Musk Is Coming After Your Social Security

[c186282]

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills. Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

[Frank]

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills. Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic. Unfortunately their followers believe them.

[Ed P]

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills.   Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic.  Unfortunately their followers believe
them.

How is it a Democrat scare tactic when it is Musk calling SS a Ponzi
scheme and getting rid of many of the people that work there?

Musk also said a lot of BS about 150 years old people collecting because
his crew is to stupid to figure out the programs and filing system?

[Ken]

Post by Ed P

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills.   Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic.  Unfortunately their followers believe
them.

How is it a Democrat scare tactic when it is Musk calling SS a Ponzi
scheme and getting rid of many of the people that work there?
Musk also said a lot of BS about 150 years old people collecting because
his crew is to stupid to figure out the programs and filing system?

First, I will comment on your assumption that there are people 150 years
old on SS: No one believes there are, but that does not mean that
records that imply there are, are being maintained properly. If no one
at the SS Administration did not notice such an error, they should have
long ago been fired. It demonstrates indifference or incompetence, and
provides an opening for fraud. I can guarantee that the company I
worked for would have fired me in a minute had I ignored such an error.

As for undeserving people receiving benefits from Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc: I know of several on my
block who are receiving such benefits and do not deserve them. You would
have to be living under a rock to not also know of some.

[Ed P]

Post by Ken

Post by Ed P

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills.   Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic.  Unfortunately their followers
believe them.

How is it a Democrat scare tactic when it is Musk calling SS a Ponzi
scheme and getting rid of many of the people that work there?
Musk also said a lot of BS about 150 years old people collecting
because his crew is to stupid to figure out the programs and filing
system?

First, I will comment on your assumption that there are people 150 years
old on SS:  No one believes there are, but that does not mean that
records that imply there are, are being maintained properly.  If no one
at the SS Administration did not notice such an error, they should have
long ago been fired.  It demonstrates indifference or incompetence, and
provides an opening for fraud.  I can guarantee that the company I
worked for would have fired me in a minute had I ignored such an error.

It was not an error. Don't make dumb assumption like Musk did. They
were more historical records, not active participants.

Post by Ken
As for undeserving people receiving benefits from Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc:  I know of several on my
block who are receiving such benefits and do not deserve them. You would
have to be living under a rock to not also know of some.

There may be some, that is a separate issue. The determination is up to
SS to correct, not your assumption on that too.

[Ken]

Post by Ken

Post by Ed P

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills.   Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic.  Unfortunately their followers
believe them.

How is it a Democrat scare tactic when it is Musk calling SS a Ponzi
scheme and getting rid of many of the people that work there?
Musk also said a lot of BS about 150 years old people collecting
because his crew is to stupid to figure out the programs and filing
system?

First, I will comment on your assumption that there are people 150
years old on SS:  No one believes there are, but that does not mean
that records that imply there are, are being maintained properly.  If
no one at the SS Administration did not notice such an error, they
should have long ago been fired.  It demonstrates indifference or
incompetence, and provides an opening for fraud.  I can guarantee that
the company I worked for would have fired me in a minute had I ignored
such an error.

It was not an error.  Don't make dumb assumption like Musk did.  They
were more historical records, not active participants.

If it was not an error, why are their names still on the list of
recipients?? Again, you apparently are a much more forgiving person
than the people I worked for.

Post by Ken
As for undeserving people receiving benefits from Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc:  I know of several on my
block who are receiving such benefits and do not deserve them. You
would have to be living under a rock to not also know of some.

There may be some, that is a separate issue. The determination is up to
SS to correct, not your assumption on that too.

[Ed P]

Post by Ken

Post by Ken

Post by Ed P

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills.   Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic.  Unfortunately their followers
believe them.

How is it a Democrat scare tactic when it is Musk calling SS a Ponzi
scheme and getting rid of many of the people that work there?
Musk also said a lot of BS about 150 years old people collecting
because his crew is to stupid to figure out the programs and filing
system?

