In a recent speech before a group of Hispanic leaders, former president Bill Clinton claimed the Social Security system could be made financially sound by simply increasing immigration. The additional taxes paid by a quarter million new workers would address the solvency of Social Security for the next hundred years. The obvious pandering aside, Clinton’s suggestion is really a short-term solution to a fundamental problem. A worker’s retirement security should not depend on the number of bodies in the system, but on his/her ownership of the fruits of their labor.

The former president’s remarks brought to mind a pyramid scheme that floated through the black show business community several years ago. A group of us in Hollywood were going to make a bundle and all it cost was $150. The catch was each of us had to find two other friends each willing to pay $150. They in turn had to find two friends and so forth. As others paid their way into the system behind us, we moved up the pyramid eventually making our money back and then some. Of course in no small amount of time the entire enterprise came crashing down and there are some folks here in “celebrityville” who are still not speaking to one another.

Our current Social Security system is not a pyramid in the classic sense, but it is closer to the black Hollywood debacle of fifteen years ago than one might think. In the case of the latter, the folly was purely self-inflicted. Our greed and foolishness led us to throw our money away. In the former case, the folly is coerced and it is altruism rather than greed that motivates. Both endeavors also rely on a constant stream of new participants to make it work.

The idea of looking outside current worker participation in order to shore up Social Security is not new. Prior to 1984 federal employees -- including members of congress – did not participate in the Social Security system. In an effort to “rescue” Social Security, congress passed legislation mandating all federal employees become participants in the Social Security system. Oddly enough, then Congressman Harry Reid – now the current senate minority leader -- opposed the legislation and authored a bill that would have excluded current federal employees from having to take part. Reid’s bill failed and federal employees were brought into the fold. And that is all you need to know about the true regard in which Social Security is held: key congressmen resisted participation opting instead to put their money in investments that would grow through the wonder of compound interest.

Federal employees are not alone. There are approximately 6 million state and municipal employees including police and firemen and schoolteachers that have opted out of the traditional Social Security system and have their retirements in pension plans that they own. Groups like the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are fighting tooth and nail to prevent the government from forcing them into the system with the rest of us because they know they have a better deal. They have ownership and get a far better return.

Clinton has a vision of waves of immigrants flocking to our shores only to have their property confiscated in order to pay for the retirements of their fellow citizens. My vision is a bit different. I see a new generation of immigrant Americans, who like the many friends of mine who witnessed the foolishness of black Hollywood, will see the current Social Security system as a sucker’s play and demand for themselves the rights to participate in alternate retirement systems that enjoy a greater rate of return and more importantly the security of ownership.