Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas

 

Man Charged With Threatening To Blow Up Field Office

     From WWNY TV: 

A Watertown [NY] man is accused of threatening to blow up a government office in the city.

City police charged 32-year-old Edmanuel Rivero-Vazquez with making a threat of mass harm.

During a meeting with staff at the Social Security Administration office on Bellew Avenue on Wednesday, Rivero-Vazquez allegedly threatened to blow up the building. ...

Eye Rolling Comments From Trump

      Donald Trump is saying that he likes the idea of Australia’s defined contribution retirement program instead of U.S.’s defined benefits plan. Defined contribution means you have no guaranteed retirement income. Maybe you get more than a defined benefits plan. Maybe not. The risk is yours. Also, how does a defined contribution handle disability and survivor benefits? Maybe those contingencies never happen in Trumpworld. Oh, and there’s also the little problem of how we would transition from what we have now to a defined contribution plan, a problem that has no conceivable solution.

     Talking about the U.S. switching to a defined contribution plan is a sure sign that you know virtually nothing about Social Security.

     At least I’m talking about eye rolling comments from the President rather than the problem he has keeping his eyes open.

Let’s End Junk Science At Social Security

      David Weaver, a former Social Security official, has written a piece for LinkedIn echoing something I had written about recently, the need for Social Security to start using the updated occupational data it has collected in making disability determinations. I thought that Social Security had not released the data. Weaver says they have released the actual data.  They just haven’t released a front end for the data, making it useless as is. However, Weaver says that third party vendors have developed front ends making the data usable. Social Security may want to suppress this data but I don’t think this will be possible. The Courts don’t like “junk science.” Is there any “science” more junky than the Dictionary of Occupational Titles?

In Dubious Achievement News

      From Think Advisor:

The House passed legislation Monday to update the language used by the Social Security Administration to describe when American workers can claim their retirement benefits. …

The Claiming Age Clarity Act, sponsored by Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., changes the terminology in materials produced by the Social Security Administration. …

The bill, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee in September, states that the agency must use minimum monthly benefit age instead of early eligibility age. …

SSA must also use standard monthly benefit age instead of "full retirement age" and "normal retirement age." …

Some People Just Won’t Get Service

      From Biometric Update.com:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is remaking itself around a digital identity system that tens of millions of its beneficiaries cannot use – while simultaneously dismantling the in-person safety valve that has long allowed people to navigate the system when digital verification fails. …

But that digital system is built on identity-proofing mechanisms that millions of Social Security beneficiaries cannot satisfy. To access many of SSA’s online services – including creating a my Social Security account, resetting credentials, obtaining replacement documents, checking claims, or managing benefits – individuals must authenticate their identity using commercial data sources.

Those identity checks can include credit histories, mobile carrier records, address histories, and financial account data. They generate “soft inquiries” on credit files and hinge on the existence of a stable and verifiable financial footprint.

The problem is straightforward: millions of Social Security beneficiaries do not have the data these systems require. …

Numerous disability claimants operate with inconsistent documentation due to frequent address changes, medical crises, or disruptions tied to long periods out of the workforce. For these beneficiaries, digital identity verification is not simply difficult. It is often impossible.

Under SSA’s new operational model, that impossibility now carries far-reaching consequences. When digital verification fails, the fallback is a field office – but the agency is cutting field office traffic by 50 percent and reducing staffing across local offices. …

This dynamic recasts SSA’s modernization not as a technological upgrade but as the construction of a two-tiered system – one for beneficiaries with strong credit files, stable addresses, broadband access, and technological competence – and another for those without such resources, who will increasingly face longer waits, reduced access, and the escalating possibility of being unable to access benefits at all. …

Really? How Will You Achieve This Result?

      From NEXTGOV/FCW:

… The Social Security Administration wants to halve the number of people that go to its field offices in the 2026 fiscal year. 

More than 31 million people visited SSA field offices over the last fiscal year. Now, the agency aims to have 50% fewer visits — or no more than 15 million total — in fiscal 2026, which began in October, according to internal planning documents viewed by Nextgov/FCW. …

     I’d call this wishful thinking at best. 

Let’s Circle Back To This

      I want to circle back to something that was in the Washington Post article about Social Security’s decision to scrap their plan to reduce or eliminate the consideration of age in making disability determinations. There was this interesting sentence:

… Among the Trump administration’s concerns with using the new [occupational] data is that younger disabled people with cognitive and mental impairments would probably qualify for fewer jobs, potentially leading more of them to be awarded benefits, the former Social Security executive said. …

     OK, so it sounds like they collected data showing that more people with cognitive and mental impairments should be awarded disability benefits but they’re not going to act on that data or even release it to the public. Does that sound like the right thing to do? If the data is subpoenaed for an ALJ hearing shouldn’t it be produced?

     I recall a non-disability case where I asked the ALJ to obtain some information about the case from a field office. The field office sent back a memo literally asking “Don’t you understand that the attorney is only trying to get his client approved?” Would that be the agency’s response to a request for the occupational data that they spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars obtaining?

     You might think that an attorney raising a fuss over this might be endangering their older clients since the plan to reduce or eliminate consideration of age might come back. That sounds too speculative to me to take into consideration but if an attorney has clients with conflicting interests, you don’t solve the conflict by deciding which clients to not represent zealously. You solve it by withdrawing from cases. That’s non-negotiable.

Where’s The $1 Trillion In Savings Musk Promised?

      From Brett Arends writing for Morningstar:

… I'm not surprised that President Donald Trump and the Social Security Administration put out the latest inspector-general report the day before Thanksgiving, when nobody is paying attention. 

It's yet another embarrassment. 

The latest 57-page report to Congress details a variety of Social Security frauds that took place under Trump's first administration, only to be caught, stopped and prosecuted ... er ... under Joe Biden. 

And it confirms what has long been suspected, and which will come as no surprise to MarketWatch readers: namely that Elon Musk and Trump were talking total nonsense for the first six months of this year, when they were claiming that there was a "huge" amount of fraud in Social Security, including hundreds of thousands of dead people claiming benefits. …

Ho Hum

      Some former Social Security public trustees are out with a piece in The Hill arguing that it’s important that the Social Security public trustee positions, which are all vacant, be filled. 

     The problem with their argument is that the trustee positions hardly even qualify as ceremonial. None of the trustees have any power whatsoever. The trust funds are invested in U.S. bonds. The trustees have no discretion in this. Public trustees have put out statements in the past arguing for their favorite way to “save” Social Security and nobody cared. They certainly have no power to bring about any change.

     I wonder how much the public trustees are paid when those positions are filled.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No Timeline For New Occupational Data

     From NEXTGOV/FCW:

A long-planned refresh of the occupational data used in the disability adjudication process at the Social Security Administration was tucked inside a regulatory overhaul that the Trump administration abandoned last week. 

As a result, the agency now appears to be without a timeline for finalizing that years-in-the-making update, which SSA has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on, according to remarks made by the Social Security commissioner, Frank Bisignano, during a Monday meeting. …

The commissioner was asked multiple times about the future of the data project now that the regulatory changes have been abandoned. 

Bisignano acknowledged that lawmakers think the data needs to be updated, committed to looking into the issue and said that he hoped it could be updated in the future — emphasizing collaboration and consensus building as important for that process — but he didn't share any specific plan or timeline for doing so.  …

It’s Time

      John Larson is the ranking Democrat on the House Social Security Subcommittee, currently in line to become Chairman if Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives next year. He’s 77. According to a New York Times article some Democrats are asking whether it’s time for Larson to pass the torch to a new generation.

     If Democrats win the House next year they will need to be confrontational on Social Security matters. Larson isn’t the right man for that job.

A Fine Mess

     Social Security’s Office of Hearings Operations is now officially just “Hearings” according to a new memo. “Hearings” is divided into five “hubs.” These names sound like they’re trying too hard to sound new and different. Anyway, here are the heads of these “hubs”:

• Hope Grunberg, currently a National Hearing Center Administrative Law Judge, is now the Head of Hearings Hub A.

