Buyers beware: con men and billionaires at work updated through 3/22/2025

Update: 3/22/2025 Here is why billionaires and oligarchs should not be in charge of federal human services. This should be shown whenever there is a discussion of Social Security service reductions due to chainsaw Musk. It isn't just Musk. It's the whole Trump regime.

msn.com

'Real America' Won't Mind If They Miss a Social Security Check—Lutnick

"Only a 'fraudster' would care if they miss a

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What's the big deal about democracy? Who cares?

Continuing with original post:

Buyers beware: if you bought Trump's campaign line about grocery prices and eggs and gas at the pump, he cares not a twit about consumers. He never had powers to roll back grocery prices or even gas at the pump.(crude oil supplies and price per barrel are set in world markets controlled by international cartels) You were conned. He does have the power to raise consumer prices and he thinks he has the power to end protections from financial institutions screwing consumers. He guts the CFPB that protects you from bad-acting financial institutions, raises costs of living by high tariffs, and favors business interests so far in every instance. Trump has admitted consumers will feel the pain from tariffs, but "it will be worth it".Worth it for whom? Not the consumers. For investors, maybe. His announcement regarding a 25% tariff increase for steel and aluminum will further hit consumers with higher prices. Trump's latest tariff plans on steel, aluminum and other imports are spreading uncertainty - ABC News.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/02/10/trump-vs-cfpb-russ-vought-orders-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-to-stop-work/ So what now. Here is what those innocent doze boys have done: engineered the largest data breach of personal data held in the Treasury computers. Good work boys. And today, we learned as the Consumer Finance Protection Agency was being shut down, we got invaluable private consumer data and information. Good work, boys. Four young staffers working under Elon Musk gained access to highly sensitive personal data held by a consumer protection agency before shutting it down. Musk allies given access to private consumer data before shutting down agency: sources

Billions and billions of fraud, shouts Musk...he's got the receipts. One was not an 8 billion dollar contract; it was revised to a 8 million contract ....Typo....Musk. It was caught in an audit and corrected in 2023. Is 125 years old getting Ssoi checks? er that, too, was found in 2023 because it used an obsolete coding system (COBOL) that a geek friend of mine would have been picked up by a second-year IT student...and that Musk and his hackers didn't understand that was "hilarious". Here's the 2023 1875 audit report A 2023 Social Security audit regarding the year "1875" primarily found that a significant number of records contained inaccurate data, often using "1875" as a placeholder for missing birth dates, leading to an inflated count of extremely old beneficiaries receiving benefits, which ultimately concluded that the system needed improved data quality checks to prevent such errors from occurring.

Key points about the "1875" audit finding:

Data inconsistency:

The "1875" date was frequently used in records where a person's birthdate was missing, creating a large number of seemingly very old recipients in the system.

System limitations:

This issue likely arose due to coding limitations in the Social Security system, where a missing date field might default to an arbitrary year like 1875.

Impact on calculations:

While not representing actual beneficiaries, this data inconsistency could skew calculations related to program costs and demographics.

What the audit concluded:

Need for data quality improvements:

The audit highlighted the necessity for enhanced data validation procedures to identify and correct inaccurate birthdates.

System updates:

Recommendations were likely made to modify system coding to prevent automatic "1875" entries when birthdate information is missing.

Are 150-year-old Americans receiving Social Security checks ...

1 day ago — For that reason, under some coding systems, a missing value for a date will default to 1875 — which in the year 2025 prod...

Poynter

What is Social Security?

What is Social Security? Designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement. needs-based program...

Social Security Administration (.gov)

Show more

Are 150-year-old Americans receiving Social Security ...

Poynter

https://www.poynter.org › fact-checking › social-security...

1 day ago — The explanation for apparent 150-year-olds receiving checks could relate to arcane coding practices, experts said.

poynter.org

Poynter

Poynter is a nonprofit media institute and newsroom that provide

White House budget director Russell Vought ordered wider access to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau materials by staffers working for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency over the weekend before agency chief operating officer Adam Martinez ordered all its employees to stay home for the week, reported Bloomberg News.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Musk's return on investment in Trump has just begun

The 'more sinister' reason behind Musk's attack on consumer protection | Opinion

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Wise up, consumers, to the price of eggs and gas at the pump updated 2/3/2025..

Keeping tabs on unintended consequences: Trump voters, did you vote for this"

 

The Trump Voters Who Don’t Believe Trump - The New York Times     How Trump voters fooled themselves

2/17/2025 Idiodcracy of Trump/Musk...Planning to come to Grand County, head waters of the Colorado River, this summer to hike and enjoy the Rockies. Tourism is our bread and butter economy. Federal employees with the national US Forest Service will see staff cut from 50 to 5 February 17. Access to public lands will be restricted Gates and trail head toilets, access will be closed to national forest lands..