First, I will comment on your assumption that there are people 150
years old on SS:  No one believes there are, but that does not mean
that records that imply there are, are being maintained properly.  If
no one at the SS Administration did not notice such an error, they
should have long ago been fired.  It demonstrates indifference or
incompetence, and provides an opening for fraud.  I can guarantee
that the company I worked for would have fired me in a minute had I
ignored such an error.

It was not an error.  Don't make dumb assumption like Musk did.  They
were more historical records, not active participants.

If it was not an error, why are their names still on the list of
recipients??  Again, you apparently are a much more forgiving person
than the people I worked for.

Tommy Jefferson is still on the list of Presidents too. It was on a
list, but not of recipients. Wow, seems like the Musk crew has infected
your thinking. OMG, who is this Rutherford Hayes guy that popped up?
Why is his name still around? Did he turn in his key to the Oval Office?

The DOGE crew of geniuses do not know anything about COBAL programming
either. That is part of the problem.
They made ass U ME ptions

[rbowman]

Post by Ed P
Tommy Jefferson is still on the list of Presidents too. It was on a
list, but not of recipients. Wow, seems like the Musk crew has infected
your thinking. OMG, who is this Rutherford Hayes guy that popped up?
Why is his name still around? Did he turn in his key to the Oval Office?
The DOGE crew of geniuses do not know anything about COBAL programming
either. That is part of the problem.
They made ass U ME ptions

You seem to be making a lot of those too.

[Ed P]

Post by rbowman

Post by Ed P
Tommy Jefferson is still on the list of Presidents too. It was on a
list, but not of recipients. Wow, seems like the Musk crew has infected
your thinking. OMG, who is this Rutherford Hayes guy that popped up?
Why is his name still around? Did he turn in his key to the Oval Office?
The DOGE crew of geniuses do not know anything about COBAL programming
either. That is part of the problem.
They made ass U ME ptions

You seem to be making a lot of those too.

Your opinion.

Have you seen Trump and Putin at the beach?

https://postimg.cc/hfDPnWsW

[rbowman]

Post by Ed P

Post by rbowman

Post by Ed P
Tommy Jefferson is still on the list of Presidents too. It was on a
list, but not of recipients. Wow, seems like the Musk crew has
infected your thinking. OMG, who is this Rutherford Hayes guy that
popped up? Why is his name still around? Did he turn in his key to
the Oval Office?
The DOGE crew of geniuses do not know anything about COBAL programming
either. That is part of the problem.
They made ass U ME ptions

You seem to be making a lot of those too.

Your opinion.

No. I do not know what is in the database and cannot make any statement
about the contents. I do not know if any of the DOGE staff are COBOL
programmers and cannot make a statement about their qualifications of lack
thereof. You are happy to make any assumptions necessary to support your
narrative.

[Ed P]

Post by rbowman

Post by Ed P

Post by rbowman

Post by Ed P
Tommy Jefferson is still on the list of Presidents too. It was on a
list, but not of recipients. Wow, seems like the Musk crew has
infected your thinking. OMG, who is this Rutherford Hayes guy that
popped up? Why is his name still around? Did he turn in his key to
the Oval Office?
The DOGE crew of geniuses do not know anything about COBAL programming
either. That is part of the problem.
They made ass U ME ptions

You seem to be making a lot of those too.

Your opinion.

No. I do not know what is in the database and cannot make any statement
about the contents. I do not know if any of the DOGE staff are COBOL
programmers and cannot make a statement about their qualifications of lack
thereof. You are happy to make any assumptions necessary to support your
narrative.

Not an assumption. It was publicly stated they are not familiar with
COBOL. Not my narrative a publicized fact.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by Ken
If it was not an error, why are their names still on the list of
recipients?? Again, you apparently are a much more forgiving person
than the people I worked for.

