Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Is Elon Musk Right About Widespread Social Security Fraud?

Musk said millions of people over age 100 are in a Social Security database ... That doesn't mean millions are receiving retirement checks after they died ... Records with incomplete death info are a long-standing, well-known issue

Posted by LampLighter at 01:30 PM | 35 COMMENTS | permalink

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Elon Musk's claim of Social Security fraud is ... a fraud. www.wired.com/story/elon-m ...

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-- Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) February 17, 2025 at 6:03 PM

Comments

More from the article...

... While it's true that there are only 90,000 people over 100 living in the U.S., that doesn't mean millions of dead beneficiaries are receiving Social Security checks.

Records with incomplete death info are a well-known, long-standing challenge for the Social Security Administration, but a 2023 agency inspector general report found "almost none" of the 18.9 million people listed as 100 or older were receiving benefits.

"What Musk has tweeted is not primarily an example of fraud but more like the messy databases kept by Social Security," said Alex Nowrasteh, the vice president for economic and social policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

Nowrasteh said when someone turns 100, the government manually checks to make sure they are still alive and not receiving extra benefits. He pointed out that Social Security fraud is a "very small issue" compared to the program's other challenges.

Martin O'Malley, the former Social Security commissioner under Joe Biden, laughed when asked about Musk's fraud claims Monday.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," O'Malley told NewsNation's Chris Cuomo. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-02-18 08:32 PM

Ron Filipkowski
@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Elon is telling everyone that he discovered trillions of dollars of social security money has gone to dead people & there is something else Congress is doing today besides holding hearings & having him testify about it under oath? Why? What could be more important?

Ron Filipkowski
@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Elon claims trillions in social security went to dead people but instead of holding hearings on that today and having him and DOGE testify under oath, Republicans are filing bills to put Trump's face on Mt. Rushmore & make his birthday a holiday. DON'T THEY CARE ABOUT OUR MONEY!

#2 | Posted by Gal_Tuesday at 2025-02-18 08:58 PM

@#2 ... DON'T THEY CARE ABOUT OUR MONEY! ...

That has been obvious to me for years.

The GOP only seems to care about their money.




#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-02-18 09:10 PM

Elmo is full of fecal matter. Dead people can't cash checks.

#4 | Posted by a_monson at 2025-02-18 09:21 PM

fElon is a ------- idiot.

#5 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-02-18 09:53 PM

I guess we will all find out eventually if he's correct or not. If he is correct though, is our government truly this lazy/wasteful to let it go on for this long?

#6 | Posted by Bluewaffles at 2025-02-18 10:26 PM

Actually Monson it would be easier than you think ... Someone had a bank account long ago. Child or someone simply lets the checks continue to go into the bank account. They already have a debit card and or checks and can do everything online. The balance is always low so the bank doesn't have people calling out to them because they're a low value client and the con continues. Not as hard as you might think to engage in this practice.

#7 | Posted by Bluewaffles at 2025-02-18 10:29 PM

@#4 ... Dead people can't cash checks. ...

fwiw, Social Security also does transfers of the "check" directly to your bank account.

So there may not be an actual paper check involved.

#8 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-02-18 11:25 PM

@#6 ... I guess we will all find out eventually if he's correct or not. ...

He's already admitted he has been wrong.

#9 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-02-18 11:26 PM

@#7 ... Actually Monson it would be easier than you think ...

Is it?

Please provide any evidence to support your current alias' assertions.

#10 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-02-18 11:28 PM

Lamp, due to there being psycho's on this site I don't divulge any personal information ... Let's just say I'm aware of how one would go about doing it and how to spot it.

#11 | Posted by Bluewaffles at 2025-02-18 11:40 PM

@#11 ... Lamp, due to there being psycho's on this site I don't divulge any personal information ... ...

Why should I believe that your current alias has access to the personal info of posters on this site?

Yer up.

#12 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-02-18 11:52 PM

Pink Floyd, before Dark Side of the Moon ...

