People are not happy with Elon Musk’s views on Social Security benefits as he gets ready for his first unofficial job in a U.S. government agency under President-elect Trump.
Social Security is the biggest entitlement program in the country. It gives monthly payments to more than 70 million retired people, survivors, and disabled people. It is possible, though, that the Social Security Administration (SSA) and its services will change when the government changes hands.
Elon Musk has spoken out on the current Social Security system
The owner of X and Tesla has been chosen by the new Trump administration to co-lead the Department for Government Efficiency (DOG), a new advisory body. The unofficial government department’s job will be to give advice on how to loosen restrictions and make costs simpler. Trump may also take action on his own to make things different.
Other Republican leaders have broken Trump’s campaign promise to keep the programs going, even though Musk is against changing or cutting monthly benefits. Musk’s plan to cut costs by $2 trillion in 2025 can also include Social Security, which is the US government’s biggest spending need (it needs to spend $1.4 trillion by 2023).
It is important to note that Musk has not directly talked about Social Security, but he has recently shown interest in hearing Republican views on the federal program.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah wrote an X thread that Musk shared on Monday. Lee says in the 24-post thread that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme that is at its worst when people depend on the government and there are not any new investors. Lee says that the current system needs to be changed because it does not give Americans enough of a return on the taxes they pay into the SSA trust funds.
Lee also called for real changes to the system because Social Security does not give a good return compared to the market average. What is it? A tax? It is not even an investment. Lastly, he said that Americans should be able to use Social Security to save for their futures without being limited by the worst parts of this old and badly run program.
Alex Lawson, who works as the executive director of Social Security Works and is an advocate for Social Security, says that this could be seen as a declaration of war against the American people, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
When Republicans got rid of defined benefit pension plans, they said that the market could make everyone a lot of money. Wall Street CEOs, on the other hand, got billions of dollars, while workers got pennies. In the end, Lawson said that Republicans’ plan to take our hard-earned benefits would not work. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Mike Lee have the money. You will not get any of it.
Lawson’s statement is a misrepresentation of Social Security history
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), said that Lee’s posts were “propaganda” for cutting Social Security and a lie about the program’s history and how it works.
He also told Common Dreams that it shows the direction that Trump’s MEGA supporters in Congress are going: toward privatization and cuts to welfare, which most Americans, regardless of party, say they do not want. In a recent interview with Axios, Vivek Ramaswamy said that big, sweeping cuts are not likely because this is a policy issue for voters and their congressional representatives. The new department would try to cut down on waste and fraud in Social Security and Medicare.
Alex Beene, a teacher of money matters at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek that what he said is a fact that some people in the Trump administration would have to accept if they want to cut federal government budgets to save money.
People in the U.S. like Social Security and Medicare, and making sure they are fully funded is important to keep the trust of people who have paid into these systems for years in the hopes of getting coverage when they retire.
Also See:- Good News for Millions of Retirees This Christmas – Social Security Announces a New Check Payment
