Ponzi came up with an idea to get investors to invest with him. He offered a 50 percent profit for investing with him for 45 days. The money rolled in.

Ponzi, however, did not earn the stated profits. He used the money from the new investors to pay dividends to the earlier investors. He eventually ran out of enough new investors to pay the earlier investors, and the scheme collapsed.

Investors lost $225 million in today’s dollars. Mr. Ponzi was sentenced to 17 years in prison. His scam is now known as the Ponzi scheme.

Unfortunately, Social Security is also a Ponzi scheme. Current workers are paying for the benefits received by retirees. As the number of current workers diminishes and the number of retirees increases, the system heads toward insolvency.

In Galveston County, Texas, it was decided not to participate in the Social Security Ponzi scheme. Individual retirement accounts were set up for the citizens. A person earning $50,000 a year would receive $1,302 per month from Social Security. That same person would receive $6,843 per month from the individual retirement account.

Why did President Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party set up Social Security in 1935 as a Ponzi scheme? In my opinion, the answer is clear. Free money buys votes. The very first Social Security recipient, Ida Mae Fuller of Vermont, paid in just $44 in Social Security taxes. She collected $20,993 in benefits.

This let the government claim that they were “looking out for the little person.” That strategy was very successful. The Democrats controlled Congress for 40 years.

I believe that another consideration was timing. It would take many decades for the scheme to unravel.

If the government comes up with a new program to “take care of you” – beware!