Pink Floyd - Cymbaline (1969)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
[Verse 1]
The path you tread is narrow, and the drop is sheer and very high
The ravens all are watching from a vantage point nearby
Apprehension creeping like a tube-train up your spine
Will the tightrope reach the end? Will the final couplet rhyme?

[Chorus]
And it's high time, Cymbaline
It's high time, Cymbaline
Please, wake me

[Verse 2]
A butterfly with broken wings is falling by your side
The ravens all are closing in, there's nowhere you can hide
Your manager and agent are both busy on the phone
Selling coloured photographs to magazines back home

[Chorus]
And it's high time, Cymbaline
It's high time, Cymbaline
Please, wake me

[Verse 3]
The lines converging where you stand
They must have moved the picture plane
The leaves are heavy around your feet
You hear the thunder of the train
Suddenly it strikes you that they're moving into range
And Doctor Strange is always changing size
...



#13 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-02-18 11:59 PM

#10
#12

Gasllighter, it's like you have no idea what was actually written.

All I know is whenever someone gives you "evidence" you ignore it and move on to some other trolling question.

Seems like you get paid by the post.

#14 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-02-19 12:02 AM

Lamp, due to there being psycho's on this site I don't divulge any personal information ... Let's just say I'm aware of how one would go about doing it and how to spot it.

#11 | Posted by Bluewaffles

Sounds like you don't want to divulge info because you associate with seedy people and probably do shady s(*& yourself.

#15 | Posted by jpw at 2025-02-19 01:57 AM

Musk is a drug addicted conspiracy theorist interested only in himself and his own self importance.

Him and felon47 are a match made in heaven.

They cater their bulls**t to the dumbest percentile of america knowing that it will distract from what is really happening.

But hey this is what you get when you elect narcissist sociopath beholden to Putin to power a second time.

America is stupid enough to be distracted by the baloney, uninterested in how he is working to make their lives worse and now he has no reason to be moderate in his destruction of america. Scotus told him he is a king because they are as corrupt as he is.

Our democracy was put into hospice with citizen united. That opened the floodgates for grift and corruption. This is the result.

#16 | Posted by Nixon at 2025-02-19 09:08 AM

"Seems like you get paid by the post."

#14 | Posted by oneironaut

Leave it to a Russian stooge to bring back the self-retorting retort.

#17 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-02-19 10:29 AM

The lefts ability to deny reality is amazing... You're really going to argue that fraudulently cashing a social security check is that hard to do? Really?

#18 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2025-02-19 10:32 AM

Musk's recent claims that the Social Security Administration is sending out payments to tens of millions of dead people more than 100 years old"a claim echoed by President Trump"were wrong: the software system defaults missing birthdates to more than 150 years ago and the Social Security Administration decided not to spend more than $9 million on upgrading its system to include death information. Right-wing podcaster Trish Regan warned DOGE that "it's critical to present the math CORRECTLY" and noted: "Looks like the team got out over its skis on this one."

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

#19 | Posted by Gal_Tuesday at 2025-02-19 10:35 AM

The lefts ability to deny reality is amazing... You're really going to argue that fraudulently cashing a social security check is that hard to do? Really?

#18 | Posted by kwrx25

Who said that?

Nobody. Right.

But you simpleton idiots think everyone is as big a simpleton as you.

#20 | Posted by jpw at 2025-02-19 10:44 AM

go read the thread... RIF

#21 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2025-02-19 06:48 PM

Musk's recent claims ... echoed by President Trump - were wrong"

Inconceivable!

#22 | Posted by ClownShack at 2025-02-19 06:56 PM

Democrats have allowed their ideology, party and credibility to be destroyed by their typically abnormal beliefs and unethical leadership.

Not my fault. It is poor ethics and party leadership and a pathetic incapable past President and cabinet. "The border is secure." Was a gross lie and treason.

Fraud runs rampant in some areas and needs exposed. Remaining Democrat voters and pols need to wake up. We need a real opposition party with credibility. The Democrat party no longer meets that requirement. But we still need an opposition party. br />

#23 | Posted by Robson at 2025-02-19 09:52 PM

---- off you idiot

#24 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-02-19 10:12 PM

Seems like you get paid by the post.
#14 | Posted by oneironaut

^^^The irony is absolutely rife.

