All That Social Security Fraud

Just recently DOGE and Donny have been pushing the idea to his idiot supporters about all the fraud within the Social Security system…..at one point I believe someone said there could be millions of fraudsters out there.

Damn! That is a bunch!

But unfortunately it is just another Donny tactic….make shit up.

The rest of the story…..

It’s long been clear that Social Security fraud is minuscule, with an inspector general report published last year estimating that just 0.84% of Social Security benefits paid out between 2015 and 2022 were dispensed improperly—and even those improper payments were not necessarily fraudulent.

The new reporting out Thursday bolstered warnings that the Trump administration’s hunt for fraud is a mere pretext for slashing Social Security benefits and weakening the program.

“Turns out there ISN’T rampant Social Security fraud, but Elon’s witch hunt, driven by his insane conspiracy theories, IS keeping seniors from getting their benefits as quickly as they should be,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on social media. “THIS is Republican governing: hunting for nonexistent fraud while breaking Social Security.

Frank Bisignano, the newly confirmed SSA administrator, has close ties to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and has defended the president’s false claim that tens of millions of “dead” people are receiving Social Security benefits.

…

An internal Trump administration document reportedly shows that anti-fraud checks recently installed at the Social Security agency have found just two cases of potentially improper benefit claims out of more than 110,000—a rate of 0.0018%.

The documents, first reported Thursday by Nextgov/FCW, further undercut President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s narrative that Social Security is brimming with fraud. Musk falsely claimed in March that “40% of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent.”

The anti-fraud checks for Social Security have been applied only to benefit claims made over the phone. According to the internal document, “No significant fraud has been detected from the flagged cases.” Earlier this year, amid widespread outrage, the Social Security Administration (SSA) walked back a proposal to scrap many of its phone-based benefit claim services.

(commondreams.org)

Please stop listening to the lies and bullshit coming from the mouths of the idiots in power….all this crap is so they can find an excuse to cut SS benefits to you….and you eat the manure up….can’t fix stupid!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Has Congress Stolen From Social Security?

For awhile now the common and well used meme about the shortfalls in the social security system is because Congress has taken the money out to fund wars and such…..is this true?

If you were to peruse social media message boards on topics/articles pertaining to Social Security, you’ll commonly find that Congress is the scapegoat. Specifically, some commentors point to the idea of lawmakers stealing or raiding Social Security’s trust funds to fund wars and other line items, and failing to “put the money back, with interest.”

The thing about popular opinions on Social Security is that what’s popular isn’t always what’s right. In this instance, the idea of Congress stealing trillions from Social Security is completely baseless.

In August 1935, the Social Security Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Among the laundry list of provisions and rules set forth by the Social Security Act of 1935 is the treatment of any excess income (asset reserves) collected — i.e., income collected above and beyond what’s paid out in benefits and used to cover the SSA’s administrative expenses to operate the program.

By law, any excess income collected by Social Security is to be invested in special-issue, interest-bearing government bonds. U.S. Treasury bonds are exceptionally safe and backed by the full faith of the U.S. government.

What’s most important to note is that every cent of these special-issue government bonds is accounted for. In fact, the SSA publicly updates the combined asset reserve amount for the OASI and Disability Insurance Trust Fund (DI), along with the average interest rate it’s generating on its asset reserves, every month. As of the end of December 2024, the combined OASI and DI held around $2.721 trillion in asset reserves, with an average yield of 2.557%.

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2025/01/20/has-congress-stolen-trillions-from-social-security/

There is a very simple fix for any shortfall…..that would be to make all people pay into the system with no exemptions…that could raise the money to cover the shortfall and possibly work on a excess that could be beneficial to retirees that have work hard for their entire lives.

Like I said simple….but billionaires have the clout and the cash to stop any reform of the SS payment system…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Cracking Down On Social Security Fraud

By now almost everyone knows that Elmo and his band of thugs in DOGE are taking on ‘saving’ the taxpayers money by gutting government.

Recently they were given access to people’s Social Security information, confidential information, in an attempt to head off the millions of dead getting money.

Let’s look at all that imagined fraud.

The Trump administration is falsely claiming that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments, the AP reports. Over the past few days, President Trump and Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200, and even 300 years old are improperly getting benefits—a “HUGE problem,” Musk wrote. It is true that improper payments have been made, including some to dead people. But the numbers thrown out by Musk and the White House are overstated and misrepresent Social Security data.

