We sure were lucky when President Franklin Roosevelt passed the original Social Security bill in 1937. There should be a big pile of money accumulated.

They took out 1% of our pay and put it in a real trust fund to draw a fair interest. No one would be allowed to touch it. If this had been left as originally set up there would be no trouble. It became a Ponzi scheme.

In case you forgot let me refresh you about a Ponzi scheme. The one running the scheme collects money from people with the promise to repay it with a profit at a certain time. As long as more suckers feed the front end there is money to pay out at the back end – until it runs out.

Our current hero is Bernie Madoff now in jail for the rest of his life. That is where ALL Ponzi schemers should be.

BUT Congress needed money for “other things”. Never mind what. These guys know more about spending money than any other group in the world. They looked around and saw that pile of cash “doing nothing” so they passed a new law allowing them to “borrow” money from the “trust fund” by giving the fund a government bond in the place of the cash in the peoples’ account.

Once that was done us taxpayers never had a chance of getting it back. As time went along Congress reduced the amount of payout. Bet you didn’t know that. Current SS recipients should be receiving about 50% more than they are getting according to the original formula. All this is legal because Congress made it so.

There is no talk in Congress at this time of privatizing SS, but that seems to be what our new president wants to do. Is it? He is the only one talking about it so it must be his idea.

Would allowing a part of the current FICA deduction be OK to let the taxpayer decide what to do with his money instead of Congress? Can that be any worse than how Congress is stealing the money now? Is stealing too harsh a word? You decide.

When I put my money in a bank CD at least I know I will get it back and the bank can’t spend it and then tell me they have run out of funds. Banks CDs are not a Ponzi scheme. If the SS taxpayer dies he gets nothing back. If it was a private account his family would get the balance previously paid.

Now administrators of the Ponzi SS want to increase the amount paid in and lengthen the birthday payout date because they are running out of our money. The only way to stop it is elect new members of Congress that will pass laws not allowing them to do it.

Do you want to protect your Social Security? Elect representatives who reflect and will do what you believe to be true.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know. Copyright 2010 Williamsburg Investment Co. All rights reserved.