LogFAQs > #908268995

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

red sox 777 posted...

Worst politicians.....

Franklin Roosevelt
Hillary Clinton

This might have a recency bias.

...FDR?

FDR set up the pillars of the modern big government, including the biggest ponzi scheme in history, social security. Social security became popular because the first people in got a very good payout relative to what they paid in, paid for by people who paid in later. Now we are stuck because we are paying 10% of the country's earnings into a pension fund that does not invest the money in anything but people expect to generate returns. We can't get rid of it because the 2nd and 3rd generation have paid into it their whole lives and want to be paid what they're owed. We can't keep it without forcing the next generations to foot the bill. The problem is it works just like a ponzi scheme - there is no actual investment so all you can do is find more new investors to pay the old investors. Until you go broke.

In FDR's case, we may go broke 100 years later.....but that is still a terrible thing, and he should be held responsible in the eyes of history. He also appointed a bunch of justices who overturned longstanding constitutional precedent. Only since 1995 or so have we started to return toward the old law, and we are still a couple justices away from making a major sea change back.
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September 1, 2003; November 4, 2007; September 2, 2013
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