As you know the Bureau of Labor Statistics produces information like jobs gained or lost. BLS is also crucial in calculating the Social Security annual Cost of Living Adjustment. Trump’s BLS nominee is on record saying Social Security is a “Ponzi Scheme” and that we should “Sunset” the program! Just to be clear by “sunset” he means cancel it.
Remember Project 2025? The Heritage Foundation was key to its development. Their arrogance was so great they started passing it around in 2024 well before the primaries were over. To say public reaction, even with a lot of MAGAs was negative is an understatement. Trump of course LIED and said he had barely heard of it. And there was no way in hell he’d actually do any of the things it suggested. Everyone but MAGAs knew he was lying of course. The latest proof of that is his nomination of top Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to take over BLS after firing the former head for being honest with the most recent jobs report.
The jobs report angered Trump because the anemic job gains ran counter to his claims his policies would create tons of great paying jobs. He’s known all along between tariffs, the BBB and his general crazy incompetence there would be months whether things like a weak jobs report would happen. I can’t help but think firing now former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer was always going to happen. Trump was just waiting for what he thought he could sell as a plausible excuse so he could continue implementing Project 2025. In this case by installing another architect in a key government job.
Newsweek makes note of Trump’s pick having called for “sunsetting” what he calls the “Ponzi Scheme” of Social Security. Conservatives have fought the most highly successful government anti-poverty program since the beginning. It’s also hugely popular even in red states, arguably the most popular of government functions. It has provided benefits to countless retirees, with low administrative costs and a remarkably low percentage of complaints. That’s changing due to DOGE but that’s a separate issue. What matters is conservatives have long dreamed of killing/”privatizing” Social Security. Some Republicans have actually tried and the GOP has paid the price. There’s a reason it’s so often been called the Third Rail (touch it and you die) of politics!
Still, some GOPers have some form of political Tourette’s on this and give it the old college try. That’s why the pick of Antoni is startling, at least to me. Trump has already caught unshirted hell over the Medicaid (also a hugely popular program) provisions in his BBB and now he’s opening the ‘Gut Social Security’ can of worms? That’s what he’s done and while few outside conservative circles had known the name E.J. Antoni they’re about to learn it and about him. I don’t think they’re going to like it:
Speaking on KTRH’s Houston’s Morning News in December, Antoni said Social Security was set up as a “Ponzi scheme” where “today’s investors are—their funds are being used to pay yesterday’s investors.”
The linked article explains why Social Security is NOT a Ponzi Scheme yet also notes that some changes are going to be needed or by the middle of the 2030s it won’t be able to fully meet it’s obligations. The issue is what action(s) should be taken to keep the program strong. I for one think that additional things Antoni said are going to go over well:
“And unless you are going to grow the number of investors at an exponential rate, that system is eventually going to collapse. Well, since we can’t grow the workforce at an exponential rate, especially today when our population is actually in a state of decline, you’re not going to be able to sustain a Ponzi scheme like Social Security,” Antoni continued. “Eventually you need to sunset the program.”
Ah but there’s more. Antoni claims for current retirees there’s nothing to worry about. Their benefits won’t be touched. Sure, and his potential boss Trump has bridges in New York and Florida he’ll sell us for an ‘unbelievable’ price! Antoni says there just isn’t a choice, and that a generation is going to have to pay into Social Security but won’t be able to get benefits from it. IOW they’ll have to ‘transition’ to something new:
Antoni argued for “some kind of transition program where, unfortunately, you’ll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes but never actually receive any of those benefits,” he continued. “And that sounds harsh, but unfortunately that’s the price to pay for unwinding a Ponzi scheme that was foisted on the American people by the Democrats in the 1930s.”
By that he means privatization. Conservatives have long griped about Social Security only investing in conservative, low-yield investments. They want to see all that money in the stock market and even riskier investments. As for individuals, when I think about the fact even financial professionals work like hell to manage their investments and often bet wrong I always come back to this: If it’s so tough for the pros who do nothing but finance how the hell is the average American supposed to navigate the world of investing the world of retirement funds? Think about how more than once people have seen their investments take a hit and their 401k retirement accounts (which were never intended to be primary retirement accounts when the program was created) wiped out!
