Trump and Musk's Social Security Scam
For the first time since Social Security was established in 1935 by Roosevelt's New Deal coalition, it is facing a real and immediate threat from Trump/Musk and the shadow brotherhood of billionaires and mega-corporations behind them. DOGE generalissimo Musk, who has referred to Social Security (SS) as, "a ponzi scheme," is threatening the wellbeing of more than 70,000,000 people who rely on SS. He is doing this by unilaterally closing Social Security Administration (SSA) offices, firing thousands of SSA workers, and accessing recipients' personal data for reasons neither explained nor authorized.
We know that Trump/Musk are slashing and gutting the federal government so that they can extend Trump's 2017 tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy before they expire at the end of this year. But SS is almost entirely funded by the payroll taxes that we and our employers pay. Only a tiny fraction of its budget is appropriated by Congress. So why are they firing SSA staff, and closing SSA offices?
Based on false claims of "massive benefit-fraud" (similar to false claims of massive voter fraud), Trump/Musk are imposing new, draconian regulations prohibiting recipients from conducting Social Security business by phone as has been encouraged since the 1980s. They explicitly state that their intention is to force people to prove their identity by personally visiting one of the remaining (under-staffed) SSA offices or using a complex web-based system that is hard for seniors to navigate without assistance. This will overwhelm SSA, and the result will be catastrophic for the retirees it serves. According to former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley, “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.”
Trump/Musk know their scheme will cripple the system and frustrate SS recipients. Their plan is to use that frustration to politically justify privatizing social security with the false assertion that for-profit private-enterprise is more efficient than government.
Privatization has long been a goal of the Republican Party and their big Wall Street donors, because privatizing SS means shifting the management of funds and benefits out of the SSA and into individual private retirement accounts similar to IRAs or 401k plans. Almost all of those individual accounts will be managed by Wall Street brokerage and hedge-fund firms, or private financial advisors, and each retiree will have to pay the cost of their management fees. In addition, when vast new sums from social security surge into the stock market, investors who already hold large portfolios will see their net worth skyrocket as prices spike upward due to increased demand, a win-win for the tycoons of finance.
The SSA currently invests in rock-solid-safe U.S. government bonds currently earning 4.25% interest that goes into the common social security fund available to all retirees. Those bonds also help finance and stabilize our national debt. After privatization, each individual retiree's benefits will rise or fall according to the investment successes or failures of whomever is managing that person's account. Stocks, bonds, cryptocurrency, REITs, futures, and so on, will all be on offer. Hucksters, scammers, fraud, corruption, and outright embezzlement won't be far behind. (Meanwhile, the Biden-era rules requiring that financial managers act in the best interests of their clients continue to be blocked by a federal court in Texas.)
Republicans have already submitted a number of bills in Congress aimed at weakening or privatizing Social Security and in the coming months we of Indivisible will need to strongly oppose them. At the same time, several bills have just been introduced in the House to defend Social Security against the Trump/Musk attack:
HR.1877 by Rep. Larson (D-CT) to prohibit political appointees from accessing Social Security data and establishing criminal penalties for disclosing beneficiary information.
H.R.1876 Keeping Our Field Offices Open Act by Rep. Larson (D-CT) to prevent Social Security staff cuts and office closures.
H.Res.195 Resolution of inquiry by Rep. Larson (D-CT) to investigate DOGE access to Social Security Administration data and actions against SSA.
HR.1950 Protect Social Security and Medicare Act by Rep. Pocan (D-WI) to require a two-thirds vote to reduce existing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.
Sadly, as matters now stand there is no chance that any of these Democratic pro-Social Security bills will be enacted by the Republican-controlled Congress or signed into law by Trump. But by advocating for our members of Congress to support them, we help create the kind of massive public demand it will take to shift the small number of congressional Republicans that is needed to change the balance of power on Social Security.
References
Social Security in-person identity checks opposed by advocates and retirees alike. AP 3/19/25.
Social Security has never missed a payment. DOGE actions threaten ‘interruption of benefits,’ ex-agency head says, Rep. John Larson (D-CT). 3/1/25
Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE Closing Social Security Offices, Harming Access to Services, Medicare Rights Center, 3/13/25
Former head of Social Security says Elon Musk and DOGE are wrong about the agency, NPR 3/24/25
“Long Waits, Waves of Calls, Web Crashes”: Trump and Musk Are “Breaking Down” Social Security, Blocking Seniors From Accessing Their Benefits, DNC, 3/25/25