Perry Doubles Down: Social Security Is a “Ponzi Scheme”

If this weekend showed one thing (hurricanes aside), it’s that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will continue to be Rick Perry.
The governor again called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” Saturday during a campaign stop in Ottumwa, Iowa. It’s not a new line for Mr. Perry — he used the same description in his 2010 book, “Fed Up!” But it’s one his campaign previously told The Wall Street Journal he may avoid now that he’s running for president.
“It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie,” Mr. Perry told the crowd . He added during a later stop in Des Moines, “I haven’t backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right.”
In print, Mr. Perry suggested the New Deal-era entitlement program was unconstitutional when he said it was created “at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government.”
His communications director, Ray Sullivan, backed off the description in an interview earlier this month. The book “is a look back, not a path forward,” Mr. Sullivan told the Journal.

“Guess what’s coming in Russ Feingold’s negative campaign? He’s going to tell you I said, ‘Washington treats Social Security as a Ponzi scheme.’ You know what? I did say that. Because it’s true. Russ Feingold and politicians both parties raided the Social Security trust fund of trillions and left seniors an IOU. They spent the money. It’s gone. I’ll fight to keep every nickel of Social Security for retirees. And I’ll respect you enough to tell you the truth.”  

Another reporter pressed the issue, asking if Perry believes Medicare is “unconstitutional” as well. “I never said it was unconstitutional,” Perry said. “I look at Medicare just like I look at Social Security. They’re programs that aren’t working and we ought to have a national conversation about it. You know, those that have said I’ve said they’re unconstitutional — I’m going to have them read the book. That’s not what I said.” In his book, Perry called Social Security something akin to a “bad disease” that was created “at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government.”