When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act of 1935 and the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was created, the program had its share of critics on the right. Some Republicans of the 1930s attacked Social Security as a form of “socialism,” and 90 years later, those arguments persist.
Tesla/SpaceX/X.com leader Elon Musk described Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. President Donald Trump claims to be a staunch defender of Social Security, but the Trump Administration’s downsizing at the SSA is making it harder for seniors to receive benefits owed to them.
Trump claims that his goal is to reduce “waste, fraud and abuse” at the SSA; liberal economists like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, however, view the second Trump Administration as a major threat to Social Security’s wellbeing.
In a Motley Fool listicle published by Nasdaq.com on November 30, reporter Sean Williams lays out four ways in which Trump’s Administration is changing Social Security.
“For more than 85 years,” Williams explains, “Social Security has been providing a financial floor for aging workers who could no longer do so for themselves. According to 24 years of annual surveys from national pollster Gallup, Social Security income is viewed as a necessity to make ends meet, in some capacity, by 80 percent to 90 percent of retirees. However, this vital program isn’t static. Various thresholds, such as the maximum monthly payout at full retirement age and the payroll tax earnings cap, change on a near-annual basis. Additionally, the president and their administration have the ability to alter the program.”
Williams continues, “Since Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20, he and his administration have made four direct and indirect changes to Social Security that have far-reaching implications for the program’s more than 70 million traditional beneficiaries: retired workers, workers with disabilities, and survivors of deceased workers.”
Those “changes,” according to Williams, are: (1) “The Trump Administration ended the Biden-era overpayment and recovery garnishment rate,” (2) “President Trump put an end to Social Security paper checks,” (3) “The Trump Administration beefed up personal identification measures for Social Security,” and (4) “The president’s tariff and trade policy provided beneficiaries with a ‘Trump bump.’”
“During the COVID-19 pandemic,” Williams notes, “former President Joe Biden lowered the overpayment recovery rate to 10 percent from 100 percent. In other words, 10 percent of an individual’s Social Security payout would be garnished, instead of 100 percent, until fully repaid. The Trump Administration, via the SSA, announced plans in April to begin garnishing 50 percent of benefits until overpayments are recouped. This garnishment was to start 90 days after the recipients received their notification letter.”
Read Sean Williams’ full article on Nasdaq.com at this link.
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