The Trump-Muskrat plot to kill Social Security - by Robert Reich

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Dr. Reich wants to foment greed. He wants you to think that you're entitled to other peoples' money. Your not getting your piece of the pie, so government needs to come in and extract more money from the rich so you can get your fair share of their money.

He hides his objectives behind the Social Security smokescreen. SS is actually another tool in the leftist arsenal with the potential to coerce even more money from the eeevil rich. SS is therefore not a retirement plan, it's a wealth extraction plan. He wants to use it to redistribute wealth from those who earned it to those who want it.

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They and Republicans in Congress think they’ve finally come up with a way to eliminate one of the most popular and necessary programs in the federal government

Friends,

Sorry to intrude on your inbox for a second time today, but Elon Musk has revealed the truth about what he plans to do with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): (It's not "so called," that is the actual name.)

Gut Social Security and Medicare. (A long time leftist bumper sticker slogan. However, the only ones who have actually cut these programs are Democrats. Now, perhaps these programs should be cut or even dismantled, and any arguments for or against we will duly consider. But we will not permit Dr. Reich to engage in his brainless leftist narratives.)

Musk retweeted a series of posts by Utah’s Republican Senator Mike Lee, who dubbed Social Security “deceptive” and called for its dismantling. “Interesting thread,” Musk added.

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On Thursday, Musk and his “DOGE” co-chair, Vivek Ramaswamy, went to Capitol Hill to discuss their plans. Republican lawmakers immediately announced that “everything is on the table,” including cutting Social Security and Medicare.

During the campaign, Musk said his goal was to cut $2 trillion — or about 30 percent — of the entire federal budget. (That's a good start.)

There’s no way to do this without cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. (He says this like it's a bad thing.)

Social Security alone accounts for almost a quarter of the total federal budget. (2024 FY spending is $6.75 trillion. 30% is about $2 trillion. The allocation of total spending looks like this:

Of this there are two categories, mandatory and discretionary:

Now of course the two categories are completely arbitrary. It isn't possible for spending to be "mandatory." But regardless, the reader can see that Social Security and Medicare make up about $4 trillion [an astonishing number, to be sure].

So Musk is quite correct that 30% of the budget can be cut, but he doesn't need to touch SS or Medicare to do this. We hope he does, but he doesn't need to.)

Ramaswamy has been even more explicit about their plan, saying in a CNBC interview that “there are hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract” from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. (Indeed. We know for sure that not every dollar of these programs are properly spent. There's waste, fraud, and abuse galore.)

Elon Musk spent $277 million of his fortune to elect Trump. He bought the power to gut Social Security and give himself more tax cuts and tens of billions in government contracts. (??? Musk has no power at all. He's not an elected official. Only Congress has the power to change government programs or allocate spending.)

Just to remind you: Neither Musk nor Ramaswamy was elected to his position. (Oh. Dr. Reich does know this.)

Which means they’re utterly unaccountable. (That of course is false. Unless members of the President's cabinet, unelected, are also unaccountable. Or may the thousands of face bureaucrats who cannot be fired are unaccountable. Or government agencies like the department of justice or the FBI are unaccountable.

Dr. Reich has never, ever worried about unaccountable government up until now.)

(Musk and Ramaswamy will work in concert with budget-cutters in the Trump White House, with the support of a congressional DOGE caucus that’s now forming.) (This is good news.)

They’re both multi-billionaires who couldn’t care less about Social Security. (??? Then why would Musk spend $277 million to gain the power to cut it if he doesn't care about it?)

Meanwhile, you’ve probably been paying into Social Security your entire working life. (Yes, indeed. The government forces us.)

Republicans have been out to kill Social Security since its founding in 1935 (Actually, leftists have accused Republicans of this for decades. Republicans face this accusation every election, but have never cut SS.)

because it’s one of the most popular (The AARP isn't exactly a dispassionate observer.)

and successful (Leftist website, not a reference.)

government programs ever created. (Popularity is irrelevant, since everyone is forced to participate.

Success is unknowable, since we don't know what things would look like without SS. certainly, people would be able to keep their own money, leftists wouldn't be able to borrow and spend the SS trust fund, and the program wouldn't be taking the lion's share of the federal budget, with endless increases as far as the eye can see.)

