Yes, the author seems to skim over the major difference between a Ponzi scheme, and Social Security - the government forces everyone to participate in Social Se

Yes, the author seems to skim over the major difference between a Ponzi scheme, and Social Security - the government forces everyone to participate in Social Security, and can simply choose to reduce payouts (benefits) if things get too hard. Also remember that Ponzi schemes work because people are greedy, and want to get rich quick - nobody gets rich from Social Security. This ties into the first point, because the need to make people rich fast means that a Ponzi scheme can't just simply reduce payouts without causing the whole pyramid to collapse.