In theory pensions should be paying out what you payed into them. It's basically a bet that you will die before you pull out more than you put in (plus whateve

In theory pensions should be paying out what you payed into them. It's basically a bet that you will die before you pull out more than you put in (plus whatever interest/gains was made on your money). Social Security is more like a Ponzi scheme in that it pays out retirees based on current income. There are some savings, but it was always a more or less direct payment of the old from the working age. The only thing that keeps it from being a Ponzi scheme is that they aren't pretending that it's some magical money making scheme that is generating "returns" to pay out to the early investors. The accounting is all front and center. IMHO for something to qualify as a Ponzi scheme there must be a form of deception involved. Investors must think that they are realizing outsized returns and not because they are in on the scam. Obviously the guys at the top know it is a scam, but the vast bulk of the participants must be kept in the dark to keep it running.