To reform it, participation would have to be voluntary. Of course most ponzi schemes are voluntary so that would not change its status as a ponzi scheme - it would only make it better in other ways.
For it to stop being a ponzi scheme it would have to operate as a real insurance program in which ones benefits were paid for through ones own premiums. It would have to follow real actuarial principles.
One definition of a ponzi scheme is:
"A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors. "
Social security is often called an investment and it does rely on new "investors" to keep from collapsing. Does it meet the criteria of being a fraud? Well politicians have often promised that a person will receive a certain amount back at a later time. But this is clearly false. The deception qualifies it as a fraud. Legally it is not insurance and it is not an investment. legally there is no obligation to pay anyone anything. It is often claimed not to be redistribution since money generally does not move from rich to poor. In reality it moves from one generation to another - still redistribution. In short money is moved by force from a later generation to an earlier one with no promise that the money will actually ever be received by that earlier generation - that is worse than a typical ponzi.
The first generation truly benefited the most as they paid in nothing and received money. The second generation were relieved from the obligation of caring for their parents but this weakened the fabric of the family. Parents no longer had an obligation to their children. Normal family ties based on love and caretaking were replaced by a simple forced monetary exchange. When the ties that bind are replaced by money look out for a society! In fact, fatherlessness is a major problem which results in more harm than is commonly recognized (though most people know that the recent mob attacks are carried out be people who have as a common denominator that they are fatherless).
The last generation will be the ones who have paid in the most but will receive nothing. They won't even have the family ties in which their children will take care of them in their relative poverty.