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could
be cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might
someday provide useful historical information.

[rbowman]

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could be
cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might someday
provide useful historical information.

Well, mostly harmless. I'd rather not have to write where clauses and
include tests to try to filter out the extraneous records. The records
could be exported to a historical database and deleted from the production
database. But I'm not a highly paid DBA; what do I know?

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by rbowman

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could be
cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might someday
provide useful historical information.

Well, mostly harmless. I'd rather not have to write where clauses and
include tests to try to filter out the extraneous records. The records
could be exported to a historical database and deleted from the production
database. But I'm not a highly paid DBA; what do I know?

Either am I.

Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much
do we want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

[Rachael Madcow]

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by rbowman

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could be
cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might someday
provide useful historical information.

Well, mostly harmless. I'd rather not have to write where clauses and
include tests to try to filter out the extraneous records. The records
could be exported to a historical database and deleted from the production
database. But I'm not a highly paid DBA; what do I know?

Either am I.
Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much
do we want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

Ever since BigPharma's covid scam, the taxpayers have been paying
a bazillion government employees to "work" from home in their pajamas.
If only some of them had been meritocracy hires we could fix
the database at no additional charge.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by Rachael Madcow

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by rbowman

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could be
cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might someday
provide useful historical information.

Well, mostly harmless. I'd rather not have to write where clauses and
include tests to try to filter out the extraneous records. The records
could be exported to a historical database and deleted from the production
database. But I'm not a highly paid DBA; what do I know?

Either am I.
Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much
do we want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

Ever since BigPharma's covid scam, the taxpayers have been paying
a bazillion government employees to "work" from home in their pajamas.
If only some of them had been meritocracy hires we could fix
the database at no additional charge.

What makes you think those people are qualified to mess around
in the SSA database?

[Ken]

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by Rachael Madcow

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by rbowman

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could be
cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might someday
provide useful historical information.

Well, mostly harmless. I'd rather not have to write where clauses and
include tests to try to filter out the extraneous records. The records
could be exported to a historical database and deleted from the production
database. But I'm not a highly paid DBA; what do I know?

Either am I.
Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much
do we want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

Ever since BigPharma's covid scam, the taxpayers have been paying
a bazillion government employees to "work" from home in their pajamas.
If only some of them had been meritocracy hires we could fix
the database at no additional charge.

What makes you think those people are qualified to mess around
in the SSA database?

Help me to understand: The database is and was screwed up by government
employees. And you are concerned that an employee working from home in
his pajamas might screw up the database?? I wonder just how qualified
one must be to work for the SSA in order to screw up the database?

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by Ken
Help me to understand: The database is and was screwed up by government
employees. And you are concerned that an employee working from home in
his pajamas might screw up the database?? I wonder just how qualified
one must be to work for the SSA in order to screw up the database?

The database is screwed up because of limitations in COBOL. Someone
with a degree in social work (for example) is incapable of making
it better.

[Dan Espen]

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by Ken
Help me to understand: The database is and was screwed up by government
employees. And you are concerned that an employee working from home in
his pajamas might screw up the database?? I wonder just how qualified
one must be to work for the SSA in order to screw up the database?

The database is screwed up because of limitations in COBOL. Someone
with a degree in social work (for example) is incapable of making
it better.

As a retired programmer, who has worked with COBOL...
Databases and COBOL go together just fine.

I don't know the details of this database, but my experience tells me,
when someone dies, you don't immediately take them out of a database.
What if you get a call questioning some detail of a person that died?
How are you going to find out about them if you've removed them from
your database? What if someone attempts to use the SS number of
someone that died? If someone died you do something to the database
so that payments stop, you don't remove them. Since I know first hand
that payments do stop, there doesn't appear to be any problem with
the SS database. Just a bunch of idiots looking at something they
don't understand.

[Ed P]

Post by Dan Espen

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by Ken
Help me to understand: The database is and was screwed up by government
employees. And you are concerned that an employee working from home in
his pajamas might screw up the database?? I wonder just how qualified
one must be to work for the SSA in order to screw up the database?

The database is screwed up because of limitations in COBOL. Someone
with a degree in social work (for example) is incapable of making
it better.

As a retired programmer, who has worked with COBOL...
Databases and COBOL go together just fine.
I don't know the details of this database, but my experience tells me,
when someone dies, you don't immediately take them out of a database.
What if you get a call questioning some detail of a person that died?
How are you going to find out about them if you've removed them from
your database? What if someone attempts to use the SS number of
someone that died? If someone died you do something to the database
so that payments stop, you don't remove them. Since I know first hand
that payments do stop, there doesn't appear to be any problem with
the SS database. Just a bunch of idiots looking at something they
don't understand.

Your last sentence is the perfect summation of the situation.

The Musky-tears are not as smart as they think they are.

[rbowman]

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by Ken
Help me to understand: The database is and was screwed up by
government employees. And you are concerned that an employee working
from home in his pajamas might screw up the database?? I wonder just
how qualified one must be to work for the SSA in order to screw up the
database?

The database is screwed up because of limitations in COBOL. Someone
with a degree in social work (for example) is incapable of making it
better.

So you would agree it's time to fire the social workers and hire COBOL
programmers? Assuming they aren't all retired, that is. Are they like the
FAA and will modernize someday real soon, like 2050 if all goes well?

[Rachael Madcow]

Post by rbowman

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by Ken
Help me to understand: The database is and was screwed up by
government employees. And you are concerned that an employee working
from home in his pajamas might screw up the database?? I wonder just
how qualified one must be to work for the SSA in order to screw up the
database?

The database is screwed up because of limitations in COBOL. Someone
with a degree in social work (for example) is incapable of making it
better.

So you would agree it's time to fire the social workers and hire COBOL
programmers? Assuming they aren't all retired, that is.

Database programming is so easy even a cavewoman can do it.

The real pros are the guys who write solid modeling CAD/CAM/CAE software!

Post by rbowman
Are they like the
FAA and will modernize someday real soon, like 2050 if all goes well?

True! ATC needs to move to a text based system.

[Bob F]

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by Ken
Help me to understand: The database is and was screwed up by government
employees. And you are concerned that an employee working from home in
his pajamas might screw up the database?? I wonder just how qualified
one must be to work for the SSA in order to screw up the database?

The database is screwed up because of limitations in COBOL. Someone
with a degree in social work (for example) is incapable of making
it better.

As is Elon. He is incapable of getting anything right, as the courts are
making clear, time after time.

[rbowman]

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by rbowman

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could be
cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might
someday provide useful historical information.

Well, mostly harmless. I'd rather not have to write where clauses and
include tests to try to filter out the extraneous records. The
records could be exported to a historical database and deleted from
the production database. But I'm not a highly paid DBA; what do I
know?

Either am I.
Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much do
we want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

Ever since BigPharma's covid scam, the taxpayers have been paying a
bazillion government employees to "work" from home in their pajamas.
If only some of them had been meritocracy hires we could fix the
database at no additional charge.

What makes you think those people are qualified to mess around in the
SSA database?

Aren't you arguing against yourself? What exactly are those people
qualified to do? That is the root question of the entire fiasco. What the
hell are all these people doing? Asking them appears to be out of the
question.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by rbowman

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by rbowman

Nobody over 115 is receiving payments. Yes, the database could be
cleaned up, but the extraneous records are harmless, and might
someday provide useful historical information.

Well, mostly harmless. I'd rather not have to write where clauses and
include tests to try to filter out the extraneous records. The
records could be exported to a historical database and deleted from
the production database. But I'm not a highly paid DBA; what do I
know?

