What if beneficiaries of embryonic stem cell research had to supply their own embryos? or better yet had to ask their parents to supply one for them. Let's put a face on these embryos.

When citizens or corporations donate money it is said they are giving back like they are returning something that doesn't belong to them. But last week it was reported that a bunch of money was from the Omnibus package was going to various Kennedy related projects because they have "done so much and given so much to the community". Whose money were they giving? Taxpayer's?

Wow, that e-mail morphed itself into a totally disjointed liberal talking point. Put "racist" and "greedy" in a hat, shake 'em up, pull one out, and use it to define someone with whom you disagree.

Geithner needs to take that goofy wig off and maybe he'd be taken more seriously.

Neal,the saddest thing of all is that this man probably votes.........

Compassion for my fellow man is just fine when the decision to give charity, which I do (though I can't afford it, thanks to the government), is MINE. When it is forced upon me by a coercive government, it is called "theft".

Good afternoon, everybody.

One part of SS was a good idea: the concept and implementation of automatic contributions. The major part that was missing (and still is) is the part that makes it voluntary. I love that about 401ks. Because of automatic contributions, my budget is established and it requires no discipline whatsoever to save money. It requires no effort of my own to select stocks for purchase. There was a day when people could not buy paltry amounts of stock. There were many companies that required that a block of stocks be purchased. Automatic deductions opened up the stock market to people like me. People couldn’t just call a broker and say, “I have a hundred and ten bucks I. Give me one and a half shares of GE this week”. SS should have been replaced by a privatized variation (and I say it was, can you say 401k?) a long time ago. Believe it or not, I was willing to forgo payment back from SS for my contributions to SS until a few years ago ONLY IF I could be allowed to NEVER contribute another penny to it. The cut off age needed to be examined before SS could be dissolved, but it seemed an equitable solution to me. Had the free market economy not been tampered with by global factions, I am willing to bet that my pay off at retirement would have been greater than what SS would dole out. And our Country would have been rid of the National Ponzi Scheme. And that would have been worth it anyway. I mean, really, don’t a lot of us invest for our children and our children’s children anyway? Now look what were letting them inherit.

A side note: there are millions of people that do not participate in COMPANY MATCHING 401ks, but they LOVE SOCIAL SECURITY! Dollars to rice grains they voted for Obama, every last one.

Well, Robert, the only difference between Madoff and Congress stealing the funds that should have been set aside for social security is that Congress left behind an IOU. I am sure the IOU is redeemable at all metro Atlanta Party City stores.

this one really should win some kind of a award.

Fellow man? maybe...fellow sheep, ah, no. And the majority of my "fellow men" are sheep. You carry on Neal, keep up the good work.

In Madoff’s Ponzi scheme:
Billions of dollars are taken in by fraud. Early participants receive more than they put in which perpetuates the myth that it is a good deal, all while the Madoff siphons off money to spend as he wishes. It ultimately collapses when later participants try to get there money, and there is nothing there.

Under Social Security:
Billions of dollars are taken in by force. Early participants receive more than they put in which perpetuates the myth that it is a good deal, all while the government siphons off money to spend as it wishes. It ultimately collapses when later participants try to get there money, and there is nothing there.

See what you can do when you have the guns and write the laws?

SS is little more than welfare for the elderly. They don't want to hear that because they believe it's a retirement scheme. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If this were a free country I'd say, "Thanks, but no thanks." We should all know that the government has no business forcing people into a public retirement plan. I'll handle my own retirement savings. I'll even continue to chip in half of what I currently pay to help keep the system afloat with no expectation of a return. And if this were a free country, I could do just that.

Boortz went too far. Madoff was a con man & a thief, but he never forced anyone to contribute to his scheme. Boortz owes Madoff an apology.

It will collapse at least 10 years before I retire, so I won't ever see any of the money I was forced to put in that ponzi scheme. Wait, they AREN'T the same, are they? Nobody was forced to give madoff their money.

That's a lot more 'insensitive' than anything anybody could say about it. If only the dp would limit their damage to my 'feelings,' and leave my freedom and wallet out of it.

robert either took way too much or not enough of the medicine i paid for. if they just called it a FONZIE skeem it would be cooler...

Unfortunately, things that speak for themselves usually speak a different language than do the masses.

