The foolers and the fooled...updated April 2, 2025

 The foolers and fooled on Social Security updated to April 1, 2025. Putting together the pieces of why this has become such an issue:

Trump, on the 2024 campaign stump, promised not to touch Social Security. Musk has done what he could to yank the rug out from under that promise. Yes, the size of the benefit checks has not yet been touched. Still, the administration of the whole system is being threatened with plans that would make it moribund, kneecapping the administrative ability to deliver the checks to those who need it the most and keeping down the numbers of future retirees and disabled with new administrative hurdles, limiting who qualify under the law from receiving them..

Oligarchs like Musk have shown little idea of how Social Security works and who it serves. Their ignorance and insensitivity have fueled the fire of outrage at proposals. Democrats are making political hay connecting this issue to oligarchs in the Trump administration, charging that by the numbers, millions must be cut from the budget to offset the tax relief the very wealthy are seeking that reduces income to the treasury. Cutting social security costs is one of the wealthy "pay fors" to at least partially cover their tax cuts. By cutting Social Security's ability to administer its services in order to pay for tax breaks to the rich is a powerful political argument against the Trump regime..Another suspicion is that if the administration is destroyed, Musk would like the contract to administer it, in addition to the $38 billion he already has in federal contracts. That the Social Security program needs to be saved from eventually going bankrupt is true, and it is the largest expense to the federal government, but this cruelty and destruction of its mission is no way to fix it.

As of April 1, 2025, the process to switch paper checks to electronic deposits, the elimination of phone service, or the closure of Social Security branch offices has not yet occurred. The outcry, however, is loud and clear, with the fury arising over Musk's proposed plans and the cuts in service to the very people they serve, making this a hot political issue.

Musk taking the chainsaw to the Social Security administration is a gift to Democrats in the 2026 midterms, who can now run on a platform of saving Social Security. It is a government service that affects an extremely large percentage of the US population. 73 million people received social security benefits, most of whom have paid into the system their entire working lives. They are entitled to those benefits because they paid into it with the promise that it would help them cope with retirement. Twenty percent of those over 65 receiving checks depend on them as their sole income.

From a prior post:

A Social Security administrator warned check recipients. "Save up because the next check may be late." Thanks to Chainsaw Musk, the continuing process of stopping the issuing of paper checks, even to the elderly who did not have electronic deposits, was angering. There would be no one there to fix the glitches or deal with old people's challenges with  computer illiteracy. 

The Social Security payment process was disrupted by the number of administrative personnel who took the offer to retire early under the threat that thousands would be fired. Anger and late payment arrival fears erupted.  https://fortune.com/2025/03/29/social-security-benefits-payment-systems-doge-cuts-paper-checks/   When protests arose, there was a classic "let them eat cake" response from a billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick,  who demonstrated he had no clue about how ordinary people live. Lutnick said his elderly mother-in-law would not complain about a late check, but those who complained were fraudsters.  That comment should be a Democrat's attack ad looped and looped again as another classic example of why oligarchs should never be in control of human services because of their total disconnect from how ordinary people live. Both Musk and Lutnick get the Marie Antoinette award of the decade. (A queen of France, when told the people were out of bread and starving, said, "Let them eat cake". That queen lost her head in the French Revolution.)  https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/social-security-lutnick-doge-checks  A late Social Security check will be a politically explosive wake-up call to older Americans. Most people on Social Security have no money to save and put aside for Musk's stupidity, or as some claim, a strategy for Musk to get the contract to privatize the Social Security administration..