Either am I.
Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much do
we want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

Ever since BigPharma's covid scam, the taxpayers have been paying a
bazillion government employees to "work" from home in their pajamas.
If only some of them had been meritocracy hires we could fix the
database at no additional charge.

What makes you think those people are qualified to mess around in the
SSA database?

Aren't you arguing against yourself? What exactly are those people
qualified to do? That is the root question of the entire fiasco. What the
hell are all these people doing? Asking them appears to be out of the
question.

Millions of government workers have education and training in
fields like social work, economics, political science. They
should just stay the hell away from databases.

[rbowman]

Millions of government workers have education and training in fields
like social work, economics, political science. They should just stay
the hell away from databases.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/05/faa_air_traffic_control/

They seem to stay away from anything resembling work. Note that this isn't
Msk & Crew; it's the GAO saying the FAA is screwing the pooch. The GAO
will prepare a nice report to send to Congress. Congress will put the
report in the nearest bathroom in case there is a toilet paper shortage.

The company I worked for at the time subcontracted to build the
controllers used for the sequential landing lights (rabbit). The heart of
it was an electro-mechanical stepper switch, a device that had faded from
general use in industry by then. I'd bet some are still clunking away
while FAA employees search eBay for parts.

It certainly isn't only the FAA. The bottom line is most government
agencies are inefficient and need pruning. Musk is using a Stihl, but I
don't think my pair of bypass cutters are up to the task.

[rbowman]

Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much do we
want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

I suppose it would be difficult after decades of sloppy administration and
might do more damage than good. I don't know the specifics of the SSA
database but I am familiar with systems held together with baling wire and
chewing gum than nobody is eager to touch.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by rbowman

Of course, it would cost money to clean up the database. How much do we
want to spend on essentially spinning our wheels?

I suppose it would be difficult after decades of sloppy administration and
might do more damage than good. I don't know the specifics of the SSA
database but I am familiar with systems held together with baling wire and
chewing gum than nobody is eager to touch.

It's not just sloppy administration. Let's say we have an entry
for Delilah Clampett, and the DOB field is empty. Are we going
to try to find Delilah and ask her for a copy of her birth
certificate? What are we going to do when that little old lady
says the court house burned down and no birth certificate is
available?

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by Ken
First, I will comment on your assumption that there are people 150 years
old on SS: No one believes there are, but that does not mean that
records that imply there are, are being maintained properly. If no one
at the SS Administration did not notice such an error, they should have
long ago been fired.

The software is written in COBOL, which has no date type. Dates
are indicated in reference to a point in time. A common reference
point is 20 May 1875.

If the birth date is incomplete or missing, the system defaults
to the reference date. It's not an error; it's a limitation of
the programming.

Since September 2015, SSA stops paying benefits when a person
reaches 115 years old, which Elon could have found out. But
he just doesn't give a shit.

[Bob F]

Post by Cindy Hamilton

Post by Ken
First, I will comment on your assumption that there are people 150 years
old on SS: No one believes there are, but that does not mean that
records that imply there are, are being maintained properly. If no one
at the SS Administration did not notice such an error, they should have
long ago been fired.

The software is written in COBOL, which has no date type. Dates
are indicated in reference to a point in time. A common reference
point is 20 May 1875.
If the birth date is incomplete or missing, the system defaults
to the reference date. It's not an error; it's a limitation of
the programming.
Since September 2015, SSA stops paying benefits when a person
reaches 115 years old, which Elon could have found out. But
he just doesn't give a shit.

Yet the trumpssians keep on raving about their "leaders" stupid
assumptions and claims.

[rbowman]

If the birth date is incomplete or missing, the system defaults to the
reference date. It's not an error; it's a limitation of the
programming.

I don't know if it makes me feel any better knowing there are a
substantial number of records where the person's birth date is unknown.
How can you tell when they are eligible?

[Cindy Hamilton]

Post by rbowman

If the birth date is incomplete or missing, the system defaults to the
reference date. It's not an error; it's a limitation of the
programming.

