[bgorman]

The US Government tries the same trick.

Social Security is a called an "insurance program" although it is completely unrelated to conventional insurance. The closest financial instrument is a Ponzi scheme, which is illegal under US law.

[jbn]

It is insurance in the sense that it pools the risk. The risk here is "aging" ("Social Security" in the US only covers base retirement, whereas "Social Security" in France covers 5 risks), it only happens to be a risk that realizes 100% of the time, unlike fire insurance for instance.