While most Ponzi Schemes are marketed with the expectations of unrealistic returns with little or no risk, a Ponzi scheme only requires a system where existing investors are paid out through funds contributed from new investors. With that said, being that Social Security will collapse long before someone in their 20s or 30s will retire, any claim of return from Social Security could be considered an unrealistic return.

I’m from Canada, and while there are areas where our government does a dramatically better job (education), I see the same kinds of incompetence and inefficiency across all levels of government in Canada that plague the United States; and I believe incompetence and inefficiency is a characteristic of all governments.

Consider that when a private organization sees a reduction in income they have an incentive to improve efficiency to maintain the quality of their services in order to prevent their competition from stealing their customers. In contrast, when a public organization sees a reduction in income there is an incentive to become less efficient and to make cuts in the most noticeable way possible so that the funding will get returned. This is why teachers are always the first to lose their job (and often the only people to lose their job) when education funding is cut even though the cost of bureaucracy has been estimated as high as 33% of the cost of education in some systems.

Did you even bother to read what I wrote, or do you run what I write through some sort of filter that all of a sudden has it saying things that aren't there.

I have NOT said the government is the only way to help people.  I can also say here it is one of the worst ways to get things done.  What I have been saying over and over again, and PLEASE read it this time, that unless people take responsibility and prevent problems arising in the first place, you will get more government.  Tax dollars will end up being raised, or money borrowed to spend, to take care of issues people are complaining about.  This also comes from politicians pandering, and wanting to get elected, so they make promises to bring home the bacon for this aznd that being done.  And people do get something out of it, or it wouldn't exist.

As far as the government not being able to create stable, meaningful and productive work, the government built the Internet, also built damns and infrastructure, and has funded scientific research.  They also built the highway system in America, that enabled mobility.    And in your world, what do you think would happen if there was no welfare system?  Do you think you would have more or less cases like Ray Williams?  And, you can say all we need to give more tax breaks so people can give it directly to the poor.  Really?  Exactly to what level do you think people would give more if you were to abolish taxes completely?  If people don't give now, then why would they later?  Unless there is economic incentive to give to charities, like the tax on the inheritance tax and tax deductions for setting up trusts that aid charities, do you think there would be more or less giving?

In your view of things, where exactly do people get motivated to actually be charitable, if your only thing involved is "more freedom"?  

Consider this article:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/02/04/lay-off-the-layoffs.html

What do you do about industries, in their collective wisdom, decide to end up trashing their employee base to maximize profits?  Also, answer how exactly in doing this, customer service has improved.  When you call in for tech support to get equipment fixed, is the service better now or worse, because they offload the tech support to people in India who speak with thick accents, and you can't understand what they have to say?  Currently, I am looking at a printer here that stopped working with my laptop, and I get NO help for it.  It is do it myself.  Is this your idea of improved quality?  And consider Walmart.  How is customer service when you go into Walmart?  Walmart has entered into pay the least amount of money, and cutting costs, quality be damned.

And let's look at health care.  Do you know where America ranks for quality of health care among industrialized nations?  Near the bottom in life expectency and other things that show a signs of people taking good care of themselves.  Oh yes, emergency response is excellent in America.  So yes, America is great at jumping on one crisis to another but sucks at preventative health care.  It alos shows it is great at manifesting obesity, diabetes and so on.  All these signs of people taking their collective freedom and running it into the ground. To this, you want to argue that America needs MORE freedom here?  Whe people can't handle the freedom they have now, why the heck would there be even more given them?

That your mother who has given birth to you is here legally.

So if a U.S. citizen has an illegitimate child with an illegal immigrant, his kid would not be a citizen. 

I suppose you'd have to make it either parent to avoid sexism that way.  Though I'd still require a genetic test to prove it in the case of the US citizen being Male.

A) You act if your the only person that's ever been in such a situation... yet oddly the cases you sited once again work AGAINST your point.

B) Your "proof" is that they die off for lack of attendence.  So... in otherwords the people who need help aren't searching for help to find employment.   Once again, isn't this a cause of... government?   I know plenty of people who'd rather keep collecting unemployment then take a "crappy" job for example.  The problem isn't in the programs... it's that the people who need them aren't seeking them out.   It's just like Medicare.  a LARGE percent of people who don't have health insurance qualify for Medicare.  They just refuse to seek out their options. 

Or hell, i've been out of a job myself and avoided help when I knew I could live off my savings a bit just because it's damn embarrising to go out and seek help.   Those things fail when people feel they have other options or are just ignortant other options are out there.  It's like your argueing that we need medicine that makes people sick... because look how sick they are.

C)  The difference between Blackwater and the regular military is that the government doesn't feel the need to coverup as much for Blackwater.  That's about it.  

Also, paramilitary groups have actually been extremely successful in their application.  Paying private contractors a lot more to deal with threats above and beyond the call of duty for other troops, and being there when we ran out of ways to expand our army. 

D) Halburton gets most of it's work via nobid contracts.  Which shifts the government mindset on to them.  They don't have to give a shit about what they do, because it's no-bid and they're going to keep getting work this way.   Once again, it's the government doing things the wrong way the causes the problem.

Im from New Zealand and this is how we tend to run a government department. We have politician : appointed head (usually from the private sector) : Organisation as a whole. Many departments have been corportatised, we are one of the few places from what I gather which has a government owned businesses which turn profits comparable to publicly held private entities.

All large entitities have inefficienciencies. Theres a very good reason why companies have been moving away from the (in)corporation model for many years. There is actually very little difference in the potential inefficiency of a corportation which employs >10,000 people and a government department which does the same. The major problems come from when the politicians themselves either micro-manage or force their department to do this which are counter the best interests of running the department efficiently.

BTW from what I have gathered, in the recent history of my country the only cuts to education have come at the expense of management I cannot remember a single case where teachers have been laid off en-masse. At worst there has been a slow down/under-hiring of new teachers.

I wish we worked like that... it'd be a dirty word if our government organizations turned a profit.