Official installed by Trump moves to 'demolish' Social Security Administration
Official installed by Trump moves to 'demolish' Social Security Administration
"This is nothing more than a backdoor benefit cut and an insult to Americans who have paid into the system and earned their Social Security—all to pay for trillions in new tax cuts for the wealthy," said Democratic Rep. John Larson.
Summary
Leland Dudek, Trump’s newly appointed Social Security Administration (SSA) chief, has reportedly ordered plans for a 50% workforce cut, potentially closing field offices and delaying benefits.
Critics, including Rep. John Larson and advocacy groups, warn this move will disrupt services for seniors and disabled Americans. Five regional SSA commissioners are resigning in protest.
The cuts align with Elon Musk’s push for AI-driven government efficiency, despite concerns over fraud prevention and accessibility.
Critics argue this is a backdoor benefit cut to fund tax breaks for the wealthy.
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So if they’re gutting social security, what happens to all the money I paid in?
Are we just going to have an epidemic of elderly people working until they die/collapsing in the street?
That's not how Social Security works. It's not a retirement fund.
The people who pay in today fund the soc sec payments to people who are qualified to receive benefits today.
Are we just going to have an epidemic of elderly people working until they die/collapsing in the street?
Yes.
Glad I gave them 150k
So that elderly and disabled people who need that right now to survive right now, yes.
Under the agreement that it would be there for us though.
I'm glad that people are getting payments, but I want it too; it's a benefit that we were promised for good reasons.
They're right to be pissed that they paid into it without getting that benefit.
That I can agree with.
I still stand by:
What happens to all the money I paid in?
- It pays for the benefits qualified recipients receive today.
It used to be fully funded with the money paid into it. Your current contributions are supposed to be paying for your future security.
https://www.fedsmith.com/2013/10/11/ronald-reagan-and-the-great-social-security-heist/
I understand what you are saying, but the typical Republican and libertarian argument against social security is that "it's my money, I should be able to manage it myself, I can get a better rate of return than the government."
So if they are going to gut SS without paying us all back, that's just boldly hypocritical of them. Though that's not surprising, of course.
Most after me already rebuttled to this. But there's a point that really pisses me off with the boomers. I see them getting free Healthcare, free college courses if they want them, and other benefits all while they led to the bullshit we all have to live with today. It's the I got mine, fuck you, generation. And everyday it gets harder to see my friends struggle to live while they continue to vote more and more red. Generalization for sure but statistically accurate. I was fortunate enough to max out my SS payments for most of my career and the whole time I assumed I'd never see a penny of it because this fucking generation was gonna gut it before they die off so they can buy a 3rd house.
If I had invested my SSI payments over the years, I would be getting way more each month just from the dividends/interest.
That's called a 401k.
Almost all of them just invest in index funds.
They typically have massive penalties for early withdrawal, in case of say, suddenly becoming disabled because you were crippled in a car accident.
If you try to make withdrawals from your 401k to cover living costs while recovering... or if you can't recover, in perpetuity... well you're looking at a ballpark of 1/3 to 2/3 of your money going poof, eaten up accordingly.
Even if you invested on your own, having to withdraw regularly for a permanently disabling injury will run out in time, unless you've got more than... roughly 10 mil put away.
If you have that, then great for you, 99% of people don't and never will.
Oh right. The stock market also regularly crashes, so a rational person should expect their snowballing nest egg to suddenly melt off by 5% or 15% or 30% every 5 to 10 years, with broadly predictable timeframes, but not specifically knowable exact dates.
If you think you can precisely time the market, 99% chance you're wrong, 1% chance you have insider information.
...
The Social Security income tax structure is ass backwards. After around 120k of income, there are no more marginal taxation increases for any kind of declared income.
Poor people pay astoundingly, disoroportionately more into Social Security, and their benefits basically get slashed to nothing if they try to return to work in a meaningful way, the ladder gets pulled out right as your on the 2nd rung...
... meanwhile, the super rich people pay a pittance of their overall income toward Social Security, and they get to enjoy all kinds of intentionally carved out loopholes designed for them to avoid even more of the ways they make money being classed as taxable.
The nation's economy relies on people who don't make enough to tuck money away.
Sounds like a George W Bush voter
It kind of is supposed to be that actually. What else would you call a system that you pay into your entire life?
But it's just literally not. People who are eligible for social security benefits receive them. People who earn income pay for those benefits. There isn't a "your money" in social security like there is in a 401k or IRA.
It's everybody's money. And you are eligible to withdraw from it once you are over a certain age. Why are you arguing semantics?
Because it’s not a good faith argument. People like that hate the idea there’s a social contract and like to pretend it doesn’t exist.
You get nothing, and yes. Worst of both worlds!
Don't forget the permanently disabled... like ... most people do.
sigh
But uh yeah, you're looking at something like 30 to 60 million elderly and greivously disabled people being evicted and starving to death, if they just wipe it all out.
I... would like to think that effectively murdering 10% to 20% of your own population would lead to a massive armed rebellion... but I uh, honestly don't know at this point.
Fun Fact!
You need a permanent mailing address to apply for SNAP.
I mean, they're already cuttinf that down too, but yeah, if you've been evicted, if you are homeless?
You can't even do step one of applying for food benefits.
Homeless people can have their mail sent directly to the post office. No word on what will happen if USPS is purged though.
They will just pocket it like everything else. And yes they intend us to work to death and be grateful for it.
If I'm being honest, I don't expect to see a penny of social security. I'm making other arrangements wherever possible
I'm sure the dead-eyed Paul Ryan types would love that situation. He dreamt of killing such programs since he was quite young.
And I bet quite a few cons, even if harmed by this, will be happy to open wide and let the likes of fElon and Bronzo take a big dump in their mouth, as long as they thought a liberal would have to smell it. So if they have to work until they die, but they "owned the libs", I bet some of them will still revel in it...
Take a look at what’s happening in Japan. The old has to work, and sometimes most unpleasant jobs, eg cleaning up Fukushima.
A lot of older people volunteered to work Fukushima to protect the younger generations and I have family that work just to get out and do something and the extra cash isn't bad. That said, there are people who have to work. I think one or two sentences is way too simplified to go over the whole thing. Working in bigger companies and such also tends to get a better pension (over the public one) with some having additional pensions and such.
Edit to add: not all do actual work; some of my retired family volunteer (or do both)
I don't know if Japan is a good example but Korea sure is. Broke seniors collect garbage and resort to sex work
I intend to sue for everything i put in. On the grounds that them not paying me back is theft.
Social security funds itself and they have zero right to take it to give to scumbag billionaires. Its not their money.
You get that by suing you're lodging a complaint with the same people that robbed you, right?
The judiciary is not congress.
Yacht money for the rich. They need it more than the old and disabled
Conservatives will open their mouths for the piss of lies. The ones that dont or cant work will be screwed
Your fund...
Our fund
TL;DR: you paying in now is funding paying out now.
Your contributions fund today's recipients. When you eventually become a recipient then the contributors of that day fund you.
This is the way of all superannuation funds around the world, they rely on the current generation of workers to fund the previous generations' retirement (or the current generations' disabled, etc.)
It's basically a pyramid scheme.
And it's falling apart since less and less people get born so you will never get out what you have paid in. It's a system designed for the Boomer generation.