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Rep. Ryan: Rick Perry is right on Social Security
The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee on Tuesday drew fire from Democrats for backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s description of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme.”
Social Security fits the technical definition of a Ponzi scheme, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told conservative Laura Ingraham on her radio show.
“It’s not a criminal enterprise, but it’s a pay-as-you-go system, where earlier investors — or say, taxpayers — get a positive rate of return, and the most recent investors — or taxpayers — get a negative rate of return,” he said. “That is how those schemes work.”
“They’re both right,” Ryan said of Perry and Romney. “[Social Security] is not working, it is going bankrupt, and current seniors will be jeopardized the most by the status quo.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pushed back against Ryan’s comments.
“Ryan’s belief that Social Security works like a Ponzi scheme proves — once and for all — that House Republicans have really declared a war on seniors,” DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson said in a statement. “A Ponzi scheme is Bernie Madoff ripping off Americans — not Social Security benefits that seniors earned and depend on during retirement.”
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) also sought to defend the description Tuesday morning on Fox News.
"After all this flap recently some people did some quick Googling, and the problem with what Rick Perry says is that it's trite, it's been said so often,” Daniels said. Daniels also uses the phrase in his unreleased book Keeping the Republic.
"It's a pay-as-you-go system, you're not putting away — people have been misled over the years to believe they're putting something away for themselves, we know it's not the way it works," Daniels said.
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