Trump Labor Statistics Pick Called Social Security a 'Ponzi Scheme' That Should Be Shuttered

[CousinIT]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-labor-statistics-pick-called-social-security-a-ponzi-scheme-that-should-be-shuttered

"Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits," said Rep. John Larson. "It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position."

U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to replace the top labor statistics official he fired earlier this month has called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" that needs to be "sunset," comments that critics said further disqualify the nominee for the key government role.

During a December 2024 radio interview, Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni said it is a "mathematical fiction" that Social Security "can go on forever" and called for "some kind of transition program where unfortunately you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes, but never actually receive any of those benefits."

"That's the price to pay for unwinding a Ponzi scheme that was foisted on the American people by the Democrats in the 1930s," Antoni continued. "You're not going to be able to sustain a Ponzi scheme like Social Security. Eventually, you need to sunset the program."

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), one of Social Security's most vocal defenders in Congress, said Antoni's position on the program matters because "Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits."

"It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position," Larson said in a statement. "I call on every Senate Republican to stand with Democrats and reject this extreme nominee—before our seniors are denied the benefits they earned through a lifetime of hard work."

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Thanks for this, we take shit when we predict they will take our Social Security and Medicare

Those of us who can see what they are doing can only warn everybody so many times.

Sigh

[CousinIT]

2. Yeah, I know. People take it for granted while they are whittling away at it...

...and plotting to shut it all down, cut it, gut it, privatize it (and that will NOT be an improvement AT ALL).

"Oh, they'll never do that! People would raise hell!"

OH YEAH?

WELL, WHERE ARE THESE "PEOPLE" RIGHT NOW?

They're in DENIAL. PFFT.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. Multiple responses just in the last week I could show you if I had the time to do it and it's people who

Simply still do not understand just exactly what we are dealing with, I guess I still love them but I wish they would stop already with the there are certain things they won’t do because they’re afraid of our reaction beliefs.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Apparently, Antoni Doesn't Know What A Ponzi Scheme Is

The simplest reason it is nor, is that in a Ponzi scheme, the investors don't know where the promised benefit/returns are coming from.
That is not, nor has it ever been, the case with social security. How it works has been clear, obvious, and transparent since its inception.
Antoni is just another libertarian crank who knows way less about finance than he thinks he does