Elon Musk’s harsh words on Social Security, could it affect the system as we know it?

The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been swinging a wrecking ball through multiple government agencies in order, it says, to cut government waste. The new agency established by President Donald Trump at the behest of his largest campaign donor and the person tasked with running it, tech billionaire Elon Musk, has been firing thousands of federal employees and shuttering government offices across the nation with little to no warning.

Some of those decisions have had to be reversed immediately like when DOGE fired critically important employees who work on the nation’s nuclear weapons, among other glaring mishaps in judgement. And no part of the federal government has been safe from DOGE despite assurances from Trump to the contrary like the Social Security Administration.

“Social Security will not be touched,” Trump has repeated several times but Musk has been vocal about his contempt for the decades old program that handles retirement payments for Americans as well as those with disabilities and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for those with few resources and little or no income calling it a “scam.”

Currently, there are 47 offices listed on the DOGE ‘Wall of Receipts’ as having been closed or soon to do so. Furthermore, over 7,000 employees have been fired according to a statement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer berating the “massive cuts to Social Security staff.”

Musk calls Social Security a “Ponzi scheme”

Musk has made claims on his social media platform, which have been parroted by Trump, that tens of millions of dead Americans are receiving benefits. “The record topper, there is one person on Social Security who is 360 years old,” Trump said reciting numbers Musk posted on his X account.

This misinformation has been debunked by experts on how the Social Security database works. The Social Security inspector general in a 2024 report stated that less than 1% of payments sent out were improper informed the AP. Nothing near the “tremendous abuse, waste and fraud,” Trump claims is being found.

Still, despite the record being put straight Musk insisted on repeating his claims when he went on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast Friday. “We found just with a basic search of the Social Security database that there were 20 million dead people marked as alive,” he told Rogan. He also called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

What do Musk’s actions mean for Social Security?

“What is the goal of this disinformation campaign?” asked Senator Bernie Sanders on social media. “To privatize the most successful government program in history and give it over to Wall Street.”

“You don’t need to scratch your head and wonder what’s going on when you see that the Trump administration is decimating Social Security offices and staff,” said Schumer. “And you don’t need to ponder what might happen next when Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, says that the tens-of-millions of seniors, families, and children who depend on these earned benefits are part of some scam—because that’s a real threat and a real promise: they are coming for your Social Security.”

“These cuts could result in untenable reductions in local staff, and will undoubtedly make it harder for Americans to get the benefits they are owed,” added the Senate Minority Leader. “All of this will hurt our seniors, families and children, and that is why Democrats will fight tooth and nail to stop it.”

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