The irresponsibility of the American people, their true heartfelt fear of freedom, and the exploitation of this fear by elected officials is bringing us closer to true financial disaster. You're complaining about gas prices today? In the not-to-distant future you'll have a lot more to complain about than gas prices.
Most Americans believe that there is something out there called a Social Security trust fund. They believe that when the government collects its Social Security taxes every year, it takes the money left over after paying all benefits and puts that money aside for future retirees. Americans actually believe this --- but they're wrong. The Social Security trust fund exists in name only. There is no money there. Not one single dollar. It's all gone. Decades ago, when Democrats were running the congressional show, someone came up with the bright idea of taking all of the Social Security taxes that were left over after benefits were paid and use that money to fund some other federal vote-buying social programs. The idea was simple. The free-spending congress would just give an IOU to the Social Security administration for the money that was pilfered and spent. Those IOUs now sit in a grey filing cabinet in some federal office in West Virginia. There's your precious Social Security trust fund. Paper. IOUs from a government that doesn't have the money to pay them.
So how is it that Grandma gets her check every month? Social Security is what they call a Ponzi Scheme. If you or I set one of these up, we would be carted off to jail...which happens from time to time, by the way. In a Ponzi Scheme, earlier investors are paid off with later ones, but there's no actual money being invested. Sort of like paying your Visa with your Mastercard....for 40 years.
http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic