I must have gotten a half dozen calls from reporters all asking the same thing -- can I put them in touch with Social Security employees willing to talk with them. I've had to say no. I don't know anyone willing to talk with them. I know most of you are scared to talk with a reporter and I understand why. However, some of you might be willing to talk as long as your identity is kept secret. Reporters will do that. If you're interested in talking, send me an e-mail. There's a contact form on this blog, to the right of where you're reading now. You'll have to give me a valid e-mail address, at least. Voices from within Social Security should be heard.
24 comments:
Corporate media all the sudden wants to talk to SSA employees? Are we the flavor of the month? Where were they the last couple of decades when the agency was not funded properly?
At the bottom of Washington Post articles they also tell you how you can contact them securely using the messaging app Signal.
I am confused, maybe someone could help men understand? The Social Security Agency is for the Beneficiaries, not the employees; employees simply do a job and they are not elderly or disabled. I am disabled and on SSDI. Now, if the agency could be more efficient and automated, wouldn't this help the beneficiaries? The SSA employees are paid out of the Trust Fund (s). The fewer the employees, the longer the Trust Fund lasts, before depletion, somewhere around 2035, where all beneficiaries will see a 21% cut in benefits.
I understand your concerns, and I appreciate you sharing your perspective. The Social Security Administration (SSA) exists to serve beneficiaries like yourself, and employees play a critical role in ensuring timely and accurate service. While automation and efficiency improvements can certainly help streamline processes, SSA employees provide essential services that technology alone cannot replace—such as handling complex cases, assisting vulnerable populations, and ensuring program integrity.
Regarding funding, it’s important to note that SSA’s administrative expenses are a small fraction of the overall trust funds and are necessary to maintain service levels. While reducing staff might extend the trust funds slightly, it could also lead to longer wait times, processing delays, and increased errors, ultimately impacting beneficiaries.
The larger issue of trust fund solvency is a legislative matter, and policymakers continue to discuss potential solutions. If you’re interested in advocacy, reaching out to your congressional representatives can be a great way to voice concerns about both efficiency and long-term funding.
Has anyone explained how they plan to automate it? Have you not seen the number of easy solutions for how to fix the trust fund? Does closing local offices not harm the "beneficiaries"? Do you work for DOGE?
Further, how much money do you think is actually to be saved by cutting the operations budget? It is currently $15 billion out of a program cost of $1.5 trillion. That's some savings!
@4:10 This is a very insightful question, and it touches on several aspects of the Social Security system that can be confusing. Let me break it down:
The SSA is for Beneficiaries, not Employees:
While it’s true that Social Security primarily serves beneficiaries (e.g., retirees, disabled individuals, and survivors), the employees of the Social Security Administration (SSA) play a critical role in ensuring the system functions effectively. They handle tasks like processing claims, managing payments, and ensuring the system remains accurate and compliant with federal regulations. It's essential to understand that while the SSA employees are not beneficiaries themselves, they are a necessary part of the infrastructure that supports beneficiaries.
Automating and Efficiency for Beneficiaries:
It’s a valid point that automation could potentially make the SSA more efficient. In fact, the SSA has been working on automating many processes, such as applying for benefits online or using automated systems for certain inquiries and claims. More automation could reduce waiting times, increase accuracy, and potentially reduce administrative costs, which could help beneficiaries. However, it’s important to recognize that not all SSA functions can be automated easily, especially those that involve complex individual cases or situations requiring human judgment.
SSA Employees are Paid from the Trust Fund:
The comment that "SSA employees are paid out of the Trust Fund" is a bit misleading. Social Security employees are actually paid through the federal budget, not directly from the Social Security Trust Funds (which are the funds used to pay benefits to beneficiaries). The Trust Funds are reserved exclusively for paying benefits, and using them to fund administrative costs would be a misapplication of those funds. However, there’s still an important relationship between the overall health of the Social Security system and its administrative efficiency.
Fewer Employees and Longer Trust Fund Longevity:
The idea that reducing the number of employees at the SSA would help extend the life of the Trust Fund is a bit of an oversimplification. While reducing inefficiencies and cutting unnecessary costs in any agency can contribute to overall financial health, the longevity of the Trust Fund primarily depends on revenue (Social Security taxes) and the growing number of beneficiaries as the population ages. The depletion of the Trust Fund by 2035, as the commenter mentioned, is primarily due to an imbalance between the taxes being collected and the amount needed to pay benefits. Cutting SSA employees may not significantly impact this, and could even harm beneficiaries if it leads to slower processing times or mistakes in administering claims.
To summarize:
Automation could help improve SSA efficiency and could benefit beneficiaries by reducing wait times or errors.
SSA employees are crucial for managing the system, even though they are not direct beneficiaries.
The funding for the SSA employees doesn’t come from the Social Security Trust Fund, but from the federal budget.
While reducing SSA staffing could theoretically save some costs, it’s unlikely to have a substantial impact on the long-term solvency of the Social Security system, which primarily depends on broader demographic and tax issues.
It’s important for everyone to understand that the financial health of the Social Security program is a complex issue, and solutions likely need to go beyond just cutting administrative costs.
Automation will be devoid of any personal interaction, compassion, or empathy. Automation will not have the skills or institutional knowledge to help the public. Good luck trying to navigate through an automated queue tying to get a person to speak to or driving 150 miles to your local office. Employees are future beneficiaries, too.
"I am disabled and on SSDI. Now, if the agency could be more efficient and automated, wouldn't this help the beneficiaries?"
Absolutely!
Dudek and DOGE will efficiently automate your benefits to initiate a computerized disability review for all current SSDI and SSI beneficiaries. This will allow the last 10 employees who remain at SSA to determine that you are no longer disabled using AI. You will receive a notice on Former Husk of Twitter which will notify you that you are a parasite who can perform all work in the national economy, cut off your benefits, and inform you have you have a current $100,000 overpayment that needs to be repaid in crypto directly to SpaceX within in the next 48 hours.
The trust fund will be protected, so that Elon Musk will be able to invest the trust fund directly into Bitcoin. This will allow DOGE to colonize Mars so that Musk can finally save the world with his genetically engineered children.
While this make no sense to the average SSDI and SSI beneficiary, your sacrifice will not be in vain. You can rest assured that the Children of Musk will remember you and honor your memory as they all slowly die of radiation exposure and starvation on Mars once they arrive there.
Social Security employees adminstering OASDI are paid out of the trust funds, but the employee costs are a miniscule fraction of the benefits paid out. Even if you could get rid of all the employees and apply the savings to larger benefits, beneficiaires would hardly be aware of the difference. What they would be much more aware of would be longer waiting times, the increased frequency of mistakes in calculating benefits or of disability beneficiaires denied who should have been allowed or allowed who should have been denied, and so on.
Don't automatically believe Musk/Trump when they claim they are eliminating waste or fraud. There have been no signs yet of that, and I doubt that there ever will be.
Hi Leland 👋 Sit down please!
Thank you 4:20!
And 4:26, no I do not work for DODGE; I have been on SSDI for over 20 years, which I try not to think about :(
I had a great career, and now I have to rely on the Government. Wish it was not so. Just asking a question.
And to 4:29, no I did not know, which is why I posed the question. Thanks for the answers!
You are:
1) a bot;
2) Leland "D-Bag" Dudek; or
3) one of Musk's Boy Toys.
Save the propaganda for the Fuhrer.
Would I be willing to talk to a reporter?
Answer-No because I have no confidence in the American Press since they were all in with putting Trump back in the White House.
all of these reckless cuts save the trust fund for 2 or 3 days. It's a ridiculous argument. As Andrew biggs (GOP/AEI) noted today in Washington Post--- it is a ridiculous argument to tie efficiency to solvency. Again, cut half of SSA administration and you gain like 1 month of trust fund life. Its a RIDICULOUS uniformed argument
OUTSTANDING!!
Absolutely the program is for the beneficiaries. For example, I am an attorney who works with the judges in deciding claims. We stand between you and people trying to get the benefits who shouldn’t be awarded. We also stand between you and the state agency, which is denied your claim so without us there would be a greater draw on the trust fund Because we are not there to decide who should or should not get benefits.
Why would we talk to the same reporters that lied and sanewashed Trump into office and can get enough of his boots since election? Especially not the NYT or WaPo. Hard no to speaking with collaborators.
There is plenty of automation already. The system I maintain processes over 99% of transactions per night without needing any manual work. Unfortunately we do have some very complex cases that do fall out, and are worked by human beings who can make sure everything is corrected properly.
Is SSA next…
Billionaire Elon Musk, who is advising President Donald Trump on plans to radically shrink the U.S. government, said on Wednesday that the U.S. Postal Service and passenger railroad Amtrak should be privatized.
"I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized," Musk said at a Morgan Stanley conference. "I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example... We should privatize everything we possibly can."
All anyone needs to know is the Regional offices are being decimated. 90% reductions. The IT, policy, and facility experts are either gone or moved to frontline positions. Why would you move an IT guy to a frontline position when we have tons of system issues? To an outsider, you might say great we removed and unnecessary layer at the regional level. In reality, they’ve pushed out the door or reassigned folks with specialized institutional knowledge that cannot quickly or easily be replaced. Plus the HQ folks are in the same boat. No idea who’s going to support the FOs when they have any facility, IT, or policy issue. This is going to cripple operations unless walked back immediately. Press - that’s the story.
To 5:57 So I was once one of those people holding the fort against those people unjustifiably claiming benefits. I have heard that same sentiment from ALJs many times over the years. Except, that is not your job. Your job is to fairly assess the merits of each claim with absolutely no concern as to the effect on the Trust Fund. Just do your job honestly based on the law and regulations.
Yeah. Everything is cheaper and more efficient when you have to pay large profit margins in addition to the baseline cost! Wait….
Is anyone actually gullible enough to believe privatization is going to make Social Security or any other government program cheaper to run without decimating/destroying it? If so, I’d love to talk to you about a GREAT investment opportunity!
Sounds like an RO person. Sad
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