Summary
At the first meeting of the DOGE Caucus, a new congressional group focused on government efficiency, Republican Rep. Greg Lopez stated that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are likely “on the table” as part of debt reduction efforts.
The caucus, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to slash government spending, raising concerns among advocacy groups about potential attacks on anti-poverty programs.
Critics, including Social Security Works, warn the caucus may push for privatization and benefit reductions.
This comes despite Trump’s prior commitment to protect these programs.
Friendly reminder that Social Security is a separate government program that funds itself.
What Musk is talking about is stealing from Social Security in order to cut taxes elsewhere (namely cutting taxes for people like Musk).
That’s not completely true. Social Security is supposed to fund itself, however it’s currently facing a funding shortfall with current estimates that it will be depleted in 2035. There are many suggestions on how make this program solvent, including bolstering it with general funds.
I think a good start would be to stop allowing Republicans to raid Social Security for quick cash, like they’ve been constantly doing since the Reagan administration.
Yes, it’s a payroll tax. Your paycheck may show how much you are paying into Social Security. This is money meant to help you and others after retirement. Musk wants to take that money and instead use it to fill unrelated gaps in the federal budget, gaps caused by Trump’s tax cuts for the very wealthy.
Holy shit I never realized it until you explained it like this. Thank you, and also we are fucked.
Social Security fund invested in government bonds, so the interest from that goes into the fund.
To be fair the budget deficit was there before Trump. His campaign promises are going to increase it, but they can offset that partially with spending cuts. Also, the government has been using money from the Social Security fund routinely, again nothing new under Trump. They just count it as an internal debt. According to Wikipedia, by 2022 it’s been already about 20% of the fund “borrowed” by the government.
Another thing about the tax is that there is a cap on the amount you pay into it https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/social-security/articles/what-is-the-social-security-tax-limit. Meaning it’s a regressive tax where lower income people pay more than wealthy people (not to mention that many wealthy people may not have traditional income and pay no taxes for this).
Wow! Who woulda guessed they would immediately reneg on a campaign “promise” and immediately attack the side of the population that most reliably votes for them?
‘Member when Dark Brandon called republicans out on this in his state of the union address, and they all booed and denied it?
Pepperidge Farm ‘members
“But they won’t take away MY social security…”
Yes, they want to roll back the entire New Deal and have corporate serfdom again. They have been saying it for years and now they have their chance.
More and more I feel we are seeing the pendulum swing. Normally we see 5-10 year cycles of push and pull along the political spectrum, but I’m becoming convinced we’re in a century long cycle.
We no longer have those with living memory of the gilded age, losing those who remember the saving grace that was the New Deal, and fewer and fewer left who were sent to war to fight fascism. The wealth gap is worsening in developed nations across the world, democratic republics are electing more far right parties and authoritarian leaders with populist messages, the incoming administration is floating the idea of scrapping the FDIC and deregulating anything on his favorite billionaire’s wishlist.
Seems like we’re right on track for a repeat of the 1930s.
Hope everyone remembers to not negotiate with capitalists next time we have a labor movement like we had in the early 20th century.
