Is the Government Deficit a Big Ponzi Scheme?

This article tackles the question of whether the U.S. Government has the ability to face its fiscal difficulties.  It raises the interesting question of whether these deficits are really a giant Ponzi scheme -- defrauding people by paying them using proceeds that come directly from other investors' deposits as opposed to actual investments -- and answers it primarily with a "yes."  Technically, I don't think this answer is correct, but it feels right to say that the government is definitely shifting costs onto future generations.  I worry about the deficit and the potential for spiraling problems with paying back those debts, but I'm not a rabid anti-government type.  I try to think of taxes as an investment in government services, which are imperfect by nature and not exactly a model of efficiency sometimes, but essential in some very important ways.