To add insult to injury, the insensitive Musk proposal to eliminate service by telephone and instead force the elderly to use their computers to sign up (whose computer savvy is low to none), or go to in-person social security offices, was further angering. At the same time, a long list of social security offices were to be closed. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-social-security-phones-b2714222.html

What motivated Musk to do this? It is, as the bank robber said when asked why he robbed banks? It's where the moneyis, claimed Trump, 125-year-olds are still on the books. Ah, only the unthinking should swallow that tale: Got any example of any of those 125 being mailed a check? Why? TRUMP: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years // And money is being paid to many of them, and we are searching right now.” Keep on searching, fools. And those who swallow this are being fooled. Remember, when your check does not arrive, who is to blame? Trump idiocracy. Here’s how many ‘dead people’ really collect Social Security  PER AP fact checker: The databases may list those p iseople, but that does not mean they are getting paid benefits. Part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which doesn’t use a specific format for dates, per AP and any number of posts and reports. the COBOL code problem was already reported in 2023 in a audit, but there was no evidence found that checks had been sent to any of them.

Democrats are making political  hay connecting this issue to oligarchs in the Trump administration:that by the numbers, millions must be cut from the budget to offset the tax relief the very  is seeking that reduces income to the treasury. Another suspicion is that if the administration is destroyed, Musk would like the contract to administer it, in addition to the $38 billion he already has in federal contracts.  That the Social Security program needs to be saved from eventually going bankrupt, is true,  but this cruelty and destruction of its mission is no way to fix it.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/01/doge-actions-may-cause-social-security-benefit-interruption-ex-agency-head.html

https://fortune.com/2025/03/03/elon-musk-joe-rogan-podcast-doge-social-security-biggest-ponzi-scheme-of-all-time/

Chainsaw cuts in social security make mockery of budget and may be even unconstitutional

 The old mantra of the GOP, cut federal services and personnel because they are bankrupting our country, is on steroids with the indiscriminate mass Musk chainsaw cuts. That has been the GOP rationale for cutting taxes to the rich as far back as the 1930s.  The theory is that the very rich invest money to increase commerce, and the new taxes resulting will bring down the debt and deficits.  The theory continues that the prosperity it fosters will trickle down to the struggling masses.  It has never worked as the theory he promises anywhere in the industrialized world.  It is the same BS as it ever has, except the numbers in 2025 are staggeringly large and the old fiscal conservative GOP has shut its mouth in loyalty to Donald Trump..  Both Democrats and Republicans share guilt for raising debts and deficits, but what the Trump regime is trying to do is dramatically more.  Trump is seeking 1.6 trillion in government cuts to offset 4 trillion in tax cuts. The math itself is revealing. there is a big gap betweewhat at best could be cut and the hit to the treasury would exceed even if t all works as the Trump regime plans.. The 1.6 trillion is to be taken from the hide of social and human and  that benefit lower income brackets, like social security and  Medicaid, under the cover of only cutting waste, fraud and abuse. 

The attorney general of Arizona has launched an information-gathering activity to record consumer complaints about Social Security. The DOGE cuts of staff providing customer service is so severe, the state AG of a state full of retirees is taking action. In a form developed by the AG is the word "unconstitutional".  What could that be?  What could be the basis of a suit? I wonder if a clause in the Constitution could be the one to which the Constitution is involved.  https://www.azag.gov/socialsecurity

Likewise, the AG in Michigan is beginning to gather information and evidence that could lead to a lawsuit by AGs to save Social Security's consumer access and service. Attorney General: AG Nessel Launches Form for Reporting Social Security Disruptions

State budgets will be hard-pressed to make up for other chainsaw cuts to Medicaid. In Colorado, the proposed budget is already showing a deficit, much less make up for the harm the federal Medicaid cuts would do to its citizens. The medicaid cuts could cost 458,000 Coloradans health care coverage, per a recent study as cited in the publication Colorado Politics. State budgets are already stretched so that it would be very difficult to make up the loss due to chainsaw cuts.

 https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/medicaid-cuts-could-cost-458-000-coloradans-health-coverage-study-claims/article_2803985b-b1f5-5f94-830a-870ba55d0e82.html?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=COPO%20Afternoon%20USE%20414&utm_content=COPO%20Afternoon%20USE%20414+CID_175994c87ac75c991557de56f4eb8a87&utm_source=campaign_monitor_email&utm_term=Medicaid%20cuts%20could%20cost%20458000%20Coloradans%20health%20coverage%20study%20claims

Musk's attack on the "administrative state" is the opposite of trying to  faithfully execute laws Congress passed, especially given the failure of Musk to document any significant evidence of "waste, fraud, and abuse". Instead, wholesale indiscriminate cuts appear to kneecap social services ability to deliver services  in order to reduce any federal government spending to make the tax cuts to the rich to appear less onerous on the national debt.   

