“I don’t know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from there, but if there’s ever a Ponzi scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest? Wrong. Social Security is, far and away.
We are giving monies out with the next guy’s money coming in and at the end of — when the music stops — it’s just not gonna be enough chairs for everybody.”
-Mayor Mike Bloomberg
Mike Bloomberg has vowed as a Democratic candidate for president to “strengthen entitlement programs.” But when he was mayor of New York City, Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a “Ponzi scheme” and repeatedly said cuts to that program as well as Medicare and Medicaid had to be part of any serious solution to reducing the federal deficit.
Asked about his comments calling Social Security a Ponzi Scheme, Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Bloomberg, defended him.
“The Social Security Administration itself gives out detailed actuarial tables on when and how payments will exceed income, and the issue needs attention because we’re running the cushion between them down,” he told CNN. “Mike believes that between now and that time, we will need to boost receipts by raising contributions from those who can best afford it, which is what he’ll do as President.
