Billionaires: Hands off Social Security!

Trump’s 2024 campaign promised not to cut Social Security and proposed not to tax benefits. But now that he’s elected, Trump’s practices contradict his campaign promises. Privatization of retirement and disability benefits, which has long been a goal of capitalist hedge fund investors who back Trump and may now gain access to Social Security funds, is a real threat for retired and disabled workers.

Protest for Social Security during Trump’s first term, Washington, DC, Aug. 13, 2018.

Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have engaged in unfounded distortions about the Social Security Administration, calling it “mismanaged” and “riddled with fraud.” In an interview with Joe Rogan in February, Musk called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” Discussing entitlement spending he deemed wasteful on Fox Business, Musk called Social Security “the big one to eliminate.” (NBC News, March 23)

However, Nancy Altman, with the nonprofit Social Security Works, said, “Not only is real fraud so rare as to be totally negligible (0.00002 %), the SSA is also exceptional in that less than a penny of every dollar spent is spent on administration.” (Truthout, March 17)

That hasn’t stopped Trump and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from taking the ax to this nearly 90-year-old program.

DOGE invasion

In February, DOGE staff demanded access to SSA records for 70 million people containing protected data, including Social Security numbers, financial and personal information, immigration status and more. When Acting Commissioner Michelle King stepped down over privacy concerns about DOGE’s access, Trump put Leland Dudek in charge; he had openly cooperated with DOGE. 

The appointment of Frank Bisignano, Trump’s choice to become SSA commissioner, is still pending Senate approval. Bisignano, known as a Wall Street “fixer,” openly advocates cost-cutting by reducing the workforce, even to the extent of replacing workers with AI chatbots.

Meanwhile, Dudek has laid off two dozen senior administrators and announced plans to fire 7,000 of SSA’s 57,000 workers, gutting the workforce to a 50-year low. While closing many field and regional offices, on March 18 Dudek eliminated the option of applying for or changing benefits by phone, forcing older and disabled recipients to apply either on-line or in-person. Appointment wait time is now expected to take months.

When federal judge Ellen L. Hollander barred DOGE employees from accessing the SSA building on March 20, Dudek threatened to shut the agency down. Dudek is in over his head as acting administrator, but the bigger dangers to the program are the private equity investors eager to step in.

According to Bloomberg News, a group of private equity investors — Antonio Gracias, founder of Valor Equity Partners; Scott Coulter, formerly of Lone Pine Capital; and Michael Russo, formerly of Shift4 — have stepped into agency roles on the direct orders of Bisignano. (March 10)

Social Security cuts impact women the most

As of February 2025, an estimated 73.2 million people received Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or both. Any attack on Social Security will impact women the most. According to the SSA, among women aged 65 and older, 44% receive more than half of their income from Social Security, and 15% rely on SS for 90% of their income.

Social Security benefits belong to the workers. Every dollar that goes into Social Security and Medicare is deducted from workers’ checks to be matched by employers. The monies go into the Social Security Trust Fund, valued at approximately $2.79 trillion at the end of 2024. The funds are deferred wages, to be paid out during retirement or periods of disability; the benefits are regarded as “sacrosanct” and “inviolable.”

Workers fought for Social Security

In an article headlined “Social Security belongs to the workers” from workers.org printed in 2013, Kathy Durkin explained the history of Social Security:

“The Social Security Act was enacted by Congress and signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Aug. 14, 1935. This law was the result of militant, massive class struggles by labor unions, unemployed councils, Black organizations, socialists, communists and other progressives during the Great Depression. Hundreds of protests pressured employers and the government for Social Security retirement benefits and unemployment insurance.

“The law was amended in 1956 to pay out disability benefits.” In December 2024, 7.2 million disabled workers received Social Security disability benefits, with 86,000 spouses and 1.1 million children under 18 also receiving payments.

Durkin continued: “Major encroachments have been made already. The Reagan-era Social Security Amendments of 1983 raised the eligibility age for full benefits from 65 to 67, starting in the year 2000, and sped up payroll tax hikes, among other measures. Millions of undocumented workers, who paid tens of billions of dollars into the fund, aren’t entitled to collect Social Security benefits.

“Right-wing politicians and pundits falsely claim that Social Security contributes to the federal ‘deficit,’ draining the economy. But not only has the program paid for itself with workers’ contributions, the government has raided the Fund’s ‘surplus’ for 40 years, using it to pay for wars abroad, interest payments to banks and Wall Street bailouts.

“There is enough money in the Trust Fund to keep the program solvent and pay benefits until 2033. The government is legally required to repay the funds taken from the account, and this is the crisis: Will it pay back what’s rightfully owed to the workers?” Durkin concluded this is the key issue.  (workers.org/2013/04/8367/)

The capitalists and millionaire politicians don’t want to repay the debt, and so they constantly connive to figure out how to cut the benefits — or even eliminate the program altogether.