Watchdogs say world's richest man Elon Musk has 'declared war on Social Security'

[geardaddy]

https://www.rawstory.com/musk-social-security/

A lengthy series of X posts attacking Social Security as a "nightmare" caught the attention of the platform's mega-billionaire owner, Elon Musk, who could soon take aim at the beloved New Deal program as co-chair of an advisory commission tasked with identifying federal spending to slash.

"Interesting thread," Musk, the world's richest man, wrote late Monday in response to the posts by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who once said he hopes to pull Social Security "up by the roots and get rid of it," along with Medicare and Medicaid.

In his new thread, Lee characterized Social Security—which lifts more Americans above the poverty line than any other federal program—as a "tax plan" insidiously disguised as a retirement plan and condemned the Social Security Act of 1935 as one of many "deceptive sales techniques the U.S. government has used on the American people."

Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), replied Tuesday that Lee's posts amount to "a misrepresentation of Social Security's history and how the program works."

"There is nothing deceptive about Social Security. The social insurance program has been working just fine for nearly 90 years and has never missed a payment," said Richtman. "The kind of propaganda Sen. Lee posted undermines public support for Social Security, making it easier to cut or privatize the program. It is perhaps no coincidence that Sen. Lee's second-biggest campaign contributor by industry is the securities and investment sector."

Lee also claimed the federal government "routinely raids" the Social Security Trust Fund—a longstanding and misleading right-wing talking point.

They're not going to be happy until we all are poor.

[rurallib]

1. Musk has nothing to lose in this fight whereas every SS recipient

very possibly has the specter of poverty gnawing at them if Musk wins.

deport that mother-fucker before Trump gets in.

[geardaddy]

2. Yep, he's got his

typical Gooper. Deport him and the other nutty S. Africans trying to bring Apartheid to the US.

[Irish_Dem]

3. The billionaires believe that all money and resources belong to them.

They are the only rightful owners of everything.

They are addicted to money and will do what it takes to get it all.

[MadameButterfly]

41. Its like my cats

Last edited Sat Dec 7, 2024, 07:56 AM - Edit history (1)

Prince, aptly named, was a rescue cat who experienced starvation and thinks that any food we give tot he other cat deprives him.
Since he is twice her size, he can scarf up his food and run over to take her food.
We have to hang around to protect her, but occasionally we are busy and he gets his second helping at her expense.

The problem is he thinks there is limited supply, and that she is eating some of it. He doesn't understand that if there weren't two cats, the second helping would not be put out. So he rushes through his serving as fast as he can to run over and try to steal hers. Sometimes he doesn't even eat all of his in his desperation to eat hers. He would do betterl to eat slowly and enjoy his food. He doesn't understand he doesn't need more food, it would only make him fat.

The RW CEOs are the same. They think there is limited supply so they have to take from working class and poor to get all they want.
They don't know that if they take from the poor/working class that these people won't be able to buy their products or the products of the stocks they own, and they'll lose more money than they took from the poor.

We think the rich are smart about money but they are not any smarter than my cat Prince. Prince would get everything he needs if he would leave the smaller cat alone but instead we constantly worry whether we should send him to the shelter where he would be euthanized. We don't want to, but he is abusive.

Prince was damaged by some bad owners who deserted him to the elements. His mind is not healthy and he doesn't have the consciousness to change. Nor are the minds of Magats who have been abused by perhaps their early childhoods and later by the economy and the growing income gap. They don't understand the source of the problem or the solution.

Unfortunately, the very rich, who could avail themselves of better information, don't understand either. They think by being rich they don't have to reflect on their failings. Since we as a society worship wealth over love.

Prince may or may not survive his disfunction. We hope we can save him. But will Magats survive? will they take the smaller cat's food or get kicked out of the house altogether?

[Irish_Dem]

44. Good analogy.

People like Prince are now in charge of the world.
I don't know what will happen.

[travelingthrulife]

45. I have always maintained that most rich people need substance abuse therapy.

It is an addiction like any other addiction.

[Irish_Dem]

48. Exactly, it is a horrible addiction to money.

And like most addicts they will destroy everything to get their substance of choice.

But there is no amount of money that will fill up the holes in the souls.
It is a vast empty pit of darkness.

[Hugin]

54. It's not enough to have it all, we must be left with nothing.

The part they never seem to get is that once they have it all, it will be worth nothing. We will have moved on to something else. We aren’t going away.

[Irish_Dem]

55. They assume they are immune from any negative consequences.

They are used to their vast wealth protecting them from any hardship or problem.

[SledDriver]

4. fElon should turn on the news

[Blue_Tires]

5. Don't look at me...

White folks defiantly voted for this shit, so they really must want it....

Sorry, I can no longer generate any real outrage anymore... All I can do is keep my head down until election day so I can watch voters fuck me again 😔

[MagickMuffin]

18. Excuse me but apparently there were multi races voting for *

It wasn’t just us white folks. I heard every race under the sun voted for *

[Blue_Tires]

27. And they've all signed our death warrants

[Blue_Tires]

42. You'll forgive me if I've been feeling betrayed

[MagickMuffin]

51. We're both experiencing a huge letdown

Let down
Beat down
Melt down


I can offer 🕯️Light 🌹Life ❤️ Love

We’re All Going To Need More Of!

[haele]

56. We can sit in the gulag together and commiserate.

I used to think "surely people could learn from the past".
But it seems that a considerable number of our brethren are perfectly happy letting someone else take responsibility so long as they can ignore anything unpleasant that's happening outside their bubble and "feel" more comfortable than the people below them on the hierarchy.
It seems like most of the public in general have agreed to emotionally regress to the level of bored four-year-olds, waiting for adult figures to appear to either entertain them or tell them what to do. No sense of belonging or responsibility, and they certainly don't seem to want to deal with hard concepts like cooperation or fixing problems.

I don't know what to say. No excuse for what happened.

Haele

[RANDYWILDMAN]

6. Crap like this

should blow repubs out the water for DECADES, but the trans people/dog whistle's/don't know what a tariff is/voted for the best bro/Rogan said their liars/Elon money scam contest/etc


gimme a break

[LoisB]

7. Eff this bastard! For many, that SS check (for which they worked all their lives) allows them to eat and have a

roof over their heads - and for too many, just barely. No one is living high on the hog on Social Security.

[Jspur]

12. I deal with a lot of clients everyday that

solely live off of their social security. A lot of them would be homeless without the SSN income.

[markodochartaigh]

32. "A lot of them would be homeless without the SSN income."

Not for long. Without Social Security, without Medicare, without EMTALA to ensure that people without funding are treated medically, people won't be homeless for long. And that's the plan.

[LoisB]

38. Those scumbags can't think in terms of their own parents, grandparents or what they would do if they hadn't

schemed, cheated, connived, stolen the way to their millions and billions of dollars. I detest them. They always want to take from those who have the least.

[atreides1]

53. Genocide!!!

Elon and Vivek are out to commit genocide, and little Mikey Johnson is more than happy to help them!!!

[LoisB]

39. ...and the Musks of the world don't give a shyte.

[dalton99a]

8. Kick

[AntiFascist]

9. The grift never ends...

do they realize that people pay into Social Security throughout their working lives? Maybe we should all just stop paying taxes during this mis-administration.

[HUAJIAO]

36. They don't care

[Journeyman]

10. They fail to realize the fundamental reason Social Security was instituted . . .

To ensure the security of the social order.

When grandma is freezing to death in the dark with nothing in the larder, people begin to look for entities to blame -- much as they did in the first years of the Great Depression, when it seemed for a good number of years our society would tip into anarchy.

If they want chaos, they're certainly chipping away at the best means to guarantee it.

[multigraincracker]

11. Taxes are the cost of civilization.

Or we could feed the hungry by eating the rich.

[Strelnikov_]

43. And it appears that the first 'shot' was fired the other day

I think it was a hit. But the public reaction shows how pissed the masses are with the status quo.

Now, we have this crew wading in, completely ignorant of why they won, ready to pull what remains of the rug out.

[Jit423]

13. My signature line for billionaires like Must is this:

"When having it ALL is not enough." There must be pain for others.

[Trueblue1968]

14. My husband and i only have SS. If it was gone, we would be homeless.

[bif]

15. Is he even an American citizen?

Just curious.

[Redleg]

16. Screw him either way

and the horse he rode in on.

[travelingthrulife]

46. He is now but he came in illegally

[CousinIT]

17. Social Security does NOT add ONE CENT to the debt. It is not part of the budget.

It is 100% paid for by OUR money + employer taxes (which the goddamned billionaires do NOT want to pay - and that's why they want social security GONE).

It's OUR money that they want to ROB us of to pay for billionaire tax cuts.

It's just fucking GREED.

[Wild blueberry]

40. Rich fuckers hate that they have to pay into their employees Social Security

Why they want to kill it.

Big fan of Social Security here, paid in for over 46 years. Had jobs at a museum, and public library, so never earned a lot. Social Security helps me have a solvent old age, very grateful.
Thank you.

[travelingthrulife]

47. Yup. The employers want the payroll tax gone so they can keep more money.

[magicarpet]

58. Yup Social Security payments are derived from,....

.... payroll deductions.

6.2% of total wages into a SS fund contributed by the employee.

Plus,

6.2% of total wages into the SS fund contributed by the employer.

The money sits in a trust fund until a person reaches retirement age and starts withdrawal of the accumulated funds that were deducted from their paychecks over the lifetime of their working history.

The Social Security Retirement Program has provided minimal needs for the elderly to help provide for food and housing and to keep them out of poverty.

