Trump and Musk Are Trying to Kill Social Security
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That could be humorous, except that DOGE — a creature of the
right-wing Project 2025 — has been devastating to millions of people. And it’s
about to get worse. Elon Musk — the flighty überrich autocrat put in charge of
“efficiency” by his buddy Trump — is now going after the Social Security
deposits of 73 million senior citizens.
But wait, hasn’t Trump himself promised (loudly and often)
that he would not ax this essential retirement program? Yes… but Elon is his
“gotcha.”
Rather than an honest kill, Musk
is strangling the program with bureaucratic red tape. Claiming to be
cutting waste, he’s eliminating 7,000 people who administer the program,
shouting, “Bureaucratic excess!”
Except, Social Security is actually a renowned model of government efficiency, spending less than 1 percent of its revenue on administration. So by whacking the people who do the work, Musk is actually whacking the people who are due to receive their earned benefits.
For example, he’s decreed that the public can no longer
apply for benefits or resolve questions by phone. Instead, they must now travel
in person to some distant Social Security office. But the staff there has also
been decimated, so people who’ve come from afar are told to go back home and
call for an appointment — a call that will often not be answered.
What’s at work here is a Musk-Trump ploy to wreck Social Security’s remarkable record of efficiency. Their intent is to make the service so bad that they can then let profiteering corporations privatize your retirement. Don’t let them.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio
commentator, writer, and public speaker. This op-ed was distributed by
OtherWords.org.