• meeeeetch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      21 hours ago

      The money they paid was so that their parents and grandparents had a little something going into retirement.

        • meeeeetch@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          14 hours ago

          They’re paid out according to their contributions. But they’re paid with money current workers are paying in. It is technically a ponzi, but was designed to be sustainable instead of promising reckless profits.

          • Yeller_king@reddthat.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            10 hours ago

            It’s technically not a ponzi, it’s just a standard pay-as-you-go system which requires some sort of growth in revenues (such as population growth or changes in taxation) to be sustainable.

            A ponzi scheme is fraud that can never pay out what it promised.

      • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        15 hours ago

        Exactly. It’s a system that works almost entirely as a pay-as-you-go system, with each generation paying for the retirement of their elders.