What is this moron doing now?
Donald Trump has been in office a little over one month, and already, the U.S. is a mess. Besides that, we are worried, and we are afraid of what Trump and Musk will do next. They think they’re smart, but we know what they’re doing. No, they cannot touch funds in Social Security directly, but what they’re doing will cripple it. Once the agency is sufficiently crippled, they can do whatever they want with the funds. They have let 7,000 employees go and are closing field offices. This is such bullshit. This agency not only had no fat to speak of, but it has also been historically understaffed. According to the LA Times, former Commissioner Martin O’Malley, shared with members of the House “that the agency was serving a record number of beneficiaries with staffing that had reached a 50-year low.” That was in November, and not quite four months later, Musk has decided that they are overstaffed.
We already know what’s going to happen. People are going to face difficulty in getting benefits, and some won’t get them at all. What sense does it make to do this to people who not only created the fund but who now use it to live? The loss of employees for this agency can mean several things. Not only might benefit checks be held up, but they had employees who tracked what younger people are currently paying into the system. This allowed them to calculate benefits to the penny that were owed out to those of retirement age and those who are retiring at some point in the future. DOGE has now put all of that at risk, and for what purpose? If the department was truly understaffed, and history shows us that it was, why cut even more people? According to the former commissioner, they had managed to cut down wait times on the customer service line to less than 13 minutes by instituting a call-back system. That system did not require extra employees. In essence, the SSA was making things work with the labor they had. Imagine what the loss of 7,000 people is going to do to this system.
LA Times reported that the former commissioner had requested a budget increase to add 3,000 workers in customer service. It was, of course, denied. Instead of being 3,000 people short, the agency is now 10,000 short. There is no way this won’t impact on the services provided by SSA. What is puzzling me so much is “why.” Why are Elon Musk and Donald Trump doing this? It will undoubtedly hurt retirees, most of whom have nothing else to lean on for income. It is likely one of the most despicable things Donald Trump has done, and he has done plenty. I still cannot believe those people out there complaining that they voted for Trump three times, and this is the thanks they get. Well, what did they not see the first time that caused them to go back for more? Had he not won the presidency, Trump would likely be in jail. They didn’t believe that either. I bet they believe it now.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years