Summary

Elon Musk amplified Senator Mike Lee’s calls to overhaul Social Security, labeling it a “nightmare.”

Lee, known for advocating the elimination of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, criticized the program as deceptive and mismanaged.

Musk, co-chair of Trump’s advisory commission on cutting federal spending, faces accusations of aligning with GOP efforts to privatize or gut Social Security.

Advocacy groups denounce these moves as a threat to seniors and disabled Americans, warning that Republicans aim to shift earned benefits to Wall Street, despite broad public opposition to cuts or privatization.

  • Gork@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    It flabbergasts me that Musk, an unelected billionaire, has any input at all in policy decisions.

    • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      Just another day in the post-truth age. This and much more awaits in a society that allows a handful of algorithms unfettered editorial control over what people think.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It’s just another day in the plutocracy that has probably run things the entire lifetime of “democracy”.

        The only difference is with MAGA the plutocracy no longer need to hide behind lobbyists, campaign financing, super PAC’s, nepotism/cronyism, quid pro quo, virtue signaling about national security, etc to engage in corruption, loot the public coffers, and divert trillions to their own companies or cronies in the MIC or whatever.

        The conservative propaganda machine has now successfully groomed and cultivated a mentally ill cult, who will let their king insert a microchip into their brains without a second thought… Hell, they’ll probably hand over their life savings for the privilege.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Trump’s just doing it in the open. Every president has had unelected advisors.

    • Pips@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 month ago

      Plenty of unelected people have a massive say in policy. We wouldn’t get anything done if every bureaucrat had to be elected.

      This specific unelected soon-to-be bureaucrat is fucking towel though.

      • Aphelion@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        This specific unelected soon-to-be bureaucrat is fucking towel though.

        Hey now, that’s not very fair, towels are at least useful and pretty good at wiping up shit. Phony Stark only ever makes messes and then wallows in the shit.

    • RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Sure he is unelected, but he paid Trump 75 billion

      Doesn’t that entitle him to bankrupt your parents. They can move in with you.

      N’est pas?

      /s

  • TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org
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    1 month ago

    So, they plan on stealing the money I’ve put into it over my 25 year working career?

    I know that’s not exactly how it works, but yeah it feels like it’s theft with extra steps if I never see benefits but had paid into it.

    • YaDownWitCPP@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Hate to break it to you but that’s not how social security works. The money you pay in now is used to pay for the benefits of the currently retired. It is not an investment fund that you are paying into with a guarantee of payments when you retire.

      • LeadersAtWork@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It is not an investment fund…with a guarantee of payments when you retire.

        The three stool legs of American retirement. 401k, pensions, Social fucking security. There IS an expectation and that is you paying into it with that expectation.

        • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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          1 month ago

          401 LOL

          pensions fucking ROFL

          ss… yea, WAS an expectation. the 1% want all that money for themselves, and guess what, they’ll fucking get it

            • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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              1 month ago

              Bruh whats the point? Have you ever changed anything?

              Nothing is going to change until billionaires and fascists are scared to walk the streets. Admittedly we had one person that succeeded in actually making the world a better place, one who died trying, and im pretty sure the other guy got arrested. He’s not rolling over, he’s a realist.

              The older generation fucked us and continues to fuck us. They literally will not stop until they all die. I know theres some good people in there, but one bad apple spoils the bunch. And the bunch is well over half spoiled. If they wanted ss, they shouldve made the world a more livable place where people would want to have kids and thereby stabilize ss. They chose to maximize their profits at the expense of THE ENTIRE FUCKING PLANET.

              No sympathy, fuck them all. Fuck the red sea I live in too. Someone should glass us.

          • kmaismith@lemm.ee
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            1 month ago

            For as much as you seem to be opposed to being fucked over by your attitude, you sure seem to be bending over with your words

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Doesn’t matter if it “works that way” if literally everyone thinks of it that way and isn’t currently storming the capitol because of that understanding.

        • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          Ah yes, lets just ignore reality. The same people who want to benefit from ss are the people who fucked it by making it impossible for the younger generation to grow their wealth, or want to even bring a younger generation into the world.

          Yeah, they should be storming the capitol for that and many other reasons. But that is how it works, and they wont. Amaricans are too pussy to actually evoke change, outside of three people so far. And despite the fact that two of them were right wing nutjobs, they still attempted to do better for the world than 99.999% of the rest of the country.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Any billionaire should be open to a robin hood law, if you’re going to violate the social contract so much that it’s obliterated and you’re no longer subject to law or criminal charges then you should also be exempt from its protections.

    • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      Man, I don’t advocate violence (except when necessary), but I’m struggling to feel bad about this. I’ve had almost all major and many minor health insurance providers and UHC was above and beyond the worst, hands down, full stop. Just garbage.