When I was 19 years old, a representative from a mutual retirement plan approached me and asked me to contribute to his fund. I advised him that I planned on investing in my retirement, but I wanted to do some comparison shopping. He informed me that he represented a rather unique fund and that participation was mandatory, In fact, if I did not participate, he assured me I would be prosecuted, fined and possibly sent to jail. Since that time, he has made arrangements for my contributions to this mutual retirement fund to be removed from my paycheck by every employer I have ever worked for.
In recent years I have observed the managers of this fund on television meeting in Washington, D.C. About half of the fund managers are convinced that the program will be devoid of money and essentially bankrupt long before I am scheduled to retired in 2032. However, despite the near-certainty that I will not receive any benefits whatsoever, they still insist that I send my contributions on a monthly basis; unless I want to be prosecuted, fined or possibly jailed.
So what heinous organized scam of epic proportions did I get myself involved in, you ask? Enron? Worldcom? No. The name of the fund I am still paying into with a virtual guarantee of bankruptcy before maturity, is called Social Security. It is kind of like Enron and Worldcom, except the board of directors of my fund is at least honest enough to tell me up front that I will never see a return on my investment.
Imagine if this scheme were perpetrated by the private sector. Outrage? Congressional hearings? Media frenzy? Jail for perpetrators?
Isn’t the only difference between Enron, Worldcom and Social Security the fact that, in order to lose all of your money in 2/3 of these scams, you actually had a choice whether to risk it or not?
But let’s take heart in the knowledge that the “board of directors” of my defunct fund is now going to divert its significant fiscal acumen to righting the wrongs of corporations foisting fraudulent economic activities upon the general public.
I guess the lunatics have decided that they are indeed qualified to enter into the business of asylum management.
Snohomish
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