..2/17/2025 'Betrayal': Trump-voting state facing 'financial blow' as funding cuts threaten key industry

2/10/2025  Trump voter: Did you vote for them? For those so admiring those doge boys, consider this: Here is what those innocent boys have done: engineered the largest data breach of personal data held in the Treasury computers in history. All your personal data, health, taxes, etc are now on Musk's servers.. Good work boys. And today, we learned as the Consumer Finance Protection Agency was being shut down, they got invaluable private consumer data and information. Good work, boys. Four young staffers working under Elon Musk gained access to highly sensitive personal data held by a consumer protection agency before shutting it down as Musk allies given access to private consumer data before shutting down agency: For sources, and more: MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Buyers beware: con men and billionaires at work

2/10/2025 Buyers beware: if you bought Trump's campaign line about grocery prices and eggs and gas at the pump, he cares not a twit about consumers. He never had powers to roll back grocery prices or even gas at the pump.(crude oil supplies and price per barrel are set in world markets controlled by international cartels) You were conned. He does have the power to raise consumer prices and he thinks he has the power to end protections from financial institutions screwing consumers. He guts the CFPB that protects you from bad-acting financial institutions,raises costs of living by high tariffs, and favors business interests so far in every instance.. https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/02/10/trump-vs-cfpb-russ-vought-orders-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-to-stop-work/

The 'more sinister' reason behind Musk's attack on consumer protection | Opinion

2/9/2025 Trump voter: Did you vote to cut $ 4 billion from cancer and other disease research?https://abc7news.com/post/national-institutes-health-president-trump-cutting-4-billion-critical-medical-research

2/9/2025 Trump voter: did you vote to eliminate the ability to complain about being screwed by your financial institution. Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who took over on Monday as President Donald Trump's new acting consumer finance watchdog, has halted virtually all pending activities at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including investigations, rule making, litigation and public communications, according to an email seen by Reuters.The Day One decision from Bessent signaled an abrupt change in policy under Trump, who campaigned on a realignment of government regulation to promote the needs of industry

2/9/2025  Trump voter: did you vote to scrap school lunch programs? https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/trumps-federal-funding-freeze-was-blocked-but-confusion-among-schools-remains/2025/01

2//9/2025 Trump voter: did you vote for Musk to get your personal information on file at the Treasury department? https://techcrunch.com/.../doge-biggest-breach-of-united.../ Even Court action will not be effective if Musk's minions have already downloaded the data on their own servers.

2/9/2025

Trump voter: did you vote to eliminate USAID funding Christian humanitarian projects?

https://www.ncronline.org/news/rally-supporting-usaid-christians-defend-threatened-agency

November 14, 2024

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/trumps-achilles-heels-unintended.html

Two week mark of the Trump presidency: attempted rule by fear and favor

 To take the standard of the Department of Justice it had until recently, to administer prosecutions "without fear or favor'.is a good standard of how the rule of law should work in order to be as fair and nonpartisan as possible.  It is also a standard for democracy as a whole and describes the ideal fairness standard for which it strives. By the two-week mark of the Trump presidency, Trump has turned that worthy goal upside down, and he is attempting to create a regime using fear and favor to gain power and to keep it.  

This is just the beginning with Trump's opening salvo of decrees and executive orders. The pushback has not begun. We do not know how effective the pushback will be. It will come from the courts and from the voters in the midterm election in two years, which could reinforce the legislative branch, giving them a backbone with a different party in the majority., and restoring some degree of the balance of powers. It could also come from the streets, given the passions and anger Trump has awakened.  It could be propelled by Trump's decisions that result in higher living costs and inflation, disillusioning some of Trump's 2024 voters.

Who is Trump favoring?  Trump is the dream ruler for billionaires. He promises to lower taxes on rich people and free them from administrative constraints on rich people's ability to become richer. These barriers the already rich want to control or eliminate were designed to protect consumers and the environment and to cut the ability of the government to provide help to those unable to help themselves, the sick, the elderly, and racial and societal minorities, Head Start,  and children with poor nutrition. One of the regime's first acts: fire the head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Next, they will attempt to eliminate civil service employees by reclassifying through regulation F, removing protections from political pressures, and replacing them with loyalists to Trump or the ideology of Project 2025 so that government rulings are in step with their priorities. Already executed in Trmp's first week: the end of DEI and the firing of all employees associated with the program. The plan laid out in Project 2025 was to eliminate DEI (diversity) goals in hiring and promotions as if it is to make white males who claimed they were the victims of discrimination the sole government rulers again as they were before the civil rights movement of the 1960s. 

The attempt has virtually neutered Congress so far, with the GOP majority nodding heads or being silent and turning over their power to Trump to do as he pleases. Trump and Musk ignored the Constitution and laws that define the executive branch's role in "faithfully executing" the laws and funding Congress passed. Instead, they are attempting to become the controller of the purse in the place of the legislature.

How could this happen? Trump uses the tools of the powers of government to discipline his followers to comply by threats to primary them if they are House members and to destroy those he sees as political enemies by using the DOJ to bankrupt them by filing criminal action (without even probable cause) against anyone else.  Trump's revenge against anyone who had anything to do with bringing criminal charges against him since 2020 may satisfy his hateful instincts, but it also serves as making an example of how he would treat those he sees as his foes and how he keeps his supporters in line.  It is a rule by fear in political messaging as well. Fear of "others" who are not white males and are immigrants has been the leading drumbeat of his campaigns since he first entered national politics. It has been a successful message and strategy. Trump knows what works, and he knows the soul of his core supporters.

Trump is attempting to rule by favor, as well, as he places in power as a reward for loyalty and campaign contributions, primarily the very rich. Top of the favors he promises are lower taxes, with loss to the treasury offset by a reduction in government and national security services and regulations protecting consumers and the environment.  By placing his loyalists up and down government agencies, he can offer those favors to those who have proved their loyalty to him and his priorities.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-fires-rohit-chopra-wall-street-consumer-protection-rcna190444?

https://www.yahoo.com/.../invitation-foreign-actors-bondi... Yesieree bob, voters do not need to know what China, Iran, or Russia are doing to help MAGA win in any elections, right? WRONG.