Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on what might happen (and I’m not an insider or expert). The administration will declare (by fiat) that all workers can opt out of payroll taxes, and invest the savings in private 401k plans. Almost all younger workers would choose this option. Since SS is a pay-go program, younger workers declining to pay in would cripple the ability to pay for current and near-term retirees. Elon says “see… it really was an Ponzi scheme!” and starts ramping down payments. End of SS.

I believe that this is the line on the sand for politicians by because they know this would be the end of their political careers.

I’m not sure. It would certainly be massively unpopular with older voters, but eliminating payroll taxes might be very popular with younger voters who resent having to support Boomers in their old age. GenZ is already turning conservative so this might cement that trend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work for SSA. Here’s reality. Forget solvency and Trump’s stooge threatening to shut the agency down. It will break its own and miss payments due to staffing shortages and computer issues— probably in the next few months.

Our staffing was below 1970s levels even before Trump took office. With huge backlogs. My division was backlogged a year. And was detailed to an 18 month backlog. Now, Elmo and the GS 15 ACOSS stooge are making the working environment so incredibly toxic that substantive work has ground to an halt annd anll we seem to do is sit in all hands calls trying to comply with the latest instance and insulting email.

And then they offered VSIP and VERA— stacked. Everyone who can get out is— 12 people out of the 40 or so one my team had their last day today. These are the people who have been there long enough to understand the program. Employee retention and hiring was a huge issue before Trump. Now, we no longer have the staffing or institutional knowledge to keep the program running. I have 18 years in, can’t VERA and it never dawned on me during Trump 1 to leave. And I’m actively interviewing to leave the agency and move out of the DMV. And praying for a RIF so I get my years severance. I can’t do this for 4 years.

And now they are adding 85,000 people each week who would have done teleservice benefits registrations to the field office workload. While cutting staff and closing field offices and regional offices. It can’t be done.

SSA is an incredibly complex program running on 1970s computer systems. It takes years to really understand the program and systems. And mentoring and training new hires takes people off of casework. Which makes it a Humpty Dumpty Agency. Once you break it, there is no real way to put it back together. And it will break— even if Musk were not trying to kill it off. It’s just a matter of when.

Didn’t think I could get more depressed tonight but this did it. I’m sorry that you are having to go through this, and sorry that we all have to live in this Libertarian sh*tshow.

Anonymous wrote:I work for SSA. Here’s reality. Forget solvency and Trump’s stooge threatening to shut the agency down. It will break its own and miss payments due to staffing shortages and computer issues— probably in the next few months.

Our staffing was below 1970s levels even before Trump took office. With huge backlogs. My division was backlogged a year. And was detailed to an 18 month backlog. Now, Elmo and the GS 15 ACOSS stooge are making the working environment so incredibly toxic that substantive work has ground to an halt annd anll we seem to do is sit in all hands calls trying to comply with the latest instance and insulting email.

And then they offered VSIP and VERA— stacked. Everyone who can get out is— 12 people out of the 40 or so one my team had their last day today. These are the people who have been there long enough to understand the program. Employee retention and hiring was a huge issue before Trump. Now, we no longer have the staffing or institutional knowledge to keep the program running. I have 18 years in, can’t VERA and it never dawned on me during Trump 1 to leave. And I’m actively interviewing to leave the agency and move out of the DMV. And praying for a RIF so I get my years severance. I can’t do this for 4 years.

And now they are adding 85,000 people each week who would have done teleservice benefits registrations to the field office workload. While cutting staff and closing field offices and regional offices. It can’t be done.

SSA is an incredibly complex program running on 1970s computer systems. It takes years to really understand the program and systems. And mentoring and training new hires takes people off of casework. Which makes it a Humpty Dumpty Agency. Once you break it, there is no real way to put it back together. And it will break— even if Musk were not trying to kill it off. It’s just a matter of when.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on what might happen (and I’m not an insider or expert). The administration will declare (by fiat) that all workers can opt out of payroll taxes, and invest the savings in private 401k plans. Almost all younger workers would choose this option. Since SS is a pay-go program, younger workers declining to pay in would cripple the ability to pay for current and near-term retirees. Elon says “see… it really was an Ponzi scheme!” and starts ramping down payments. End of SS.

I believe that this is the line on the sand for politicians by because they know this would be the end of their political careers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dang. Nonsupervisory GS-15 nobody and 121st in line on the org chart, but on admin leave prior to being fired (and probably prosecuted) for leaking PII to DOGE to ACOSS, widely despised by 99.9% of SSA employees a b1tch slapped by a federal judge twice in one day— all in the space of a month. Heckuva meteoric rise Duddy. (I work for SSA and he is even more awful as a manager and Commissioner that this petulant temper tantrum about DOGE access would lead you to believe. He emailed the entire agency the 5 things he sent to OPM as “what I am most proud of doing last week”. And one of those things was firing our probationary employees. I mean… read the room dude.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on what might happen (and I’m not an insider or expert). The administration will declare (by fiat) that all workers can opt out of payroll taxes, and invest the savings in private 401k plans. Almost all younger workers would choose this option. Since SS is a pay-go program, younger workers declining to pay in would cripple the ability to pay for current and near-term retirees. Elon says “see… it really was an Ponzi scheme!” and starts ramping down payments. End of SS.

I believe that this is the line on the sand for politicians by because they know this would be the end of their political careers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on what might happen (and I’m not an insider or expert). The administration will declare (by fiat) that all workers can opt out of payroll taxes, and invest the savings in private 401k plans. Almost all younger workers would choose this option. Since SS is a pay-go program, younger workers declining to pay in would cripple the ability to pay for current and near-term retirees. Elon says “see… it really was an Ponzi scheme!” and starts ramping down payments. End of SS.

I believe that this is the line on the sand for politicians by because they know this would be the end of their political careers.

Republicans do not seem to think this is a line in the sand and are going for it. One wonders why, if they have been bought off? $250 million bought a Presidency, and a similar amount would give Republican members of the House and Senate not have to worry about their own retirements.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on what might happen (and I’m not an insider or expert). The administration will declare (by fiat) that all workers can opt out of payroll taxes, and invest the savings in private 401k plans. Almost all younger workers would choose this option. Since SS is a pay-go program, younger workers declining to pay in would cripple the ability to pay for current and near-term retirees. Elon says “see… it really was an Ponzi scheme!” and starts ramping down payments. End of SS.

I believe that this is the line on the sand for politicians by because they know this would be the end of their political careers.

Anonymous wrote:The current political situation notwithstanding, Social Security has to change, and not in a way that benefits recipients. If you look at the numbers, it is a huge chunk of the federal budget, and, by the late 2030s, it will take in less money than it will distribute, if the current rules remain in effect. The US is already in a crippling amount of debt, so borrowing money to pay off Social Security recipients is not a viable option. At some point, if it wants to survive, the US will have to balance its budget, and that will likely include some mix of tax revenue increases, spending cuts (including entitlements), and inflation. The sooner we start on this, the less painful these changes will be for everyone. The current system is simply unsustainable.

Anonymous wrote:My take on what might happen (and I’m not an insider or expert). The administration will declare (by fiat) that all workers can opt out of payroll taxes, and invest the savings in private 401k plans. Almost all younger workers would choose this option. Since SS is a pay-go program, younger workers declining to pay in would cripple the ability to pay for current and near-term retirees. Elon says “see… it really was an Ponzi scheme!” and starts ramping down payments. End of SS.