The U.S. Constitution, specifically in Article II, Section 3, requires the President to "take care that the Laws be faithfully executed." This means the President, and the executive branch as a whole, must ensure laws passed by Congress are implemented and enforced.  Per Google AI.

So much has already written about this so  here are a few pertinent sources.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61172

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/tax-cuts-are-primarily-responsible-for-the-increasing-debt-ratio/

https://ncrc.org/cbs-news-50-years-of-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-failed-to-trickle-down-economic-study-says/#:~:text=See%20More-,CBS%20News:%2050%20Years%20Of%20Tax%20Cuts%20For%20The%20Rich,Trickle%20Down%2C%20Economic%20Study%20Says&text=But%20the%20analysis%20discovered%20one,economic%20growth%20and%20low%20unemployment.%E2%80%9D

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/07/us/politics/trump-economic-plans-debt-costs.html

How do you explain the gaining steam of Bernie Sanders and AOC's anti-oligarch tour?

 I am watching the national media trying to explain why Bernie Sanders and AOC are getting traction. Why did this not happen in 2024? Something happened between then and now. Here is my observation:

1) The rise of the billionaires Trump has empowered them to act on his behalf, fitting them into a new classification term for the US, "oligarchs". Their ignorance and understanding of what services the government provided to the non-rich has been jaw-droppingly insensitive, out of touch with how others live, and angering. This will become even more controversial in any upcoming debate over tax cuts to the rich while cutting services and benefits to the lower and middle classes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2025/04/01/forbes-39th-annual-worlds-billionaires-list-more-than-3000-worth-16-trillion/

2) An administration that many voted for because Trump promised to make life cheaper for those struggling to cope with daily life they cannot afford. Some Trump voters had hoped for Trump, who claimed to represent them in 2024, but now ignores their priorities as he pursues his other own obsessions. This will become an even hotter issue since voters have not yet felt the full force of economic pain caused by the tariff wars and reduced access to veterans benefits, social security, Medicaid, medicare, school lunches, and consumer protections.

3) Public policies are implemented that most blue or red had not voted for...sabotaging social security, firing veterans and hurting their benefits, and removing help for students with disabilities, increasing costs of living instead of lowering them through nutty tariff wars.

4) Trump embracing a dictator like Putin as he ticks off our best foreign friends and makes us a pariah nation to the rest of the free world we used to lead by example and policies.

5) The upshot of 1-4 is happening in March 2025 . It is economic populism at the core, unlike the 2024 elections, which were dominated by cultural populism on issues of racism. It is also related to immigration, too much/ too little diversity, sexism, abortion, gender and LGBTQ issues, and book banning or not. The villains to blame now are the oligarchs who Trump empowered as personified by chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk instead of the libs or fascists.

Note: These are non-partisan issues but appeal to elements in both political parties to which AOC and Sanders appeal.

Note: none of this post is put in terms of ideology or political science concepts like democracy vs.autocracy/fascism, rule of law, constitutional crisis, populism, cultism, or Marxism, which the well-educated grasp. However, everyone else asks, what does this do for me, my family, and my daily life? If Democrats hope to reach more of those without a college education, they must re-orient their messaging terminology.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5208363-trump-economic-vulnerability/

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/22/nx-s1-5155899/why-education-is-becoming-a-bigger-divide-in-politics

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/donald-trump-hits-historic-low-as-new-poll-shows-his-net-approval-rating-worse-than-any-modern-president-in-decades/articleshow/119344880.cms?from=mdr

The foolers and fooled on Social Security

 The foolers and fooled on Social Security updated to April 1, 2025. Putting together the pieces of why this has become such an issue:   (also  Reposted April 2 MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The foolers and the fooled...updated April 2, 2025 )

Trump, on the  2024 campaign stump, promised not to touch Social Security. Musk has done what he could to yank the rug out from under that promise. Yes, the size of the benefit checks has not yet been touched. Still, the administration of the whole system is being threatened with plans that would make it moribund, kneecapping the administrative ability to deliver the checks to those who need it the most and keeping down the numbers of future retirees and disabled with new administrative hurdles, limiting who qualify under the law from receiving them..  