What has the Trump administration said about payments to centenarians? On Tuesday, Trump said that “we have millions and millions of people over 100 years old” receiving Social Security benefits. He said Social Security would be “very powerful” if those people were removed from the system.

So are tens of millions of people over 100 years old receiving benefits? No. Part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which has a lack of date type. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago. Reports from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general state that the agency has not established a new system to properly annotate death information in its database, which included roughly 18.9 million Social Security numbers of people born in 1920 or earlier but were not marked as deceased. This does not mean, however, that these individuals were receiving benefits. A 2023 report states that “almost none of the numberholders discussed in the report currently receive SSA payments.” As of 2015, the agency automatically stops payments to people who are older than 115 years old.

How big of a problem is Social Security fraud? A 2024 report from Social Security’s inspector general states that from fiscal 2015 through 2022, the agency paid out almost $8.6 trillion in benefits, including $71.8 billion—or less than 1%—in improper payments, mostly overpayments to living people. In early January, the US Treasury clawed back more than $31 million in federal payments—not just Social Security payments—that improperly went to dead people, a recovery that former Treasury official David Lebryk said was “just the tip of the iceberg.” The Treasury estimated that it would recover $215 million over three years.

The fraud in the Social Security system is a typical lie of the GOP….a few years ago it was the welfare system that was the target and that turned out to be ma fucking lie but yet they keep telling it year after year and yet there are some Americans that repeat this lie every chance they get

DOGE is a massive scam….

Even if you believe that Musk is trying to root out waste and fraud (and you really shouldn’t), he and his dweeby hatchet bros are only making things more corrupt and expensive.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/doge-results-government-waste-scam/

Even with information to contrary there are some that want to believe these thugs are doing the right thing….they are not.

But not to worry these parasites will be coming for Medicare soon. (Post to follow)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Social Security Changes To Come

I am an retired senior and I try to keep my fellow retirees abreast of any changes to come to their retirement.

This is about some of the ‘promises’ that Trump made to senior citizens…changes that sound good but are they?

The big one is that he wants to eliminate the income tax on benefits….sounds on the surface like a great idea but in the long run is it as good as it sounds?

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump signaled support for ending the decades-long practice of taxing Social Security benefits on several occasions. “Seniors should not pay tax on Social Security,” Trump asserted on his social media platform in July. He then repeated the proposal in August during an interview with Fox.

Trump will return to the White House later this month, and many Social Security recipients are undoubtedly hoping the president-elect can make good on his proposal. But ending the taxation of Social Security benefits may actually be bad news for retired workers. Read on to learn more.

The Social Security trust fund holds money used to pay benefits. The asset reserves in the trust fund fell by 45% between 1974 and 1983 because of a growing imbalance in Social Security beneficiaries and taxpayers supporting program. In other words, the cost of paying benefits was increasing more quickly than revenues from payroll taxes.

Congress approved sweeping changes in 1983 to fix the financing problem, and one of those changes made Social Security subject to federal income tax. Initially, seniors with a combined income above a certain level owed taxes on 50% of benefits. But legislation approved in 1993 added a second combined income threshold, above which 85% of benefits were taxable.

Combined income is defined as adjusted gross income (AGI) plus nontaxable interest plus one-half of Social Security benefits. The chart below shows the taxable portion of Social Security benefits at different combined income levels based on filing status.

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2025/01/07/social-security-change-donald-trump-bad-news-retir/

This one move could possible truly bankrupt the program for good….maybe that is what they want.

To reiterate…..

We’re just days away from a second Trump administration entering the White House, and like all political transitions, we can expect changes once he takes office. Some of the most interesting ones for retirees could be those related to Social Security.

The program is in danger of benefit cuts in about a decade, and many people are disappointed with the way its buying power has declined over the years. While it may not be the most important issue on Trump’s agenda, he’s made a few comments about changes he’d like to make that could directly or indirectly affect Social Security. Here’s a look at three of the most significant and how they could affect seniors.

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2025/01/13/ways-donald-trump-may-change-social-security/

If he gets his way big changes are coming for the retirees, most of whom voted for the person that will screw them the hardest…..

Markets reacted strongly to the reelection of Donald Trump. In the week that followed Nov. 5, the S&P 500 was up about 3.7%. While the likely economic impact of all of Trump’s campaign promises is mixed, the stock market appears to believe that Trump will follow through with those that boost business, like cutting corporate taxes, while not following through with potentially damaging promises like hiking trade tariffs.

