Monday, July 06, 2009

Cartoon of the Day


5 Comments:

At 7/06/2009 8:57 AM, Blogger me said...

What is the economy if not the propagation of wealth against time?

 
At 7/06/2009 10:05 AM, Blogger Hot Sam said...

This reminded me of another thing PJ O'Rourke said in the video you posted. If people were smart enough to learn from mistakes, Ponzi's scheme would have been the last one. That's why Libertarians support necessary laws and the rule of law.

 
At 7/06/2009 10:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Me:

There is a difference between creating markets which lend long and borrow short on expected lifetime earnings and a scheme of wealth transfers from one generation to the next. The former is a voluntary transaction with potentially diversifiable risks. The latter is an insolvent scheme of theft with an uncertain date of collapse.

 
At 7/06/2009 7:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Using my SS estimated benefits statement from 2 years ago I calculated that basically they'll just give me back everything I pay (self employed so the full amount) until I retire plus inflation.

So the 25 years of prior contributions by me and my employers would have negative 100% return and whatever is paid from now on will have a return of about 2% or 3%.

That's a negative return if I had done the full calculation. Since we know that taxes are going up or benefits down, even that old calculation was flawed.

 
At 7/07/2009 12:19 PM, Blogger BxCapricorn said...

Great cartoon. When you start looking for Ponzi Schemes, almost everything the Federal Government does seems suspect. Housing is even a Ponzi Scheme of a sort. Once the inflows stop, the projected gain calculations end. If I get another letter, brochure, etc. from my broker, telling me I'm missing out, or that diversification and constant contributions are the key to life-long financial success, I'm going to collapse (in a fit of laughter). These same people could not tell that a deflationary spiral was coming, much less how to invest in such an environment, and I'm supposed to give them more money? Hilarious.

 

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