[mosdef]

[ QUOTE ]
Many budgets and pension plans are similar to pyramids schemes. They rely on a certain amount of money coming in to pay the money going out. That doesn't make them scams.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is "scammy" though when it is not transparent to all partipants that there is an intergenerational cost shift going on, or when participants are told flat out that their contributions are sufficient to meet plan obligations when they are not, or when the contributions to the plan are not held in trust for plan members. To a certain extent, all of these criticisms apply to SS.

[ QUOTE ]
By-the-way Capitalism is basically a pyramid scheme. Usually, Capitalism, in order to be a healthy, viable system has to sustain constant growth.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is wrong (or, at best, backwards). Capitalism creates growth, it does not "rely" on it to be "healthy". Growth is the end product of healthy capitalism, healthy capitalism is not the product of growth.