How this plays out will have broad implications in the lives of all Americans, but for the millions of Americans who are retired or will soon be so, Donald Trump’s Social Security plans could have an even bigger impact. The program is already on a path toward financial distress, but according to a recent analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), many of the proposals put forth on the campaign trail by the President-elect could exacerbate the issues. First, however, let’s take a look at the state of the program.

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2025/01/13/president-elect-donald-trumps-social-security-plan/

The problem with financing the social security program has a an easy fix….everybody pays the same deductions with no cut-off point.

Easy peasy …..but billionaires do not like that idea and we know no matter who is in the White House billionaires always get what they want.

Time will tell just what damage will be done to our retired seniors in the coming years.

I hope you can live with the choice you made…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Can Social Security Be Saved?

Yes it can….but not under the system we have now.

For instance you pay your social security on every dime you earn…..but not so for the wealthy….

Most Americans contribute to Social Security year-round, but U.S. millionaires will stop paying into the critical program on March 2—just over two months into 2024.

That’s because Social Security’s payroll tax doesn’t apply to earned income above a certain level. For 2024, the cut-off is $168,600, and capital gains—such as stock appreciation—are not subject to the payroll levy at all. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the world’s richest man, pays nothing into Social Security because he doesn’t take a salary.

Emma Curchin, domestic outreach and research assistant at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), noted Thursday that with the $168,600 payroll tax cap in place, a millionaire’s effective Social Security tax rate “is less than 1%.”

“This is compared to the 6.2% that any worker making less than $168,600 pays,” Curchin wrote. “The burden of paying for Social Security rests on working class people in this country.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/millionaires-social-security

So yes the benefit can be saved….just let those that pretend to care about the Middle Class work on a bill where everybody pays the same.

Can Social Security be saved?

Not if the dullards elect Trump in November….

The Republican Study Committee, which claims 175 of the House’s 219 Republican members of Congress, released their annual budget proposals last summer, and, sure to form, they also called for the setup of draconian cuts to Social Security.

Weirdly, the title of the section of their budget that cuts Social Security is titled Preventing Biden’s Cuts to Social Security. If you’re baffled by that because Biden has never called for cuts to Social Security, you live in the reality-based world.

In other words: “the system is going broke and we’re going to gut it, but not for the older voters the GOP needs: we’ll just stick Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X with the pain.”

Having been sponsored by billionaires and bankers who’ve been lusting for decades over the trillions in cash in the Social Security trust fund, it makes perfect sense that it would also contain explicit threats to Social Security.

https://www.alternet.org/social-security-trump/

This is for all the old farts that will undoubtedly vote for Trump….if you like your retirement and your Social Security then pl;ease look elsewhere to place your vote for you will be eternally sorry if you choose wrongly.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Social Security Is Not Broke

It is now 2024 and in less than one year we will be voting for a president and others….I bring this up because you will probably hear some idiot rattle on about Social Security is going bankrupt….well that is just a talking point….a fear tactic to garner votes.

It is not broke and here’s why….

Millions of seniors collect monthly benefits from Social Security today — and you may be hoping that once you’re retired, you’ll get to do the same.

But you may have heard that Social Security is on its way out due to a looming financial crisis. And that’s apt to be concerning.

The good news is that Social Security is not, in fact, on the verge of bankruptcy. Its impending demise is really nothing more than a myth. However, Social Security is facing some financial challenges that workers and seniors alike need to plan for.

Social Security’s main source of funding is payroll tax revenue, and it’s for this reason that it can’t go bankrupt.

As long as there’s an active labor force, the program will have money coming in. But it may not be enough money to keep up with scheduled benefits in full, and that’s the problem.

See, in the coming years, baby boomers will continue to exit the workforce in droves, and there will be a smaller number of people entering the workforce to replace them. That’s going to lead to a revenue shortfall.

Social Security can tap its trust funds to keep up with full benefits as long as those funds have money remaining. But in about a decade’s time, they’re expected to run dry.

At that point, Social Security might have to cut benefits to the tune of about 20%. That’s not great. But it’s also a far cry from the program going bankrupt and benefits disappearing entirely.

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2023/12/24/social-securitys-impending-bankruptcy-is-nothing-m/

So you see Social Security is not as broke as some would have you believe…..do not listen to the crap that the Heritage Foundation spreads is is a myth.