Another email that was hard to read. Not even sure what he was complaining about?! Either way, SS is a ponzi, it sucks, our private accounts will probably be confiscated to add to the system to shore it up, more lost rights, we need to kick everyone out that we can starting in 2010 and just start fresh. Fairtax would fix it all.

By the way, if these investors had done ANY due diligence on Madoff before investing, they would have discovered he's been under investigation since 1992. Now what person in their right mind would STILL give this man money? Sorry, but you made your bed.

From the gushy, touchy-feely bleeding heart attitude to the typically poor grammar, this is the voice of Liberal America. And they're voting in record numbers now folks - some might be dumb as dirt but they know which side of the bread is buttered for them. The rest are just too damn stupid to know what's bad for them.

All of these posts just hit the nail square on the head ... I just WISH that nail wasn't the last nail in the coffin! Seriously ... much like Jeremy's concern about paying in massive money to the SS fund only to get little or nothing out at 25 years old ... I feel the same way after paying in for damn near 25 years. It just plain stinks.

These leeches like Robert Pfeiffer are more concerned with buying whatever junk they want then planning for their future and they deserve the SS system; for the rest of us it should be 100% voluntary! I agree with the other writers that at least the people that bought into Madoff's scam made a choice ... Madoff should still suffer the rest of his life rotting in a dirty cell ... but people that bought into his get rich quick scam made that choice. Those of us forced to throw our money down the SS rathole are being dragged kicking and screaming with no option to opt out of a wasteful, worthless plan.

I say ... if you could demonstrate (yes you should be able to prove it) that you are investing your money responsibly in a Roth or 401K or 403B or whatever ... you should have the option of investing ALL 15% of your SS money (the 7.5% we are forced to pay AND the 7.5% our companies are forced to pay) in a private investment account. Just think how much money people would have at retirement if that was the case!!

Heck ... I'd even go so far as to say the government could keep all of the moeny I've already paid into the insipid SS system for the last 25 years IF I could opt out of ever paying again for the rest of my life and invest the extra 15% myself.

This guy sound like he is straight out of Atlas Shrugged. In fact it sounds like he is quoting a line from Jim Taggart or Philip Reardon. How does giving the government money help the poor? Perhaps if the government taxed us less we could all give the truly needy more of our own volition?? Instead of being forced to help out the moochers too...
Is it charity when one is forced to give?

Tony & Guido run a game of chance its called the NUMBERS RACKET.
Madoff Does it its a Ponzi Scheme
The state does it its' Called the (Education) Lottery.

Social Security does it it's "a Voluntary Contribution" (Nothing voluntary about it).

The only ones that are Voluntary are the 1st three, and the kicker is retirement was set at 65 With life expectancy of 62 (FDR must have used Tony & Guido's statistician) The only difference between the 1st 2 and the last 2 is the use of Legislature to make an illegal act legal!

Another clueless dolt who shold be forbidden to vote because he can't pass the IQ test!

Mr. Pfeiffer's all too common ignorance is what allows our government to carry out the world's greatest ponzi scheme.

Greg R

I am finding it amazing that so called "adults" have no free thinking... that they just vomit out things they hear without any real thought.

Of course SS is a Ponzi scheme. When will "adults" grow up so that they understand how they are being manipulated?

Mr. Pfeiffer must have learned his grammar in a government school.

This makes absolutely no sense. Did this guy's relative create Social Security. It is almost like he is personally hurt by your assertion. Truth hurts when your ideology is the only guiding principle in your life and it is proven to be fallacious.

Are there really people out there that don't know that Social Security is a poncy scheme? It's worse though because when you work in this country, you are FORCED to participate. Madoff had to scam his victims into voluntarily (albeit foolishly) handing over their money. The government forces you to participate in Social Security. Originally, it was supposed to be just for retirement but the criminals in Congress started to raid the fund for many other things many years back making it even less stable. Social Security was never a good idea, done in a way that is criminal for private citizens, and continues to be a drain on the treasury.It is just pathetic that there are citizens that think Social Security is all right. Do these people really think there is an account out there with their name on it with the government innocently saving their money? Well, that's just sad.

best definition of greed i can think of. when someone has the drive to work hard and earn more money than lazy people can.

Why is it the people who hate you the most are also the most ignorant? The correlation must be amazing!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme


And the first line says it all.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors.