ChatGPT: Social Security Is No ‘Ponzi Scheme’

'Ponzi schemes are private frauds that collapse when new investors stop joining. Social Security is managed by the U.S. government, backed by legal mandates and payroll tax revenues,' ChatGPT told me. (Art: 1980s Social Security poster.)

‘Rated Note Feeders’ Attract NAIC Attention

Holding a rated note (instead of an unrated private equity fund) can reduce the extra capital that life insurers need to post when buying risky, unrated private assets. Insurance regulators have taken interest in the strategy but are responding at a crawl. (Image: 'Sleeping Guards,' Piero della Francesca.)

A Flood of ‘Flow Reinsurance’

Flow reinsurance involves the ongoing, immediate transfer of risks from a life insurer to a reinsurer as soon as annuities are issued. Life/annuity companies have used flow reinsurance for at least 15 years, but it’s growing fast. (Photo: Gullfoss in Iceland.)
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U.S. spends $3.4 trillion in 11 months

Federal outlays through August totaled $3.4 trillion, up 2% from the same period last year. Receipts in the first 11 months totaled $2.2 trillion, up $126 billion from the same period last year. (Federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30, 2012.)

The Bucket

Brief or late-breaking items from New York Life, Phoenix Companies, Strategic Insight, BlackRock, DST Systems Inc., AXA Equitable Life, and Principal Financial.

Fed pledges action until economy shows gains

The Fed also acknowledged its limits. “Monetary policy, particularly in the current circumstances, cannot cure all economic ills,” the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said at a news conference.