Elon Musk wants to plunder your social security benefits
Republicans have wanted to get their grubby little mitts on our social security benefits since the days of Ronald Reagan. But it may not be what you think. They aren’t going to plunder the whole 2.9 trillion dollar trust fund all at once and leave you with nothing. That would be so unpopular as to provoke a revolt that would see them all out of office at the next election, possibly permanently. Besides, slave-owners know there’s nothing to be gained by starving their slaves to death. What they have in mind is a little more complicated — and a lot more devious.
What Republicans have always wanted to do, and the current crop is no different, is to privatise social security. They effectively want to take the whole fund and turn it over to Wall Street. Under Republican guidance Wall Street brokers would be free to use the fund to gamble. But rest assured, if they wind up with a surplus it won’t go to you. The surplus will be used for other things. Such as more tax cuts for greedy billionaires.
What, you might reasonably ask, will they do if there’s a shortfall and the fund loses money? Will the billionaires absorb the loss? I’m glad you asked. No, the cost of that shortfall will be passed on to the benefits receivers, of course. It’s a sweet deal, doncha think? Imagine being given an ocean of money and told to gamble with it. If you win you keep the winnings, if you lose it’s somebody else’s problem.
The shortfall will be made up in various ways. It might include extending the retirement age. It might include bypassing the annual 3% cost of living increase. It might include simply reducing your benefit amount. Billionaires get all the profit, grandma’s egg money gets all the risk.
Republicans claim that privatisation is necessary because the fund will go bankrupt by 2035. This is a lie. The truth is, according to the May 2024 trustees’ report, that if nothing changes the Social Security Administration will deplete its RESERVES by 2035. Without congressional action, the fund will then only be able to pay out 83% of full benefits. Hardly bankruptcy.
What they won’t tell you is this crisis can be easily averted by raising the social security cap on taxation. Right now you must pay taxes on social security if your income is $160,000 or less. In other words, if you make $250,000 in a year, you only have to pay social security tax for $160,000 of that amount. If Congress were to raise that cap to, say, $300,000, the extra income would keep the fund’s reserves from being depleted. Unfortunately, rich people don’t like that idea, and in case you haven’t noticed, rich people are mostly in charge.
Enter Elon Musk. Elon positively loves the idea of privatising social security. It’s a big part of his agenda and he’s going to do everything in his power to see that it happens. He doesn’t give a shit about you or me or grandma. He loves money and this is his golden chance to get more and more and more. And more!
Of course, Musk doesn’t have the power to do any of this. He’ll need Congress (for now), and in order to sway Congress, he’ll need Trump’s authority. But that can all be arranged. Musk is motivated by his burning desire to be the world’s first trillionaire. (One caution to Musk: unlike Trump, he has no immunity from prosecution. And Trump is notoriously disloyal. He might not get any all-encompassing presidential pardon.)
Here’s something to think about: if it took you sixty seconds to read this far, in that time Elon Musk made thirty-eight thousand, one hundred and ninety-four dollars and forty-five cents. You read that right. Elon makes $55 million dollars a day — a freaking day! And somehow that just isn’t quite enough for poor little Elon. He needs more to become a trillionaire. And he doesn’t care who he screws to get there.
So far Democrats have managed to prevent this theft from happening. But with all the forces arrayed against us, the presidency, SCOTUS, Congress, the sellout Vichy legacy media, all that’s left is just us little Davids against one hell of a Goliath. So we need to make our voices heard loud and clear.
And sooner or later, we need to get money the hell out of politics. Politics should be attractive only to people who want to serve others. It’s possible to make it so, but everybody has to be on board for it and the laws must radically change.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.