Despite his promises to protect Social Security, Trump is cutting it.

[CousinIT]

DOGE slashed 7,000 agency staff – and local offices nationwide are shuttering. 70 million Americans are navigating a crisis to get the payments they need.

“It’s almost like you’re being punished.”

PUNISHED for trying to get the money - YOUR money - that you paid in all your life, so you'd have a small stipend when you retire. Imagine that.

This doesn't even mention that Musk's DOGE bros ILLEGALLY EXFILTRATED EVERY AMERICAN'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER and other personal information, and carried it out on computers and/or thumb drives, after which it was uploaded to a cloud service to be analyzed by AI. I suspect Amazon Azure or another cloud storage vendor is housing all of it - AND IT IS NOT SECURE THERE, since cloud services can be hacked. And WHO has those computers and thumb drives now? Are they encrypted? What if someone steals them or they become lost? Or, one of the DOGE bros decides to sell the info on the dark net for a tidy sum?

Social Security Works details some of what they've done. This is a screenshot from an email they sent me that explains the video, and this is only part of their destruction of the SSA.

NOTE how little the Social Security Administration uses for administrative purposes in comparison to private retirement companies or 401 (k) s. It's MUCH less. In other words, there WAS NO WASTE to cut! And the SSA was ALREADY understaffed and underfunded before Trump and DOGE started their campaign of destruction. NOW it's even worse.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended

Thanks for the thread CousinIT

[Ritabert]

2. I was on hold with SSA for 2 hours back in April. I finally got an appointment.

[CousinIT]

4. Two hours is way to damn long.

Were you able to get a local appointment in the near future, or did you have to drive to another city or state?

[Ritabert]

13. Actually this was back in April 2025. And the appt. was local.

Now who knows?

[twodogsbarking]

3. I have used our local office a few times in 40 years. All good. Great people work there.

They have to deal with all types of people which is not easy.

[Evolve Dammit]

5. "And now they're coming for your social security. And they'll get it too, and give it to their rich, criminal friends

on Wall Street."
George Carlin
The American Dream (best rant ever)

[CousinIT]

7. George was always right.

Sure miss that guy. I'd love to know what he'd have to say about today's bullshit.

[ancianita]

6. If you're already getting it, this can't happen. If you're not,

No, a president cannot single-handedly cut Social Security benefits, as the program is governed by strict, long-standing legislation and funded by dedicated payroll taxes. Altering core benefit formulas requires an act of Congress.

While a president cannot arbitrarily reduce earned benefits, the broader Social Security system faces indirect vulnerabilities:

Congressional Action:
Congress can legally change the laws determining the retirement age, benefit formulas, or payroll tax rates. The Social Security Board of Trustees regularly projects the timeline for trust fund depletion, and if Congress takes no action, automatic, across-the-board cuts to scheduled benefits could be triggered.

Administrative and Budgetary Changes:
Presidents can enact policies that indirectly impact recipients. For example, budget cuts, staff reductions, or office closures can restrict access to services, create massive application backlogs, and delay processing times. Executive actions can also target specific eligibility rules, such as adjustments to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for disabled adults or low-income seniors.

Tax Policy and Solvency:
While presidents may advocate for tax changes—such as eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits or reducing payroll taxes—these policies can accelerate the depletion of the program's reserves. Because Social Security remains deeply entrenched in U.S. law, any direct changes to your monthly checks require a bill to pass through both the House of Representatives and the Senate. https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/solvency/index.html

The word vulnerabilities exaggerates the reality. He's been trying to get at that pot o' gold since 2020; it didn't work then, it won't work now.

You can track current legislative proposals affecting the program on the Congress.gov legislative database.

[CousinIT]

8. All of that is true. They can't just cut Social Security so they are trying to destroy its operation.

By FURTHER underfunding and understaffing it, it just doesn't function. People are blocked from getting benefits if they give up or can't navigate the mess to access them. It gives a pretense to say "it's broken, it sucks, it's fraudulent, let's privatize it," or whatever destructive thing they want to do.

Another thing that depletes the trust fund is deporting all the immigrants. They pay into it, and most don't get benefits from it. This amounts to billions per year, depending on how many are removed. This is something that shouldn't be happening anyway, but that doesn't change the fact that it is still a cut of money going into the trust fund - quite a large one.

[ancianita]

10. Just a guess: by "destroying its operation" you mean laying off personnel and letting AI do a lot of the processing.

Also guessing: this OP item might just be a scaremonger kind of thing to get eyeballs and ad bucks. The reality of what's happening isn't something we can rely on media to convey until after some insider leak or public harm is done.

Sorry, I don't trust claims like these, since they seem to appeal to the fears of many who just don't know how Social Security and government work.

[yellow dahlia]

9. The Repuglicons have been spreading propaganda about the Social Security

trust fund and its solvency, so they can destroy it and replace it with privatization.

People need to be better informed about how the system works.

There is one very easy solution - Raise the Cap. Right now I believe the cap is approximately $187,000. People who make more than $187,000 don't pay any more than someone who makes $187,000. If they raise the cap it will keep the cash flow to where it needs to be. There are some Dems in Congress with bills that would raise the cap. I believe one proposal is to raise it to $250,000 and another proposes to raise it to $400,000.

[BarbD]

14. At 88, I've been collecting SS for a while. However,

If I have a question about medicare do I have to physically go to an office? Once I get there and see a sign that assumes I have a smart phone, I'm in big trouble as my puny flip top won't do the trick. Plus because of arthritic fingers, I can't text. What I need is a live operator. The LIVE OPERATOR that is practically extinct in our society.

Good thing my congressman is on Speed Dial. He has a special person dedicated to those of us who are technically challenged.

[FakeNoose]

11. The Social Security agency is laying off human employees, like every other government agency

They aren't cutting down the payout of benefits, they are just reducing the offices in smaller cities. Instead of having an office in every small town, you might have to drive 40 or 50 miles to see the office in a larger city.

What they are trying to do is force everyone to go online for everything, with the idea that AI programs will handle the bulk of the labor. The human agents will be overloaded of course, and none of us will receive the service we deserve to get.

[gulliver]

12. The real threat to Social Security is not DOGE

It's distractions and bad arguments on "distraction issues" from the people who should be defending Social Security: us.

I've had zero problems navigating Social Security and Medicare. The IT behind it is quite good. My hat is off.

The Social Security trust fund depletion is a major issue. I don't see it on our radar. I see a lot of red faces and conniptions, demonstrating and showboating. It gets us nowhere.

Con people of every persuasion are having a heydey preying on the angry. It's a grotesque spectacle.

"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

Calm down. Focus on fundamentals. Win.