This is money you paid into the system throughout your working history and is not a giveaway government program as some like to lead us to incorrectly believe.

The rich investors and employers resent the 6.2% portion they kick in. Hating the fact that that money goes into the workers retirement fund and not directly into the investor's or employer's pockets for more mansions, more yachts, more private jets, and more fancy cars.

[jmbar2]

57. Do you remember when Al Gore kept saying SS needed to be in a lock box?

He wanted to protect SS from republicans borrowing from it. He was ridiculed. And he was exactly correct. If only...

[Emile]

19. Kicking out the immigrants and they need cheap labor.

[Karasu]

20. Yes, we all know this is why his stupid fictional austerity department no one wanted was created. This shouldn't be news

to anyone.

[keithbvadu2]

21. Big money wants to privatize social security for all the fees it can collect.

Big money wants to privatize social security for all the fees it can collect. Social
security may not be the best investment out there, but it is stable and reliable. Think of
all the retirement scams possible.

You can bet your booties that Musk has finance holdings that drool over such available money to handle.

[patphil]

22. A man worth 300 billion dollars doesn't want people to have enough money to live on in their old age.

Money that they and the companies they worked for contributed to allow that to happen.
Despicable is so inadequate in defining Elon Musk.

[travelingthrulife]

49. Especially since he gets fabulous amounts of money from our government

for his play projects. And probably pays no tax himself.

[IcyPeas]

23. But didnt trump say he wouldn't come after SS or Medicare? You mean HE LIED?

What do the magats have to say about this? Or are they not covering this story on FOx news for the dumb.

[travelingthrulife]

50. They think it won't impact them. It will only screw over their kids, not them.

[JoseBalow]

24. Way past time for UBI

Everyone would benefit from it, even the heartless greedy rich bastards.

[La Coliniere]

25. He's a prick.

Taking away the earned benefits that we contributed to our entire working lives and letting folks in their senior years rot on the vine is this billionaire’s solution in making government more efficient? What a creative solution!…Not! It’s about the ultra wealthy getting their greedy hands on the SS trust fund. Not hard to figure out.

[Dem2theMax]

26. Poor? I'll be dead.

I just bought a used car, after having been without one for FIVE years. And I debated, do I continue to go insane being trapped where I live because I can't go anywhere? Or, do I buy a car, and risk needing that money to buy food to be able to survive? Got the car. I'll be one of those elderly people committing suicide if they take away Social Security or Healthcare. That's all I've got.

[GiqueCee]

33. What Mike Lee, Rick Scott...

... and all the rest of the MAGAt horde conveniently forget, is that the Social Security Trust fund is, for all intents and purposes, a closed system. It doesn't add a dime to the deficit, nor will its destruction reduce the deficit by a dime. Oh, and it's OUR money, NOT the government's; it is deferred wages held in trust, and none of those malevolent skid marks have ANY legal right to do anything to Social Security. But then, we ARE living in Mordor now, and Trump is Sauron 2.0, so who knows what the fuck is going to happen next. One thing is certain though, whatever happens won't be good.

[GiqueCee]

28. I believe...

... the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 was enacted specifically because so many politicians were doing exactly what Lee said the were doing. As much as I despise Lee, it seems entirely plausible that such depredations have continued unabated. If it walks like a Republican, and talks like a Republican, then it probably is a lying, thieving, soulless sociopath. You can bet Mike Lee sure as fuck is. He has proven himself, by word and deed, to be utterly devoid of any redeeming qualities whatsoever. He is the bastard love child of Satan and Ayn Rand.

[Clouds Passing]

29. Says Mr Drug Addled Brain

[underpants]

30. It is BY FAR the best and safest retirement plan you can get. 5-7 years to totally recoup

everything you ever paid into it.

Now Defined Plans such as professionally managed pensions are great. Whole life insurance is good too if you can afford it but Social Security for most people is the best plan they can get.

Depending on your top 3 year earning window and how you draw down, it takes 5-7 years to get everything YOU paid into the system back. This doesn’t apply to the self employed who have to pay the full 12.4%. That is a Shane by the way. Most of us pay half 6.2% and our employer pays the other half.

[orwell]

31. This is bad framing...

...one again by the Democrats.

The byline should read, "Wall Street is stealing your Social Security check."

or

"Billionaires declare war on grandma!"

[keep_left]

34. Idiots like Eloon have apparently never read the quote from Eisenhower...

...about people like him who believe in ripping up the social safety net "by the roots", in the apparent conviction that social programs represent some sort of creeping Bolshevism.

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/letter-to-edgar-newton-eisenhower/

[HUAJIAO]

35. All Dems, politicians and others, better fight this starting RIGHT NOW !!

[phylny]

37. My grandmother was widowed at age 45.

She worked a close-to minimum wage job until her mid 70s. She lived to age 100.

The only reason her 8 grandchildren didn’t need to pitch in $100/months each was because she got an $800 per month Social Security check.