-Caveat Lector-
 Social Security Called A Bigger Fraud Than
Corporate Scandals
By Jim Burns CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer July 12, 2002 (CNSNews.com) - A public policy think tank devoted
to individual liberty and free-market capitalism says the current frenzy in
Congress and elsewhere to address corporate accounting scandals isn't a reaction
to fraud. It's an attack on business and capitalism, said the Ayn Rand
Institute.
The Institute wonders why lawmakers and others
aren't looking at the Social Security program.
Robert Tracinski, a senior fellow at the Ayn Rand
Institute, said, "People leading the hysteria about corporate crime are eager to
expose and condemn any alleged fraud by private businessmen, but they ignore or
excuse actual fraud committed by government officials.
"They demand strict accounting regulations to
prevent billion dollar business frauds while they evade responsibility for a
trillion-dollar government fraud," he added.
Tracinski described Social Security as "the world's
largest fraudulent scheme." The program, he said, takes one-eighth of the income
of the current generation of workers and promises them a secure retirement, to
be paid for by fleecing the next generation of workers.
He said it's ironic that no one in Washington is
demanding an end to Social Security.
"Eventually, as with any such scheme, the number of
new suckers coming into the system is not enough to pay the benefits owed to
retirees. This is projected to happen in the next 10 to fifteen years, causing
Social Security to go bankrupt, but no one in Washington is demanding an end to
Social Security," he said.
"To tolerate wholesale fraud and theft by
government, while posing as a moralistic crusader against fraud by private
businesses is a con game that makes the crowd at Enron look like small-timers,"
Tracinski concluded.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) agreed on Thursday that
government "does not always set a sterling example of honesty to corporate
executives.
"Too often, we have cooked the books, exploited
off-balance sheet accounting, fudged budget numbers and failed to disclose fully
the nation's assets and liabilities. If we in Washington are to have credibility
in the public eye as we address the corporate accounting mess, we must reform
our own fiscal practices," said McCain.
But McCain said the best way to ensure the
"solvency" of the Social Security system is to honor the "solemn promise that in
exchange for the payroll taxes they have rendered all their working lives, all
Americans will receive a minimally adequate retirement income." He also believes
Americans should be allowed to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in the
financial markets.
"Allowing Americans to invest responsibly a small
part of their payroll taxes will not only save Social Security, but will provide
them with greater retirement income than those who no or will soon depend on
Social Security checks," said McCain.
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Plutarchy
(Plu"tar*chy) n. [Gr. wealth + -archy.] Plutocracy; the rule of wealth. [R.] Plunder
(Plun"der) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plundered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Plundering.] [G. plündern to plunder, plunder frippery, baggage.] 1. To take the goods of by force, or without right;
to pillage; to spoil; to sack; to strip; to rob; as, to plunder
travelers.
Nebuchadnezzar plunders the temple of God. South. 2. To take by pillage; to appropriate forcibly; as,
the enemy plundered all the goods they found.
Syn. — To pillage; despoil; sack; rifle; strip; rob. Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1913
ab
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