Americans freak the hell out when there’s talk of privatizing Social Security. Also, consider how Americans who are under say 50 years old would react to being told they will have to pay into Social Security the way so many generations of Americans have done but will NOT have the same guaranteed benefits when THEY retire – that they are going to have to ‘transition’ to a new program where they cough up additional money into private retirement accounts. If you want to cause the whole damned financial system to crash again, and have the richest among us make out like bandits as we’ve seen happen with the Savings and Loan debacle in the 1980s and then the 2008 crash this is the way to do it.
Conservatives won’t give up on their dream of forcing everyone into their vision of how things should be. They sit there like hungry wolves, waiting for that vast amount of money to be put out there by financially unsophisticated Americans – so they can take if for themselves! By a substantial margin Americans know this. Still, privatizing Social Security is a major goal for Project 2025 and if Trump gets his way. Is it still the ‘touch it and die’ Third Rail of American politics? We’ll see.
Antoni has to be confirmed by the Senate. Even some Republicans will be wary of the blowback once his record gets publicized. However we’ve seen this movie before. A group of GOPers will do their Susan Collins imitations of “concern” but cave to Trump. However THIS time we’re talking about Social Security and if we raise enough hell and convince others to do so who knows? With the Senate possibly in play and the GOP having to worry about seats they used to be able to count on we just might see five of them tell Trump “Nope. Pick someone else.” Remember what I said earlier about the impact the BLS head can have on Social Security COLAs.
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So much for the idea of non-partisan career civil servants just doing their job. This guy is going to turn the BLS into trump’s economic pixie dust machine. It may fool some of the bone-stupid Magas, but it won’t fool fund managers, or economists, or people who pay their monthly bills, including and especially pensioners.
EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY that has had a government-backed or government-supported retirement system along the lines of Social Security and has then decided to privatize the system has seen the system absolutely collapse because the recipients of the programs were “advised” to put their moneys into the local stock market.
And just as soon as there was a financial crisis (whether just on the national level or akin to the global crises of the late 2000s and early 2010s), and the stock markets collapsed (by collapse, losing at least 30% of the pre-crisis value within the first week), all those senior citizens found their “investments” became practically worthless. And, since most of these post-“Social Security” “investors” knew very little about the market and its operations, they relied on advice that was provided by investment analysts who recommended high-risk stocks (“to get the most return on the investment” which, of course, appealed to people in their 50s, 60s and older who generally didn’t expect they’d be needing to do this for decades) but they didn’t warn the investors that the risks could just as easily turn into a bust.
The ONLY people who made out from these privatizing schemes were the analysts and investment firms (they took their cut whether the investor won or lost) as well as the already well-off who didn’t need the Social Security program in the first place.
Remove the freaking cap and withhold Social Security on ALL income (including stock profits and other capital gains earnings). Do that, and the fund is able to continue operating for at least the next 50 years.
Oh, and it should be noted that those awful “illegals” pay into Social Security but they’re not eligible to receive Social Security funds. Even if they manage to become full citizens, their Social Security eligibility only begins upon citizenship.
But Republicons aren’t interested in helping people–especially the poor and needy. Although many of them are more than happy to TAKE money from Social Security that they are “owed.” (Like Paul Ryan who got Social Security survivor’s benefits after his father’s death and used that money to attend college so he could go on to become one of the most notable GOP hypocrites on the Social Security program.)
Excellent points.
They will come for everything, make no mistake about it. Why does my prognosticating mind keep showing me images from the movie Elysium? While some way off, Cheeto has people like Bezos and Musk to build him and his merry and of fascists their orbital satellite Utopia. Once they’ve taken everything from us, it’s time to move out. You can bet there will be some weapons on it for use against the misbehaving vermin below. In case you wonder who these vermin are, look in any mirror!