Elon Musk, who heads Republican President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, said Social Security is “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

Knowing what he’s talking about requires some background on exactly what a Ponzi scheme is.

A Ponzi scheme is described in Wikipedia as “a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.” However, the business promoted by the scammer doesn’t really exist.

Early investors get large dividends but when the fraud is discovered later investors simply lose their money.

Social Security works much like that but it’s a legitimate investment. The Social Security tax rate paid by workers is 12.4% of earnings. Half is paid by the employer and half paid by the employee. The $1.6 trillion distributed every year goes into a trust fund to pay retirement benefits.

In 2024, 68.5 million people received Social Security payments. There were 54.4 million retired workers and dependents, 5.8 million survivors and 8.3 million disabled workers and dependents.

OK, so what fraud is Musk talking about?

The Advocate said President Donald Trump and Musk — without evidence — claimed there were “shocking levels of incompetence and probably fraud” in Social Security that wasted up to $700 billion.

The Washington Post reported that Trump, in his message to Congress, said Social Security databases list 4.7 million Social Security members ages 100 to 109, 3.6 million ages 110 to 119, 3.47 million from 120 to 129, 3.9 million from 130 to 139 and 3.5 million from ages 140 to 149. Trump continued until he got to the end with one person between the age of 240 and 249 and one person listed at 360 years of age.

The Advocate said a July 2023 inspector general’s report found more than 18 million people born before 1920 didn’t have death information and remained on the aging computer because of a software glitch. However, it added that none of those listed were receiving benefits.

Why are Trump and Musk using these extremely unbelievable ages? It’s because they want excuses to trim Social Security by 12% across the board, which Trump has insisted would never happen. Leases are already being terminated for 10 field offices.

Earlier last week, the Social Security Administration planned to end telephone service. That would have required the elderly and disabled to go online or visit offices in person to handle retirement and disability claims. When the Washington Post reported that plan, it was pulled by the administration.

To say Social Security beneficiaries are upset would be a terrible understatement.

One man spoke for many when he said, “We worked our entire life. But we can’t get any help because we can’t get through to anybody.”

A 72-year-old said, “I paid into that my entire career. I worked from the time I was 16. I paid into that, it’s mine and I want it.”

Another person said closing offices will cause some recipients to “slip through the cracks. Suddenly they’re going to find themselves without the means to cover their housing, or the means to get the care they need or be able to get food on the table.”

Even though all of these people realize Trump, Musk and Republican members of Congress are behind the changes to Social Security, they actually blame all of it on opposition stirred up by Democrats. That is an easy cop-out for their devious efforts to dismantle more government departments than ever conceived and fire millions of federal workers with little or no notice.

Musk, the world’s richest man and one of Trump’s most influential advisers, on Fox Business Network hinted Social Security could be a primary target, saying “most of  the federal spending is entitlements” and “that’s the big one to eliminate.”

Those entitlements he is talking about are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Like others quoted here, I went to work as a teenager at a local grocery store and didn’t stop working until I retired from the American Press. I paid my Social Security taxes and am convinced I deserve the monthly payments I have been receiving. So my advice to Trump and Musk is the same as many others have said, “Don’t you dare touch it.”

Editor’s Note: The Social Security Administration  announced Tuesday it was putting in place a new anti-fraud step for claims that it had withdrawn. It would require Americans who start their claims by phone to verify their identity using the online system or provide documentation in person at a field office. The Washington Post said the change could cause particular hardships for the elderly and disabled Americans who have limited mobility.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.

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