Musk pushed the repeatedly debunked declare that Social Safety was making funds to “useless folks.”
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, head of the so-called “Division of Authorities Effectivity” (DOGE), purported on Friday that Social Safety is a “Ponzi scheme” — a false declare that’s probably an try to put the groundwork for DOGE to focus on the extremely common company for mass spending cuts.
Musk made the feedback on Friday in an look on “The Joe Rogan Expertise” — a podcast with a long history of allowing guests to peddle disinformation with out pushback.
“We discovered simply with a primary search of the Social Safety database that there have been 20 million useless folks marked as alive. A few of them are getting cash,” Musk informed host Joe Rogan, parroting a long-debunked Republican speaking level.
The declare was most not too long ago debunked by Trump-appointed appearing Social Safety Commissioner, Lee Dudek. “Folks in our data with a Social Safety quantity who shouldn’t have a date of dying related to their report…should not essentially receiving advantages,” Dudek said in February.
Certainly, Musk’s feedback reveal his unfamiliarity with how systems within the Social Security Administration (SSA) work — when the system is uncertain a few sure date, for instance, it defaults to the 12 months 1875. And regardless of Musk’s claims that useless individuals are nonetheless receiving advantages, recipients are automatically disenrolled after age 115 as a failsafe to stop that from taking place.
Democratic lawmakers in Congress blasted Musk’s feedback, significantly his claims that Social Safety is a “pyramid scheme” and a “Ponzi scheme.”
“You don’t must scratch your head and surprise what’s occurring whenever you see that the Trump administration is decimating Social Safety places of work and employees,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement. “And also you don’t must ponder what would possibly occur subsequent when Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, says that the tens-of-millions of seniors, households, and youngsters who rely on these earned advantages are a part of some rip-off — as a result of that’s an actual menace and an actual promise: they’re coming on your Social Safety.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) additionally criticized Musk’s statements on the podcast, declaring that the tech billionaire was spreading lies about Social Safety whereas receiving profitable federal contracts.
Musk “is a leech on the general public,” Ocasio-Cortez said on X. “Regardless of what number of billions he will get in tax cuts and authorities contracts, it is going to by no means be sufficient for him.”
“Now he’s going after the aged, the disabled, and orphaned youngsters so he can pocket it in tax cuts for himself. It’s disgusting,” she added.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) condemned Musk’s feedback in an look on NBC Information’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday.
“I believe what Musk, the wealthiest man on the planet, simply mentioned is completely outrageous. It’s a hell of a ‘Ponzi scheme’ when for the final 80 years Social Safety has paid out each nickel owed to each eligible American,” Sanders said.
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