Why do the Democrats let the Republicans refer to Social Security and Medicare are if they are “Freebee” entitlements. Yes, they are legal entitlements the same way as payments I am entitled to after paying my annuity premiums for the past 30+ years, or the medical insurance premiums I pre-paid for 30+ years before I could collect any benefits and had to pay additional premiums for medical insurance in the interim! If a private annuity quit making their contractual payments claiming they aren’t deserved because “they are just entitlements” they would face fraud charges.
The real freebee entitlements are those claimed by the super wealthy who believe that because they were fortunate enough to inherit their seed money, or have been able to extract more of the Wealth of the Nation for themselves that they should not have to pay their share of taxes, not be subject to any regulations (even those the rest of us “dupes” have to follow), and have a right to extract even more of the nation’s wealth from generous government contracts.
And while we are on the subject, Elan Musk’s statement that Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme also needs a comment. If Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme, then the U.S. government is the perpetrator of that scheme by mismanaging the Social Security annuity payments their citizens paid in. If this annuity fund had been treated as a Ponzi Scheme by a private firm the officials behind would be in jail for among other things fraud (e.g. Bernie Madoff).
Presumably Musk is smart enough to know that a real Ponzi Scheme looks like his cryptocurrency company. The only value the cryptocurrency has is based on investors believing in its value, and bringing in more investors to increase the value for those who already invested. Like a Ponzi Scheme it can only go on for so long before it collapses under its own weight. It is like buying a stock for a company that has no product or service to sell, only more of its stock shares.
To summarize: Yes, Social Security is a legal entitlement (essentially an annuity). It is not a Ponzi Scheme, unless the U.S. Government has mismanaged it to be one. And if the government has managed it as a Ponzi Scheme, then the government owes it to its citizen investors to correct course rather than default on the legal payments those who paid in are entitled to. Likewise, Medicare is an insurance system where citizens prepay their premiums, and so are legally entitled to the insurance coverage they paid for.
Letting the Republicans continue to imply that these legal obligations are optional handouts is not just a misrepresentation. It is a dangerous fraud.