I don't know if it makes me feel any better knowing there are a
substantial number of records where the person's birth date is unknown.
How can you tell when they are eligible?

Sure, there might be a few codgers without a birth certificate
who applied slightly before they were eligible. A more likely
scenario is a person might have other proof of age that isn't
official, so they were allowed to start receiving benefits, but
their age couldn't be entered definitively in the database.

Or their birthdate was lost during some sort of system maintenance
and nobody ever took the time/money to contact the recipient.

[Mike]

Post by Ken

Post by Ed P

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills.   Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic.  Unfortunately their followers
believe them.

How is it a Democrat scare tactic when it is Musk calling SS a Ponzi
scheme and getting rid of many of the people that work there?
Musk also said a lot of BS about 150 years old people collecting
because his crew is to stupid to figure out the programs and filing
system?

First, I will comment on your assumption that there are people 150
years old on SS: No one believes there are, but that does not mean
that records that imply there are, are being maintained properly. If
no one at the SS Administration did not notice such an error, they
should have long ago been fired. It demonstrates indifference or
incompetence, and provides an opening for fraud. I can guarantee that
the company I worked for would have fired me in a minute had I ignored
such an error.
As for undeserving people receiving benefits from Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc: I know of several on my
block who are receiving such benefits and do not deserve them. You
would have to be living under a rock to not also know of some.

I know of a few on my block.

The neighbors across the street have been there for about 15 years. They
are now in their mid-50s, and have a teenage boy and a teenage girl.
I've never known the parents to work, and they've told me they are both
on disability. All four of them are overweight, and the mom and dad
smoke and drink, which are expensive habits, as is all the food they must
eat to be as fat as they are.

Over the years, they buy $80K trucks about every two to three years.
They have two expensive ski boats, and two quads that they cruise the
neighborhood with. They have a new Lexus SUV.

They buy the kids expensive toys. They go to major league baseball games
and NBA games.

Other than being fat, they look perfectly healthy and appear to have no
physical limitations.

To the left of me is a family with a 30 year-old son who doesn't work,
but he gets $194 in food stamps every two weeks. He also has a
governmnet cell phone. His mom and dad tell me he has no issues, just
doesn't work.

But you know what really makes me angry? My daughter got laid off during
Covid, and she collected unemployment for six months. After six months,
the governmnet refused to continue payments, accusing her of fraud.
That's because there were so many fraudulent claims during Covid. They
wanted their money back, even though she had proof from her employer (a
multi-national genetic research firm) that she was indeed laid off. It
took over a year of fighting the governmnet to prove her claim was valid.
And they were soooooooooo incompetent. She got different
stories/instructions from every government employee. And they didn't
care.

My daughter say she'll never deal with them again. I don't blame her.

[Bob F]

Post by c186282

Musk Issues Major Social Security Warning
Feb 11, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk has said
there is widespread fraud taking
place in the payment of "federal
entitlements" like Social Security.
Social Security benefits are paid
to more than 70 million Americans
on a monthly basis, and help form
the bedrock of income for many
retirees, survivors of deceased
claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President
Donald Trump to head up the non-
official Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked
with streamlining government
processes and cutting spending.
But critics have raised the alarm
about an unelected official
gaining access to the payment
records and personal details of
Americans.
"At this point, I am 100% certain
that the magnitude of the fraud
in federal entitlements (Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
Welfare, Disability, etc)
exceeds the combined sum of
every private scam you've ever
heard by FAR. It's not even
close."
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-major-social-

security-warning-fraud-bil

lion-week-lost-2029244

Nobody needs social security anymore now that the
tariffs are paying the bills.   Besides, Elon says
its a scam and he's the smartest man in the USA
'cause he's the richest.

Standard democrat scare tactic.  Unfortunately their followers believe
them.

Says a supporter of the party that uses endless scare tactics and lies
to keep their voters angry and mean.