It doesn’t only help retirees. It also keeps 26 million people out of poverty. (No it doesn't. The poverty line is a political distinction, not an economic one. The poverty line is always approximately the bottom quintile. The number of people in the bottom quintile is the same regardless of how much income they have or don't have.

Further, the Left is always complaining how seniors have to choose between food and medicine, etc. So how could this "successful" program so impoverish its beneficiaries?)

Republicans have used public concern about Social Security’s future solvency as a cynical excuse to demand cuts in benefits. ("Cynical?" No. It is a justifiable and real concern about a program that is an unfunded liability that can never be paid off.)

True, the trustees of Social Security — of which yours truly was once a member (Dr. Reich is partly to blame, then.)

— say the program will be able to pay full benefits only until 2033. After that, Social Security will be able to dole out only about 77 percent of benefits. (Oh, so the program will need to cut benefits? Then how is it a concern that Republicans might cut benefits when it will happen anyway? What?)

But Social Security could easily pay everything it will owe to everyone for the next 75 years if the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes were eliminated. (Increase taxes.)

That cap is set at $168,600 this year (it rises with inflation). That means that anyone who earns more than $168,600 this year pays nothing in Social Security taxes on the excess. (Which is because they receive no future benefit for paying more into the system. SS has always been predicated on payment in vs. benefit received. If that changed, then the program is no longer a "retirement" program, it would be a wealth transfer program.)

Elon Musk finished paying his 2024 Social Security taxes 14 seconds past midnight on January 1 of 2024.

Even a run-of-the-mill CEO earning $20 million per year pays Social Security taxes on less than 1 percent of their income. (And their future benefit is commensurate with that.)

Meanwhile, a typical American worker pays Social Security taxes on 100 percent of their income. (Successful and popular, right?)

The Social Security trustees anticipated the current boom in boomer retirements. This is why Social Security was amended in 1983, to gradually increase the age for collecting full retirement benefits from 65 to 67. (Dr. Reich as a trustee cut benefits. Hmm.)

That change is helping finance the boomers’ retirement. (Cutting benefits frees up money for current retirees. How that differs from the objectives of DOGE is a mystery.)

But the trustees failed to anticipate (Dr. Reich failed...)

that most Americans’ wages would remain stagnant and how much of America’s total income would be going to the top.

Most of the American working population today is earning less than the Social Security trustees anticipated years ago — reducing revenue flowing into the program. (Benefits are not set by the amount of revenue.)

Had the pay of American workers kept up with the trend decades ago — as well as their growing productivity — their Social Security payments would have helped keep the program flush. (Had Americans paid more into the system, the system would have more money. Duh.)

At the same time, a much larger chunk of the nation’s total income is now going to the top compared to decades ago.

But income subject to the Social Security payroll tax is capped. So as the rich have become far richer, more and more of the nation’s total income has escaped the Social Security payroll tax. (Question: How many Americans bump up against the cap, and how many of them are in the top 1%?)

The rise in the amount of income above the cap due to inequality has cost the Social Security Trust Fund reserve an estimated $1.4 trillion since 1983. (Money the government doesn't get is not a cost. Money that wage earners received belongs to them, not the government.)

The solution is obvious: Scrap the cap and make the rich pay more in Social Security taxes. (Increase taxes. Of course. So why didn't trustee Reich do this? Why did he cut benefits instead?)

Bernie Sanders has come up with a plan that would eliminate the cap on earnings over $250,000 and also subject investment income to Social Security taxes. (Raise taxes.)

This would extend the solvency of Social Security for the next 75 years without raising taxes on 93 percent of American households. (So those who pay the taxes get no benefit, but those who don't get all the benefit. Sounds fair...)

But Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and the other billionaires who’ll be running the administration starting January 20 don’t want to pay their fair share to keep Social Security going. (??? Are their paychecks lacking the government determined mandatory extraction of SS taxes? If not, they are indeed paying their fair share.)

They’d rather kill Social Security. (We already agree. Stop trying to convince us.)

Buckle your seatbelts. This is likely to be one of the biggest fights of the first year of the Trump administration. It’s also a glaring illustration of the difference between the American people and Trump’s rich and powerful lackeys. (Leftists excel at class warfare and envy.)

If we want to ensure Social Security’s long-term future, and that working people can retire with dignity, we must make the wealthy — including the richest person in the world — pay their fair share.