• Tanya Garrian, currently the Regional Chief Administrative Law Judge (RCALJ) for Northeast, is now the Head of Hearings Hub B.

• Michael Rodriguez, currently the RCALJ for Southeast, is now the Head of Hearings Hub C.

• Scott Kidd, currently the RCALJ for Mid-West/West, is now the Head of Hearings Hub D.

• Ray Souza, currently the RCALJ for Southwest, is now the Head of Hearings Hub E, in addition to his role as Acting Chief Administrative Law Judge

     The assignment of hearing offices to the “hubs” completely scrambles geography and reason. Tucson and Queens are in the same hub. Charleston, SC and Sacramento are in another. Macon, GA and Honolulu are in another. And, dare I say it, why are ALJs in charge of Hubs? These are management positions and, on the whole, management is not what ALJs excel at. Who will handle questions about leave and such like? Who will handle it if a Hearing Office roof leaks? How will anyone have enough knowledge about local personnel to handle assigning new Hearing Office Chief ALJs? 

     Down the road other people will have to unscramble this mess. 

NADE Newsletter

      The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), a professional organization of the personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations on disability claims for the Social Security Administration, has posted its most recent newsletter, which includes summaries of presentations by agency brass at a conference.

Mody Nomination Advances

      The Senate Finance Committee has advanced the nomination of Arjun Mody to become Deputy Commissioner of Social Security but only by a vote of 14-13. The nomination now goes to the Senate floor.

Frank Bisignano Exhibiting The Candor And Integrity For Which He’s Known

From a letter to Congress from Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano:

… After just my first six months on the job, I am pleased to report we are delivering a dramatically better customer experience at SSA. … 

     In other news concerning the Commissioner, the Ranking Member of the House Social Security Subcommittee has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Bisignano’s conduct at his former employer, Fiserv. The SEC shouldn’t need a referral from Congressmen to investigate this one but in the Trump Administration no Trump appointee need fear any sort of federal investigation.

Trump Administration Drops Plan To Alter Grid Regs

      From the Washington Post:

The Social Security Administration has abandoned plans to block thousands of older Americans from qualifying for disability benefits after an uproar that reached senior officials in the Trump White House, according to people familiar with the decision.


The agency is also halting a plan to use modern labor market data to help judge whether disability claimants can work, a project that has cost the federal government more than $350 million so far. The new data would have replaced a long-outdated jobs database that until recently included obsolete occupations such as nut sorters and telephone quotation clerks. …

Jason Turkish — an attorney representing disabled people and co-founder of the advocacy group Alliance for America’s Promise — said SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano and other administration officials assured him in meetings over the past week that the proposal would not move forward. A former Social Security executive familiar with the disability program confirmed that Bisignano has scrapped the proposed rule. …

Working After Claiming Retirement Benefits

      From Who Works After Claiming Social Security?, a report by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College:

The brief’s key findings are: ...

Our results show that about 40 percent of individuals work at some point after claiming, typically for several years and for non-trivial earnings.

Most of them are lower lifetime earners who claim around 62 and then work part time, so they may struggle to delay Social Security claiming.

The rest are higher earners who often work full time after claiming near the full retirement age, suggesting they may be able to further delay claiming. ...

 

Increasing Medicare Costs Eat Much Of Social Security COLA

     From USA Today:

It’s official. Medicare costs will eat up much of older Americans' Social Security cost-of-living increase next year.

The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B, which covers outpatient care, doctors' services, durable medical equipment and preventive service, will be $202.90 in 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said on Nov. 14. That's up $17.90, or nearly 9.7%, from $185.00 in 2025. ...

Seniors were the only ones who saw an increase in poverty in 2024. All other age groups saw a decrease or stayed the same. ... 

Social Security Increases Minimum Repayment Of Overpayments From $10 A Month To $50

      Per an issuance in Social Security’s manual made on October 1 but just now posted online.

45%? Are You Kidding Me? That's Insanely High!