While you are deciding on which useless candidate you will grace with your vote keep in mind that social security should not be an issue….at least for now.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Work Until You Die

That seems to be the answer dollar crisis that the GOP has for the crumbling retirement infrastructure….every time they control something in DC their first reaction is that workers need to retire later than last fiddled with…..

And it is that time again…..GOP is trying to push through another extension on your working ages…..

But is that truly the answer to the looming crisis?

Right-wing lawmakers’ preferred method for dealing with the United States’ looming retirement crisis—telling older workers to keep toiling until they’ve saved enough to stop—is “not a viable solution,” says a report published Wednesday.

“Millions of people are entering their retirement years with insufficient savings to cover basic expenses and medical bills,” the new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) notes. “In response, some policymakers have proposed that older Americans could delay retirement to increase their savings.”

But this ostensible fix “overlooks the large group of older Americans who work in difficult conditions—ranging from the physically demanding to the outright dangerous,” EPI points out. “If older Americans endure difficult conditions that often force earlier exits from the workplace, proposals to delay retirement make little sense.”

Rather than forcing aging employees to postpone retirement, lawmakers should implement full-employment macroeconomic policies to ensure that workers have “access to jobs that pay fair wages and provide solid benefits during their prime working years,” says the report, calling the latter approach “a more effective way to close the retirement savings gap.”

To make sure “older workers can afford to retire when they need to,” EPI also urges policymakers to bolster “support for workers with caregiving responsibilities, expand Social Security coverage and benefits,” and improve “conditions for all workers through collective bargaining, stronger labor standards, and more effective health and safety protections.”

Those who portray working longer as a legitimate solution for people who cannot afford to retire assume that “as workers age and gain more work experience, they are able to transition into jobs that are less physically demanding, less onerous, and less hazardous—making it possible to extend their working lives,” the report notes. But as it goes on to show, “many workers in fact see little or no improvement in working conditions as they age.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/working-longer-no-solution-to-us-retirement-crisis

Wait an see just what silliness the GOP has to offer to solve this problem….and believe me it will be silly.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Reagan’s Assault On Social Security

No news dump for today…Still recovering from the eye injury….Sue has taken my PC and tablet away from me….but she left my phone for me to entertain myself….I hope to be back 100% on Monday….thanx for bearing with me while I get my eye back to normal….I will try to get caught up with my comments then.

As usual the GOP is attacking Social Security every time they have some small amount of power they want to screw the seniors of this country.

But where did all this hatred begin with?

To answer that question easily….it began with Reagan in the 1980s.

In 1983, just before signing legislation that cut Social Security benefits, then-President Ronald Reagan declared that “we’re entering an age when average Americans will live longer and live more productive lives.”

But Reagan’s assumption of ever-rising life expectancy in the U.S. turned out to be false, according to a new analysis, a fact with painful consequences for those who saw their Social Security benefits pared back thanks to the 1983 law’s gradual increase of the full retirement age—the age at which one is eligible for unreduced Social Security payments.

As Conor Smyth wrote Monday for the People’s Policy Project, a left-wing think tank, the Social Security Amendments of 1983 hiked the full retirement age “from 65 in 2000 to 67 at the end of 2022.”

“What this actually meant was not that the age at which people could retire and start drawing Social Security benefits changed—that remained at 62,” Smyth explained. “Instead, by raising what’s called the full retirement age (FRA) by two years, the law effectively cut benefit levels across the board, regardless of the age that any particular individual began claiming Social Security benefits. The result is that those retiring at 62 today face a 50% greater penalty for retiring before the change than they would have before 2000.”

The 1983 law was an outgrowth of a special presidential commission headed by Alan Greenspan, a right-wing economist who would go on to serve as chair of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/reagan-social-security-cuts

This is a perpetual thing….if it is a GOP Congress then seniors benefits are in danger….which is amazing because the GOP’s greatest supporters are those that will suffer the most if they ever fulfill their wish of destroying the Social Security program.

Why is that?

Are these voters uninformed or just ignorant?

Why does anyone vote against their best interests?

Why?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Repubs Moves As Predicted

It is a well known fact that Repubs hate the idea of Social Security and Medicare and they attempt to de-fund as soon as they are in control of the House and 2023 is no exception….

House Republicans are making clear that they intend to seek cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare with their new majority in the 118th Congress.

Their plans to target health care programs follow demands from a group of conservatives that helped elect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over the weekend. Those far-right lawmakers have sought across-the-board spending cuts in order to tackle the growing national debt.

