Transcript of Bernie Sanders responds to Elon Musk calling Social Security a 'Ponzi scheme'

Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. Basically, people are living way longer than expected, and there are fewer babies being born. So you have more people who are retired and that live for a long time and get retirement payments. However bad the financial situation is right now for the federal government, it'll be much worse in the future.

President Trump says he's not going to touch Social Security. Elon Musk calls it a Ponzi scheme. Do you agree? No, I think what Musk, the wealthiest guy in the world, just said is totally outrageous. That's a hell of a Ponzi scheme when for the last 80 years, Social Security has paid out every nickel owed to every eligible American, quite a Ponzi scheme. What is in fact a problem is that if we don't make reforms and improve the funding mechanism, in the next nine years, the Social Security Trust Fund, which provides about 20% of the funding, will go broke. So what we have got to do, and I think most Americans agree, and I've just introduced legislation to do that, is you lift the cap on taxable income. Right now, Musk, worth 400 billion, contributes into the Social Security Trust Fund as somebody making 170 million. You lift that cap, we can extend the solvency of Social Security for 75 years, and you can raise benefits.