Oligarchs like Musk have shown little idea of how Social Security works and who it serves. Their ignorance and insensitivity have fueled the fire of outrage at proposals. Democrats are making political hay connecting this issue to oligarchs in the Trump administration, charging that by the numbers, millions must be cut from the budget to offset the tax relief the very wealthy are seeking that reduces income to the treasury. Cutting social security costs is one of the wealthy "pay fors" to at least partially cover their tax cuts. Cutting Social Security's ability to administer its services in order to pay for tax breaks to the rich is a powerful political argument against the Trump regime..Another suspicion is that if the administration is destroyed, Musk would like the contract to administer it, in addition to the $38 billion he already has in federal contracts.  That the Social Security program needs to be saved from eventually going bankrupt is true,  and it is the largest expense to the federal government, but this cruelty and destruction of its mission is no way to fix it.

As of April 1, 2025, the process to switch paper checks to electronic deposits, the elimination of phone service, or the closure of Social Security branch offices has not yet occurred. The outcry, however, is loud and clear, with the fury arising over Musk's proposed plans and the cuts in service to the very people they serve, making this a hot political issue.

Musk taking the chainsaw to the Social Security administration is a gift to Democrats in the 2026 midterms, who can now run on a platform of saving Social Security. It is a government service that affects an extremely large percentage of the US population. 73 million people received social security benefits, most of whom have paid into the system their entire working lives. They are entitled to those benefits because they paid into it with the promise that it would help them cope with retirement. Twenty percent of those over 65 receiving checks depend on them as their sole income.

A Social Security administrator warned check recipients. "Save up because the next check may be late." Thanks to Chainsaw Musk, the continuing process of stopping the issuing of paper checks, even to the elderly who did not have electronic deposits, was angering. There would be no one there to fix the glitches or deal with old people's challenges with  computer illiteracy. 

The Social Security payment process was disrupted by the number of administrative personnel who took the offer to retire early under the threat that thousands would be fired. Anger and late payment arrival fears erupted.  https://fortune.com/2025/03/29/social-security-benefits-payment-systems-doge-cuts-paper-checks/   When protests arose, there was a classic "let them eat cake" response from a billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick,  who demonstrated he had no clue about how ordinary people live. Lutnick said his elderly mother-in-law would not complain about a late check, but those who complained were fraudsters.  That comment should be a Democrat's attack ad looped and looped again as another classic example of why oligarchs should never be in control of human services because of their total disconnect from how ordinary people live. Both Musk and Lutnick get the Marie Antoinette award of the decade. (A queen of France, when told the people were out of bread and starving, said, "Let them eat cake". That queen lost her head in the French Revolution.)  https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/social-security-lutnick-doge-checks  A late Social Security check will be a politically explosive wake-up call to older Americans. Most people on Social Security have no money to save and put aside for Musk's stupidity, or as some claim, a strategy for Musk to get the contract to privatize the Social Security administration..

