Thieves and Crooks
Here’s an interesting comparison we received in an email this morning. We are not sure who the author is, but he or she is right on the money.
Why did Bernie Madoff go to prison? To make it simple, he talked people into investing with him. Trouble was, he didn’t invest their money. As time rolled on he simply took the money from the new investors to pay off the old investors. Finally there were too many old investors and not enough money from new investors coming in to keep the payments going. Next thing you know Madoff is one of the most hated men in America and he is off to jail.
Some of you know this .. but not enough of you . Madoff did to his investors what the government has been doing to us for over 60 years with Social Security. There is no meaningful difference between the two schemes … except that one was operated by a private individual who is now in jail, and the other is operated by politicians who enjoy perks, privileges and status in spite of their actions.
Do you need a side-by-side comparison? Well here’s a nifty little chart.
| BERNIE MADOFF | SOCIAL SECURITY |
| Takes money from investors with the promise that the money will be invested and made available to them later | Takes money from wage earners with the promise that the money will be invested in a “Trust Fund” and made available later. |
| Instead of investing the money Madoff spends it on nice homes in the Hamptons and yachts. | Instead of depositing money in a Trust Fund the politicians use it for general spending and vote buying. |
| When the time comes to pay the investors back Madoff simply uses some of the new funds from newer investors to pay back the older investors. | When benefits for older investors become due the politicians pay them with money taken from younger and newer wage earners to pay the geezers. |
| When Madoff’s scheme is discovered all hell breaks loose. New investors won’t give him any more cash. | When Social Security runs out of money they simply force the taxpayers to send them some more. |
| Bernie Madoff is in jail. | Politicians remain in Washington. |
By the way, did you have a choice at your place of employment as to whether or not you wanted money withheld for Medicare? That answer would be no! Medicare is broke too. Social Security and Medicare are referred to as entitlements according to Congress, just like Medicaid and other welfare programs. The difference is, Americans paid hard earned money into these two Government programs just like they did private insurance. I personally don’t call that an entitlement. I call it a contract and, as it is, the government has been caught in its own Madoff scheme. They spent the money, Democrat and Republican alike got their greedy little hands on it and spent every last dime. Now the Democrats and those in the Whitehouse have attacked the insurance companies and accused them of doing the same thing the government itself has done for five decades.
There is a way to fix this mess. Green up Washington, vote out the old and vote in the new. However, that alone will not get the job done. Americans have learned a lot since November 2008. Stay tuned to what your representative in Washington is doing. Watch him or her on C-SPAN and in the News. Collar him or her when they start going rogue. Fire them when they don’t follow their constituents’ demands. Its one thing for him or her to fight for what they believe in, it’s another when 90% of those you represent know you are wrong.
I could not agree more especially with the last paragraph.