Last week, billionaire and presidential advisor Elon Musk went on Joe Rogan’s podcast to perpetuate the lie that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme.” This is a myth that’s been promoted by opponents of Social Security for years. In the past, President Trump has even called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and just recently he called the program “a scam."
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As you know, Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme by any definition of the term. It is social insurance. In a Ponzi scheme, people are conned into investing money that is never repaid. Social Security is an intergenerational compact where workers pay into the system and collect benefits upon retirement, disability or the death or disability of a family breadwinner. Social Security has never missed a payment in the nearly 90 years since it was established.
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The problem is, President Trump is listening closely to Elon Musk who at every turn has tried to delegitimize Social Security. And he’s embracing Musk’s baseless claims of massive fraud at the Social Security Administration (SSA) and recommendations for deep cuts, which include reducing SSA’s workforce by a whopping 12% (that’s 7,000 jobs!) which would devastate customer service for millions of older Americans … and worse, it could lead to disruptions in benefit payments!
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Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) squad are engaged in a campaign to discredit and dismantle the Social Security program. This is what the seizure of Americans’ personal data, the firings and attempts to bully employees into early retirement, the closing of field offices, and the elimination of entire divisions of SSA is all about. |
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Musk’s Social Security agenda is directly in conflict with President Trump’s repeated promises ‘not to touch’ Social Security. Not only are Trump and Musk ‘touching’ the program; if left unchecked, they will break it.
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Max Richtman President & CEO |
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