     From David Weaver, a former Social Security executive writing for ICT (emphasis added):

Just-released data indicate that about 25 percent of children in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, have lost a parent or sibling to death. 

The childhood bereavement picture is very different in Union County, South Dakota, where about 2 percent of children have lost a parent or sibling to death. Ninety-three percent of individuals in Oglala Lakota County are American Indian (alone) and 94 percent of individuals in Union County are White.

South Dakota is not an isolated example. In western states, childhood bereavement is far more likely in tribal areas.  ...

Parents who work and pay Social Security taxes earn benefits for their children in the event of death. The benefit amounts are substantial, averaging $1,100 per month per child or $13,200 annually. 

Unfortunately, a lack of awareness about these benefits and administrative errors by the Social Security Administration have left many bereaved children behind. Nationally, about 45 percent of bereaved children are missing out on Social Security survivor benefits.

Many families are simply unaware that bereaved children may be eligible for Social Security benefits. This, in turn, is because the Social Security Administration has scaled back its communication efforts. 

For example, the agency no longer mails the Social Security statement to households each year. The statement provided detailed information on all types of Social Security benefits, including child benefits. ...

     It's almost as if they need attorneys to help them file claims or something. They certainly need for someone to tell them to file.

Back Pay For SSA Employees Coming Monday

      Social Security employees may already know this but they can expect their back pay on Monday.

SSAB Still In Business

      From American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries:

Amy Shuart is the new Chair of the Social Security Advisory Board, having been appointed by President Trump to that position on Nov. 12. She is the youngest Chair in the history of the SSAB. …

Shuart is not new to the SSAB, however. She had been appointed by the Speaker of the House effective Oct. 9, 2022 to a six-year term as a member of that body. She filled the vacancy created by the expiration of Hildred’s appointment to the SSAB, which ended in October 2022.

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Shuart also is no stranger to policy. Her nearly 20-year career in policy roles includes those of Staff Director of the Social Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, and Vice President of Technology & Innovation at Business Roundtable. Before that, she served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Social Security Administration in the Office of Retirement Policy. She earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Virginia Tech and a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. …

Threats Bring Charges In Cleveland

     From Cleveland.com:

A Cleveland man faces federal charges after authorities say he threatened to kill Social Security employees after he didn’t get his emergency disability check.

Aharon Meir Michoel Schur, 39, went to a Social Security Administration office twice and called the administration’s hotline several times to get his October check delivered to a new bank account, according to court records. 

When that didn’t happen, he made several threats— including threats to kill that he made on the phone and while he was at the Social Security Administration’s office on Waterloo Road in Cleveland, according to court records. …

On Sept. 30, Schur went to the Waterloo Road office to update his direct deposit information to a new bank account, according to court records. 

He hadn’t received his check by Oct. 6 and called the administration. The call was recorded, and an employee in Arizona told Schur that he needed to go in person to an office and take steps to obtain a “dire need” payment. 

Schur became upset during the call, saying that the delay put him and his son in dire need of money and that he may not be able to pay his rent, court records say. …

He said on the call several times that he was going to attack workers at the Waterloo building and burn the building down, court records say. 

“Play with my m-------------g family, I will kill everybody over my family and their well being, ma’am,” he said, according to court records. “I don’t give a f—k if this is a recorded line.” 

Schur made the threats while driving to the office, according to court records. 

He told the employee on the phone that he arrived at the office, that he was going to kill everyone inside and wanted her to stay on the phone so she could listen to it, court records say. 

Employees at the Waterloo Road office didn’t know of the threats until after Schur left, according to court records. A security guard stopped Schur after noticing he was yelling on the phone, court records say. 

An employee ultimately reissued the payment to Schur’s new bank account. …

Veterans Day

 

A Poll

 

online polls

Senators Want Answers

      From Government Executive:

… In a letter to [current Fiserv CEO Mike] Lyons, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the top Democrats on the Senate Finance and Banking committees, respectively, demanded information about the circumstances that led to Fiserv’s issuance of overly rosy revenue projections and the subsequent decision to reevaluate those goals.

“At a minimum, Mr. Bisignano appears to have failed to manage Fiserv effectively, and may have misled investors and the public about the company’s financial status, raising concerns about his ability to serve as a key Social Security and IRS official in the Trump administration,” they wrote. “Because of Mr. Bisignano’s mismanagement, many Fiserv investors, including retirees and members of the public, lost money—a fate Mr. Bisignano avoided. Bisignano’s required divestment of company stock helped him avoid about 300 million in losses cause by the stock’s price decline by over 50%.” …

Social Security's Music On Hold Makes Some People Want To Dance

     From Parade.com: 

’80s star Eric Roberts knows how to make the best out of a boring situation.

The actor, who is best known for roles in films like King of the Gypsies, Star 80, and Runaway Train, competed on Dancing with the Stars during season 33 with his partner, Britt Stewart. While the pair reached 10th place on the beloved competition series, it’s safe to say that Roberts, whose sister is beloved film legend Julia Roberts, is number one in his dancing role at home. The actor joined his wife, Eliza Roberts, to take a few spins around the room as they waited out the hold music while calling the Social Security Administration. Sitting on hold? Maybe stars ARE just like us. ...

“It’s a two-hour wait,” said Eliza, who admitted she wanted to do some dancing that night. However, we don’t think that’s what she had in mind.  ...

Shutdown Not Sustainable

      From Wired:

As the U.S. government shutdown stretches into its second month, agency leaders at the Social Security Administration (SSA) are becoming increasingly worried about how the key government department, which provides benefits to roughly 70 million Americans, will continue to operate.

WIRED obtained meeting notes from a Thursday SSA call for the administration’s field offices, where over a thousand managers from around the country spoke with field operations chief Andy Sriubas about the acute and damaging effects of the government shutdown. During the call, managers spoke candidly about staffers who can no longer afford to drive to work and a crisis of confidence in the agency.

“People are coming to me saying they cannot put gas in their car and they cannot afford to come to work anymore, and they'll need to get other jobs,” said one employee on the call. “Pretty soon they won't be able to afford to work at the agency.” ...

Another employee tells WIRED that some field offices have set up food pantries to help colleagues who are on the brink. “People are angry and … betrayed,” they added.  ...

Employees are also struggling with a daunting workload and a backlog of cases. On the call, Sriubas said that he had spoken with SSA’s general counsel, who said that just because SSA’s workload was “excepted” didn’t mean the agency had to do it. “So we can decide not to do it,” said Sriubas. “So if [the shutdown] does go into next week, I ask folks to start thinking about what are the workloads … to say, look, we're just not doing that going forward until the shutdown ends.” ...

“I’ve Lost My Free Will, And Now You’re Trying To Give Me A Lollipop”

      From the Washington Post:

Brace yourself before you call the Social Security Administration, as several million people do each month.
The average wait time is 68.9 minutes.
On the line, your experience will consist of a repeated 5-minute segment of announcements and better-than-usual hold music.

Go ahead, listen. Don’t worry, you can take yourself off hold at any time. …

Because the internet can still be a place that connects you to your curiosity, some people go in search of the full song and its lyrics that float over the melody.  …

Imagine that — a piece of music that breaks free in small ways from our DOGE-enhanced existence. So we went to East Harlem to meet the musician behind it and played him the Social Security hold loop, on speaker.

“That’s horrible!” David D’Alessio howled. He sat with his face in his hands, at his kitchen table.
It was the first time he heard his song — his life’s credo — used as off-the-shelf hold music.
 He felt trapped, imagining himself as a caller. “I feel like I’m being punished,” D’Alessio said. “I’ve lost my free will, and now you’re trying to give me a lollipop.”

D’Alessio, 54, is an independent musician who put out three albums during a career of over 30 years.  …

He was 35 and had just had a bad breakup. “I was pretty dark about what I was doing, where I was going, who I was,” D’Alessio said, “You know ... the whole nine.” He was stuck.
That’s when “Throw Yourself In Front of It” emerged. First came the melody — the same one piped through millions of phones now. … 

By 2014, he figured it was time to make money from “Throw Yourself in Front of It.” D’Alessio recorded an instrumental version with drums, bass and layers of vocals. That was posted online in a music catalogue for purchase, as the company writes, by “visionary music supervisors in TV, film and advertising.”  As copyright lawyers would put it: the use of D’Alessio’s instrumental version was offered online, non-exclusively, in perpetuity, to anyone who would pay an up-front licensing fee. …

Slowing Down In Woodlawn

      From WBAL in Baltimore:

With the government shutdown in its 36th day on Wednesday, businesses around government facilities are feeling the effects. Businesses near Woodlawn's Social Security Administration are seeing a decline in customers since the shutdown as some federal employees are either furloughed or working without pay.

Pioneer Pit Beef usually sees a line out the door. Not during the shutdown, though. 

"This is why you see today we have no line here," said Jesus Cruz, the restaurant's owner. "Normally this time, lunchtime, we have a lot of people waiting in line. We have about 15 to 20 people waiting in the line before we even open.”

Cruz said his business has decreased by as much as 40% due to the absence of its main customers: federal workers at the Social Security Administration.”Only a few of them come here," Cruz said. "Maybe one or two a week, and they let us know that the rest of the people are off from the department." ...

     By the way, let me say how much I appreciate the sacrifices of those working without pay as well as those furloughed. You deserve better. The nation deserves better. 

How Close Are We?

     Social Security employees are about to miss another payday due to the government shutdown. Commercial aviation is being affected by air traffic controllers and TSA employees calling in sick. The Trump Administration is threatening to not pay furloughed federal employees for the time during the shutdown.j

     There are reports of localized problems at Social Security but nothing extensive. Everybody has their breaking point. The perfunctory email shown here won’t help much, if any. How close are we to major problems at Social Security?     

  

How SSA’s Databases Will Be Misused — Even Leland Dudek Says So

      From Pro Publica: 

This year, when states began using an expanded Department of Homeland Security system to check their voter rolls for noncitizens, it was supposed to validate the Trump administration’s push to harness data from across federal agencies to expose illicit voting and stiffen immigration enforcement. 

DHS had recently incorporated confidential data from the Social Security Administration on hundreds of millions of additional people into the tool, known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system. The added information allowed the system to perform bulk searches using Social Security numbers for the first time. ...

Experts say adding Social Security data to SAVE could help election officials verify, en masse, if voters are U.S. citizens, but it shouldn’t be used to make final determinations that people aren’t citizens.  

That’s because multiple audits and analyses have shown that SSA’s citizenship information is often outdated or incomplete, especially for people who became naturalized citizens. With the 2026 midterms about a year away, Caren Short, director of legal and research for the League of Women Voters of the United States, said she fears the expanded use of SAVE will lead to errors. ...

Still, Leland Dudek, acting SSA commissioner until early May, told ProPublica he doesn’t trust that DHS will accurately flag noncitizens as officials try to cross-match data and files from multiple systems. 

“They are probably going to make some massive mistakes,” he said. ...

That's Nice

      From the Coosa Valley News:

As the effects of the ongoing government shutdown continue to ripple through local communities, one Rome [Georgia] restaurant stepped up this week to show appreciation for federal workers feeling the pinch. Marco’s Pizza, operated by local franchise owner Claude Corbin, provided lunch to employees at the Social Security Office in Rome as a gesture of support and solidarity. ...

Happy Dia De Los Muertos

 

Image created by Chat GPT

User Fee To $123

      Social Security is publishing the full list of cost of living adjustments in the Federal Register on Monday. You can read the list today. One that is of particular interest to some readers of this blog is the maximum user fee charged to attorneys representing Social Security claimants. Beginning in December it will be $123.

Après Moi Le Déluge

      From Government Executive:

…  Shares in Fiserv, a financial technology company that processes credit and debit card payments on behalf of businesses and financial institutions, fell more than 40%, or $30 billion in market value, on Wednesday, after CEO Mike Lyons withdrew earnings forecasts originally issued by his predecessor, Bisignano. The stock price fell another 7.1% Thursday.

According to trade publication PaymentsDive, Lyons said that Bisignano’s earnings targets “would have been objectively difficult to achieve, even with the right investment and strong execution.” But instead, Fiserv had in recent years deferred needed investments and cut costs in pursuit of shoring up short-term profit margins. …

Happy Halloween

 

Image created by Chat GPT

Disability Determination Slowing Down Due To Government Shutdown

     I'm hearing from North Carolina Disability Determination Services (DDS) that they have no more funds to pay for consultative medical examinations and are having some trouble paying for those which have already been held. They also lack funds to obtain existing medical records on clients. These problems will progressively slow disability determinations in this state. I imagine that the circumstances are much the same in other states.

The Commissioner Has A Serious Problem Related To The Company He Used To Run

      From Financial Advisor:

Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano’s move into government couldn’t have been better timed, helping the former Fiserv Inc. chief avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from the company’s plunging stock price. 

After the former Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive was tapped by President Donald Trump this year to lead the SSA, he agreed to resign from Fiserv and divest his stake, including common stock, options, restricted stock units and performance equity grants. Bisignano, 66, was also named CEO of the Internal Revenue Service earlier this month. 

Following his resignation, the restricted stock and a portion of the performance grants vested, giving him more than 3.2 million Fiserv shares worth roughly $594 million when he was confirmed to his role in May.  

Bisignano sold Fiserv stock between May 16 and July 1, according to ethics filings. Based on the average share price during the period, the shares would have fetched roughly $530 million. He later confirmed in a filing that he had completed the divestment.  

The same shares today are worth just $229 million—meaning that selling earlier in the year avoided losses of about $300 million. 

Accepting the government role gave Bisignano another valuable perk. In May, he was granted a certificate of divestiture, deferring capital gains tax on the Fiserv sales provided he invested the proceeds in approved assets such as Treasury bills or broadly-based mutual funds. 

Bisignano didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. 

More than half of Bisignano’s potential losses would have come Wednesday, when the payment company’s shares suffered a record plunge of more than 40% after it slashed its full-year earnings outlook and delivered third-quarter results well short of analysts’ estimates. 

     Did the serious problems at Fiserv only begin AFTER Bisignano left? That seems unlikely on the face of it. Was Bisignano aware of the problems BEFORE he left? That seems likely. If he knew of major problems, why hadn’t he told investors?  If he knew, why was he selling stock based upon inside information? 

     The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would ordinarily investigate this sort of thing but this is the Trump Administration. Nobody in the Trump Administration gets investigated. However, they can’t stop shareholder litigation and I would expect that soon. Bisignano will have to answer questions under oath. 

     By the way, Bisignano needs two lawyers, one for the possible securities litigation and the other for possible criminal charges. Trump won’t be in office forever. Unless he gets a pardon, Bisignano could face criminal charges later. 

     This seems like it could be  a serious distraction to a man with two jobs.

      Update: The litigation has already begun.

     Further Update: Here’s an explanation of what is being alleged:

… Fiserv faces a federal securities class-action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York that accuses the company of inflating growth figures for its Clover payments platform. The complaint alleges Fiserv forced merchants on its older and more affordable Payeezy system to move to Clover while claiming that growth came from new customers. Those migrations allegedly artificially boosted short-term revenue and transaction volumes forecasts which in turn hid slowing organic expansion. When many merchants decided to switch to lower-cost rivals such as Square and Toast, Clover’s performance faltered. According to the lawsuit, former CEO Frank Bisignano told investors in 2023 that 90% of Clover’s revenue growth would come from new merchants and just 10% from existing clients, even as the company moved roughly 200,000 Payeezy merchants to Clover through mid-2024. That shift helped lift Clover’s 2024 revenue to $2.7 billion on $310 billion in gross payment volume, but by early 2025, gross payment volume growth slowed to 8%, down from 14%-17% the year before. …