Slashdot Mirror
Ponzi Schemes Multiply On YouTube
Hugh Pickens writes "While it's probably not true that P. T. Barnum was the originator of the saying 'there's a sucker born every minute,' the proliferation of nearly 23,000 Ponzi schemes on YouTube, with an astounding 59,192,963 views, proves that the sentiment is still alive and well. The videos usually don't ask for money directly, but send viewers to web sites where they are urged to sign up for the 'gifting program,' usually for fees ranging from $150 to $5,000. One of the videos recently added on YouTube featured Bible quotes, pictures of stacks of money and a testimonial from a man who said he not only got rich from cash gifting, but also found true happiness and lost 35 pounds. 'They make it seem like it's legal and an easy way to make money, but it's nothing more than a pyramid scheme,' says Better Business Bureau spokeswoman Alison Southwick. Some of the videos claim that because it's 'gifting,' it's somehow legal. 'They talk about "cash leveraging," whatever that means, and other vague marketing talk,' says Southwick, but the basic scheme is that participants are told to recruit more people who will put in more money. 'It's just money changing hands,' says Southwick, 'and it always goes to people at the top of the pyramid.' A spokesman for YouTube, which is owned by Google Inc., said the company doesn't comment on individual videos."
The government can also infuse money by printing it and buying new infrastructure (or weapons of mass destruction). This is not a loan and no interest has to be paid back.
So not all money has to come from loans.
The money is generally "out there" - but you have to earn it. The concept is generally called working - you might not be familiar with it.
No, Social Security, if nothing at all is done, is going to be fine past the year 2041, according to the trustees report. That's not a "few years".
It could be fixed forever by doing one of two things; you could 'means test' so that rich people don't get full benefits, or (my preference) take off the cap on income that is taxed by SSA. That means, if you make a million bucks a year, you contribute based on all that income not just the first little bit. Of course, you wouldn't want to do both because that would be punitive against the rich and we all know how rough the rich have it these days.
The notion that Social Security will "go broke in a couple of years" is a huge lie perpetrated by people who would like to see the huge pot of SSA money be put into the stock market. I wonder how that would have worked out?
You are welcome on my lawn.
The argument fails to take changes in productivity into account.
Yes, because economy is a zero sum-game.
I sense your sarcasm, but economy _is_ a zero-sum game. It is so big that you cannot see all the parts, but if you add them all up they do add up to zero.
The reason is easy to see: your hard work may add _value_, but value by itself is not _money_. Money can only be created by the fed (and similar institutions in other countries), so if they charge interest for creating money than inevitably, the sum of all the money they loaned out will be less than the sum owed back to them.
It _is_ a giant ponzi scheme, and after running for about 400 years it _is_ about to fail completely. Sit back and enjoy the show, it will be spectacular...
Cry me a river Sophie! There is quite a chance that the national debt will mean nothing at all to any of us or our grand children. This is the old right wing scare tactic and nothing more.
Companies dump debts constantly. It isn't as big a problem as the common man thinks. One way is to set up a shell company and sell bad paper to the shell company and then bankrupt the shell company. Just like a bad charge card debt for $10,000 is sold to a collection company for $5. and then the charge card folks turn about and claim a loss of $9995 on the account for tax purposes. Often the tax deduction is worth more than the $10,000 would ever be in the first place and it gives the charge card companies ammunition when the appear before co0ngress concerning sky high interest rates.
In other words in the big end of the pond bad paper is often worth its weight in gold. I suspect that the US government can play a harder ball game than Master Charge don't you?