#25 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2025-02-19 10:20 PM

#18 | Posted by kwrx25

JFC you're dumb.

Swallow it.

#26 | Posted by rstybeach11 at 2025-02-19 10:21 PM

Fraud runs rampant in some areas and needs exposed.

#23 | Posted by Robson at 2025-02-19 09:52 PM | Reply | Flag:

but not in Social Security. It's a $1,500,000,000,000 budget item and still manages to be insolvent. Fraud is miniscule in that dept, frauds are turned over to the Office of the Inspector General. Trump is firing Inspector Generals and has frozen hiring. If DOGE found fraud, which they haven't, they neutered the ability to prosecute it.

The Program Operations Manual is public, but the SSA admin tweets depend on people having never read it, nor being willing to google it.

#27 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-02-20 08:23 AM

Not until he produces evidence.

#28 | Posted by fresno500 at 2025-02-20 08:25 AM

Not as hard as you might think to engage in this practice.

#7 | POSTED BY BLUEWAFFLES

Sounds like the voice of experience.

Here's hoping you get caught up in Trumpy's evil web.

#29 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-02-20 10:18 AM

Actually Monson it would be easier than you think ... Someone had a bank account long ago. Child or someone simply lets the checks continue to go into the bank account. They already have a debit card and or checks and can do everything online. The balance is always low so the bank doesn't have people calling out to them because they're a low value client and the con continues. Not as hard as you might think to engage in this practice.

#7 | Posted by Bluewaffles

It's cute how you IGNORE that somehow you have to hide the fact they are dead from the State, the Court, the bank, and the Feds.

Maybe if you put them in the freezer rather than reporting them dead...but that's about it.

#30 | Posted by Sycophant at 2025-02-20 01:35 PM

MSNBC reported the IG found tens of Billions in fraudulent payments over an 8-year span. Given the limitations an IG faces when doing their job the true number is likely quite higher.

I don't understand why this is a partisan issue. Right and left should be pissed about tens of billions in fraudulent payouts.

#31 | Posted by BellRinger at 2025-02-20 10:53 PM

Nowrasteh said when someone turns 100, the government manually checks to make sure they are still alive and not receiving extra benefits.

I don't know if SS does it for every beneficiary turning turning 100 but they certainly did it after my mother turned 100.

#32 | Posted by FedUpWithPols at 2025-02-21 07:55 AM

Remember that time Musk claimed that USAid paid Reuters, the news agency, to conduct social engineering and he had the screenshots to prove it but the screenshots actually disproved it. The payment was to Reuters Special Services which is a separate company that provides cybersecurity services. If you looked further into the details you found they were providing the US government services to protect against social engineering attacks.

I don't believe a word that Elon says. Lies come out of his mouth and keyboard almost easy as they do from Trump's.

#33 | Posted by johnny_hotsauce at 2025-02-21 11:54 AM

Elon is telling everyone that he discovered trillions of dollars of social security money has gone to dead people & there is something else Congress is doing today besides holding hearings & having him testify about it under oath? Why? What could be more important?

Tax cuts for the 1% is more important.

THe GOP KNOWS he is full of schitt.

But they want to kill social security. They've wanted to kill it once it no longer generated extra cash for them to steal from workers.

W tried to do it through Congress with privatization but no one could figure out how to pay for current benefits while also simultaneously cutting the revenue it brings in.

pRick Scott tried to do it by wanting to make it subject to being voted on every five years. Biden backed them into a corner during the SOTU making them agree to not target it.

Now the melon felon will just sign and EO to cut benefits once Elmo gets this lie circulating on Faux Nooz for a bit. Elmo also promised to provide proof for over a week now and he's produced a spread sheet. Apparently making up believable evidence takes longer than a couple of days.

#34 | Posted by Nixon at 2025-02-21 12:48 PM

What could be more important?

Making Lewzer's birthday a national holiday?

#35 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-02-21 12:51 PM

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