But the narrow House GOP majority ― McCarthy can afford to lose just four votes on any bill ― is far more divided on cuts to defense spending than for entitlement programs.

“I’m all for a balanced budget, but we’re not going to do it on the backs of our troops and our military,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), a former Army Green Beret, said Monday during an interview on Fox Business. “If we really want to talk about the debt and spending, it’s the entitlements programs.”

As part of his list of concessions to conservatives, McCarthy reportedly agreed to cap spending for the next year at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to over $130 billion in cuts from last month’s $1.7 trillion government funding bill.

Republicans don’t plan to alter benefits for current Social Security and Medicare recipients, according to Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

“What we have been very clear about is, we’re not going to touch the benefits that are going to people relying on the benefits under Social Security and Medicare,” Roy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But we all have to be honest about sitting at the table and figuring out how we’re going to make those work, how we’re going to deal with defense spending and how we’re going to deal with nondefense discretionary spending.”

The Republican Study Committee proposed a budget for fiscal 2023 that would gradually increase the eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare, and change the Social Security benefit formula for people 54 and younger, while not changing it for people closer to receiving benefits.

Democrats are likely to oppose those changes, as well as any cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and an ensuing standoff could result in another government shutdown. The 2018-2019 lapse in federal funding lasted 35 days after a fight over former President Donald Trump’s border policies and immigration.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/social-security-medicare-cuts-republicans_n_63bc41fbe4b0b2e15069b0ae

Seniors really should pay attention before they throw away their votes for those that will do them the most damage.

But will they?

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden And Changes To Social Security

The day after and I will attempt to recover from all the festivities and this damn head cold…..

I agree that Social Security needs updating….and yes it may soon go broke but not the fault of the program more so because of the idiots that have been working to kill this social program from it’s inception.

Pres. Biden is offering up a few changes that he says will go a long way to stabilizing the program.

A list of the changes Biden foresees…..

1. Lift payroll taxation on high earners

The most notable change proposed by Biden involves collecting more payroll tax revenue from high-earning workers. In 2023, all earned income between $0.01 and $160,200 is subject to the 12.4% payroll tax. However, wages and salary above $160,200 aren’t subjected to this tax. Well over $1 trillion in earned income “escapes” the payroll tax this way every year.

Biden’s plan would reinstate the payroll tax on earned income above $400,000, while creating a doughnut hole between the maximum taxable earnings cap (the $160,200 figure in 2023) and $400,000 where earned income would remain exempt. Since the maximum taxable earnings cap increases over time, this doughnut hole would eventually close and subject all earned income to the payroll tax.

2. Change Social Security’s measure of inflation from the CPI-W to the CPI-E

The other sweeping change Biden is offering is to shift the program’s inflationary tether from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E).

The issue with the CPI-W is that it tracks the spending habits of “urban wage earners and clerical workers,” which doesn’t make much sense when senior citizens make up the bulk of Social Security beneficiaries. Since the CPI-E specifically tracks the expenditures of seniors, it should result in more accurate cost-of-living adjustments being passed along to beneficiaries.

3. Increase the special minimum benefit

A third Social Security reform proposed by Biden involves increasing the special minimum benefit paid to lifetime low-earning workers.

This year, the maximum payout for a lifetime low-earner with 30 years of coverage is just $951 per month. That’s more than $180/month below the federal poverty level for a single filer. Under Biden’s plan, the special minimum benefit would rise to 125% of the federal poverty level. For a lifetime low-earner, it would mean a monthly payout boost of nearly $500.

4. Boost the primary insurance amount for aged beneficiaries

The fourth and final change would see the primary insurance amount (PIA) steadily increased over time for older beneficiaries. Specifically, the PIA would grow by 1% annually from ages 78 through 82 until a 5% cumulative increase was realized.

The purpose of boosting the PIA is to account for higher late-in-life expenditures. As we age, things like medical transportation costs and prescription drugs can become costlier. This would help offset some of those expenses.

The bigger problem for Joe Biden, and pretty much every president for the past four decades, is that getting the needed votes in the U.S. Senate to amend Social Security has been impossible. Whereas a simple majority of the vote suffices in the House, 60 votes are needed in the Senate to make changes to the Social Security program. Neither party has held 60 seats in the Senate since the late 1970s. This means any major overhaul to Social Security will require bipartisan support.

Basically a good idea but as usual will go nowhere at all.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”