account to account for the payment. When it comes to pay you, they increase that number. They don't guard your pile of money. It simply disappears when you pay in and re-appears when you are paid.