To add insult to injury, the insensitive Musk proposal to eliminate service by telephone and instead force the elderly to use their computers to sign up (whose computer savvy is low to none), or go to in-person social security offices, was further angering. At the same time a long list of social security offices were to be closed. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-social-security-phones-b2714222.html

What motivated Musk to do this? It is, as the bankrobber said when asked why he robbed banks? It's where the moneyis, claimed Trump, 125-year-olds are still on the books. Ah, only the unthinking should swallow that tale: Got any example of any of those 125 being mailed a check? Why? TRUMP: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years // And money is being paid to many of them, and we are searching right now.” Keep on searching, fools. And those who swallow this are being fooled. Remember, when your check does not arrive, who is to blame? Trump idiocracy. Here’s how many ‘dead people’ really collect Social Security  PER AP fact checker: The databases may list those p iseople, but that does not mean they are getting paid benefits. Part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which doesn’t use a specific format for dates, per AP and any number of posts and reports. the COBOL code problem was already reported in 2023 in a audit, but there was no evidence found that checks had been sent to any of them.

Democrats are making political  hay connecting this issue to oligarchs in the Trump administration:that by the numbers, millions must be cut from the budget to offset the tax relief the very  is seeking that reduces income to the treasury. Another suspicion is that if the administration is destroyed, Musk would like the contract to administer it, in addition to the $38 billion he already has in federal contracts.  That the Social Security program needs to be saved from eventually going bankrupt, is true,  but this cruelty and destruction of its mission is no way to fix it.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/01/doge-actions-may-cause-social-security-benefit-interruption-ex-agency-head.html

https://fortune.com/2025/03/03/elon-musk-joe-rogan-podcast-doge-social-security-biggest-ponzi-scheme-of-all-time/

Keep it simple, Dems, on the budget debate. A dialog with a MAGA

 It will easy to get lost in the weeds of figures and statistics as the debate begins. All of are subpoints, but always come back to a simple message.

Update: 2/28/2025   The GOP has a plan to cook the books on the impact of extending tax cuts to the rich:; They will try to change the original basis to disguise their lies. 

Here are the detailed weeds: House Budget Economic Claims Don’t Add Up | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities    The simple truth is that they are "cooking the books to cover a lie"

 .  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-budget-change-deficit-impact-trump-tax-cuts-rcna194015.

How Much Does America Spend? - The New York Times

Continuing with the original post: 

I got this comment on a private Facebook page. My response.

GOP supporter:

"Dummycrats still don’t understand these positive advancements that he’s (Trump/Musk) accomplishing. Still so many brainwashed, uninformed sheep people." So many foxated by selective reporting, too. DOGE Quietly Deletes the 5 Biggest Spending Cuts It Celebrated Last Week - The New York Times

My response, especially, meaningful to those in red states and Congressional districts throughout the country who benefit the most: The opportunity is now to make the point: the House budget proposals as the debate that puts the specifics in writing and votes for and against in the official record.

"Keep it up GOP. You are handing the Dems a simple message. . Cutting or eliminating programs that are popular for even red-state ordinary people comprehend: "You want me to sacrifice what I need to give more tax cuts to those who do not need them and increase the debt? I dare you to call positive, cutting (social security, medicare, and Medicaid kids lunches, cancer research etc.). Positive for whom?."

It is not just benefits that are being cut, it is "threatening to take away their health coverage, make health care more expensive, and make it harder to afford food and college." https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/house-budget-would-increase-costs-and-hardship-for-many-while-providing-huge-tax       

Add this to GOP/Trump not reducing grocery prices and inflation, and Democrats will have great messaging in the midterms.  

James Carville , Democratic strategist, proposes that Dems just sit back and let the GOP manufacture enough rope to hang themselves  That is one approach, but it is still important to educate voters who is responsible for what as the budget issues are debated. It makes it easier at midterm campaign time. It is doubtful that the GOP will have the guts to cross Trump publicly other than about an isolated issue or two since they risk facng well-funded oppostion in their primaries. 

So spooked by the angry constituents at the town hall meetings, GOP representatives are being encouraged by party leaders to not hold such public meetings. However, GOP votes on behalf of their House bill are on the record, thanks to direct intervention by Trump, and it wll be hard to duck their official votes. (one negative  GOP vote in the end)   I can see the Democrats already crafting their attack ads. The challenge  Dems face is breaking through the foxated informaton silo to reach and educate less hard core Trump voters.  It will take some imagination and cleverness using other methods and social media channels.

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..