Elon Musk plans to destroy Social Security

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158. Elon Musk slams Social Security as a 'Ponzi scheme,' sparking new concerns

It’s one thing for Musk to peddle bogus claims about imagined Social Security “fraud.” It’s something else when he targets the system itself.

Elon Musk calling Social Security a ‘Ponzi scheme' can't be shrugged off www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— (@jessicamullen.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T22:38:09.940Z

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/elon-musk-slams-social-security-ponzi-scheme-sparking-new-concerns-rcna194538

Elon Musk’s recent social media posts leave little doubt: He has been thinking about Social Security a lot lately. In fact, Donald Trump’s biggest campaign donor and the head of the quasi-governmental DOGE operation keeps tweeting bizarre claims about alleged fraud and “inconsistencies” he thinks he has identified in the Social Security system......

But the problem is not limited to Musk’s falsehoods. After all, the fact that he’s plainly wrong might not be consequential at all: Musk claims to have found “fraud”; reality proves otherwise; and we all move on with our lives. Right?

Well, maybe not. Making matters worse is the apparent fact that the donor helping run the executive branch in 2025 has a problem with the Social Security system itself. USA Today reported:

Elon Musk sharply criticized Social Security in a Friday podcast interview with Joe Rogan, labeling the critical elder benefits program a “Ponzi scheme.” Musk, who is the world’s richest man and an increasingly powerful adviser to President Donald Trump, also described the federal government as “one big pyramid scheme.” Musk is a leading figure in the administration’s effort — largely through the Department of Government Efficiency — to cut costs and dismantle the federal bureaucracy.

And it’s at this point where the offensive becomes tougher to shrug off

Indeed, let’s take stock. Trump has put his top campaign donor in a position of enormous authority, despite Musk’s unfamiliarity with basics of governing. This same donor regularly peddles falsehoods about Social Security, keeps suggesting there are people receiving benefits checks that shouldn’t exist, is helping advance thousands of layoffs at the Social Security administration and, in case that weren’t quite enough, is condemning the structure of the popular social insurance program.

It’d be tough to blame someone who relies on Social Security for feeling a bit nervous right about now.

“You don’t need to scratch your head and wonder what’s going on when you see that the Trump administration is decimating Social Security offices and staff,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “And you don’t need to ponder what might happen next when Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, says that the tens-of-millions of seniors, families, and children who depend on these earned benefits are part of some scam — because that’s a real threat and a real promise: they are coming for your Social Security.”

Musk and trump are going to try to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid