People Want Smaller Government -- But Not For Themselves

     From Tom Margenau's column in the Arizona Daily Star: 

 I sure am glad President Trump isn’t considering me to be the new head of the Social Security Administration. What a thankless job! As about 10,000 people retire every day, and as thousands more file for disability and survivor benefits, the agency’s workforce keeps dwindling. And it’s going to get worse. ... 

The Trump administration has ordered the Social Security Administration (and almost all other government agencies) to downsize. At SSA, early retirement incentives have been offered to about 15,000 employees. That’s one-fourth of the agency’s total workforce of 62,000.That’s going to mean the closure of more local Social Security offices, which means fewer people available to answer the thousands of calls the agency gets every day. By far, the No. 1 complaint I hear from my readers is the overly long wait times when they call SSA’s 800 number. Well, all I can say is: Get used to it.

I’ve made this following point many times in this column. So many Americans claim they want smaller government. But if my e-mails are any indication, what they really mean is they want smaller government for everyone else — but not for themselves. ...

And if you also think that SSA, just like any other government agency , has a bloated administrative budget that could stand some trimming, well, think again. Out of every dollar collected in Social Security taxes, less than one penny goes toward running the agency that maintains earnings records for almost every American and pays monthly benefits to 1 out of every 6 Americans. ...

And if you think that these Trump cuts will merely be reversing all the growth in government that happened during the Obama years, you’re wrong. Between 2010 and 2016, SSA’s budget dropped by more than 10 percent. During that same period, its beneficiary base went up by 12 percent and its fixed costs increased by about $300 million each year....

You Can't Make Bricks Without Straw

     From the Associated Press:

More than 1 million Americans await a hearing to see whether they qualify for disability benefits from Social Security, with the average wait nearly two years -- longer than some of them will live. ... 

Last year, the agency's budget was $12.6 billion, roughly the same as it was in 2011, even though an additional 6 million people receive either retirement or disability benefits from Social Security. ...  

"No search for efficiencies, reprioritization of tasks or technological improvements can substitute for adequate resources," said Lisa Ekman of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives.

There"s No Mailing List For This Blog

     I keep getting e-mails asking from people asking me to add their e-mail address to the mailing list for this blog. There isn't a mailing list for this blog. There used to be but technical changes at Blogger made that impossible. If you want to access this blog, you have to come to this website on a regular basis.

I Don't Think You'll Get Any Argument From The Social Security Administration

     From an op ed in the New York Times:

... Consumers are asked for their Social Security number perhaps dozens of times each year: by banks, by utility companies, by their health care providers, by government agencies, even by websites. Every time the number is given, the odds go up that it will fall into the wrong hands. Still, America’s identification system relies on the fantasy that these nine digits are a secret. Publication of the full Social Security number list would shatter that fantasy and force the banking industry to invent new and genuinely effective ways to protect consumers from identity thieves. 

It seems that has finally occurred. The Equifax credit-reporting agency is being terribly, dangerously vague about its stunning loss of “potentially” 143 million Social Security numbers. The data belong to roughly three-quarters of Americans with a credit report. Might as well be everyone. 

Whatever the company finally admits to, this much is certain: Social Security numbers are no longer a secret. 

These numbers were created for a single purpose: to track worker contributions to a national retirement fund. Until the 1970s, the cards even arrived printed with the warning “Not for identification.” It’s time we heeded that warning and stopped using the number for applications of any kind. For loans, for jobs, for cellphones. It’s going to be very expensive, but the jig is up. 

Identity theft is an unfair shifting of costs. It has always been cheaper to avoid investment in security upgrades and instead push the real costs of this system onto victims, who spend hours cleaning up the messes left behind. They sometimes even pay a monthly fee for protection from a system they never asked to be a part of in the first place. 

This fragile authentication arrangement based on Social Security numbers persists so that retailers and banks can offer easy credit. Walk in with a number and a name, walk out with a new TV and a credit card. As long as a credit score attached to the Social Security number listed on the application is high enough, many creditors are more than happy to make that snap decision and take the risk. ... 

Social Security numbers were never designed to be a security tool, and their usefulness for that purpose has run its course. 

     Just please let the Social Security Administration continue using Social Security numbers. 

New Ruling On Sickle Cell

     The Social Security Administration is publishing a new Ruling on sickle cell disease tomorrow but you can read it today.

Nobody Wants The Job -- And One Explanation Why

     I'm at the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) conference in Phoenix and I'm hearing that the job of Social Security Commissioner has been offered to several people by the Trump Administration and they have all turned it down.
     I'm also hearing that the backlog of Administrative Law Judge decisions awaiting decision writing has more than doubled in last year to more than 70,000. There are problems like this throughout the agency. These backlog problems may be one of the reasons no one wants the job.

Acting Commissioner's Staff Message On Hurricanes

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast 

Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 11:29 AM

Subject: Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Update

A Message to All SSA Employees 

Subject: Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Update

The one-two punch of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma has presented challenges for our employees and facilities.  The tireless efforts of regional, area, and local staff in Dallas, Atlanta and New York have helped ensure that we continue to deliver on the mission of the agency in trying times.  Thank you for your dedication and commitment.  

Many Social Security offices in Florida remain closed. Widespread power outages in Florida and across the Southeast are complicating office re-openings.  The Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas field offices remain closed and we continue to work on securing alternate space.  The remediation work in those and other offices, including in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, has begun.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) authorized the activation of the Hurricane Harvey Emergency Leave Transfer Program (ELTP) as another measure to help adversely affected employees.  For employees who wish to donate annual leave to the ELTP, please complete Form OPM-1638, Request to Donate Leave and contact your supervisor for additional information.  If OPM makes a similar authorization for employees affected by Irma, we will let you know immediately.  For general donations, visit the Federal Employee Education and Assistance (FEEA) Fund at http://www.feea.org/, which collects contributions specifically for federal employees. 

To stay updated on service delivery in hurricane-affected areas, please visit our office closings and severe weather pages.  Recovery efforts in these areas will take time.  Please join me in keeping those affected in your thoughts.

Nancy A. Berryhill

Acting Commissioner 

Still No Trump Photo In Federal Offices

     From the Washington Post:

In the lobby of every federal building, just inside security turnstiles and before the elevator banks, a framed photograph of the president has always hung on the wall.

Not so anymore. Months after Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, pictures of the president and Vice President Pence are missing from thousands of federal courthouses, laboratories, military installations, ports of entry, office suites and hallways, and from U.S. embassies abroad.

On the walls are empty picture hooks left when workers took down official portraits of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Jan. 20. ...

The changeover appears to be tangled in a bit of red tape and mystery.

Federal agencies ordered photographs of their new commander in chief months ago. But they say they are still waiting for the Government Publishing Office, the printer of official portraits, to send them for distribution by the General Services Administration, which owns or leases 9,600 federal buildings across the country. 
The Government Publishing Office says it has yet to receive the images from the White House. And the White House says the president and vice president have not yet decided when they will sit for the type of high-quality official photographs usually churned out by the modern GPO, continuing a portrait tradition that began after the Civil War. ...