The Third Rail

Social Security has often been called the third rail of politics. Republicans and Democrats alike are loathe to touch it for fear of being defeated in federal elections. They stay away even though they all know that the Social Security system is going “broke.”

According to the 2024 annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees, the surplus in the trust funds that disburse retirement, disability and other Social Security benefits will be depleted by 2035. This means the system will exhaust its cash reserves and will be able to pay out only what it takes in year-to-year in Social Security taxes. When this occurs, Social Security would only be able to pay about 83 percent of the benefits to which recipients are entitled.

In the past, the only way out of the mess was to compromise somehow by cutting benefits and increasing taxes. However, there now appears to be a third way, and it is Elon Musk himself who is riding to the rescue! He and his DOGE team are claiming that roughly five million non-citizens have received Social Security numbers since fiscal year 2021. In Biden’s first year in office, 270,000 non-citizens got social security numbers. This number mushroomed to another 2.1 million non-citizens in 2024.

This is not necessarily illegal, for non-citizens have been receiving Social Security numbers since the 1940s. Non-citizens can qualify for Social Security benefits if they are lawfully present in the U.S. and have worked enough to earn the required credits. However, what if they are not here lawfully? Not a problem! According to DOGE official, Antonio Gracias, “you can fill out an asylum application, so without an interview, just an application … once that application is in, you can file another form, a 765 [form] to get work authorization, once you get that, you get a 766 which is the authorization and we automatically send you a Social Security card in the mail". As a result, DOGE officials estimate that roughly five million non-citizens have received Social Security numbers since fiscal year 2021.

Speaking of problems, according to DOGE, the defaults in the system from social security to all of the benefit programs have been set to max inclusion. This means the people who have paid a minimum amount into the system in taxes are eligible for max payouts in federal benefits.

Then there is the problem of fraud, and the Social Security System is a primary target. Although the population of the United States is approximately 340 million people in 2024, there are approximately 394 million names in the Social Security Administration database. The data further shows that 20.789 million Americans over the age of 100 are eligible to collect social security benefits. Obviously, almost all of these people are dead, but the “good news” is that, according to the Acting Social Security Commissioner, Lee Dudek, “all these individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits.” That, of course, means that some are, and thus someone is stealing the benefits of dead people.

Unfortunately, it’s been pretty easy to steal. According to Commissioner Dudek: “For far too long, the agency has used antiquated methods for proving identity. Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service." You bet! It took just a preliminary investigation by DOGE to discover that forty percent of all calls were fraudulent efforts to change direct deposit information. That’s why a dramatic change has been made. Starting on March 31 of this year, people who claim benefits can no longer do so over the phone, and individuals looking to apply for benefits or change their payment information must do so either online or in person. The SSA has required nearly all agency employees to work in the office five days a week, which it said will ensure maximum staffing is available to "support the stronger in-person identity proofing requirement."

You would think that most Americans would be applauding the efforts of Trump and Musk to save the viability of the Social Security system and to preserve its benefits for the American people; but no, in today’s polarized world, the Trump Administration finds itself fighting in court to appeal lower court decisions that limit DOGE access to financial records. Ultimately, we expect the President to win out, and for the courts to allow President Trump to use his executive powers to reshape and reform the executive branch of government.

It is our hope that by eliminating payments to fraudsters and illegal recipients, the total amount of Social Security payments will be reduced materially. This, in turn, should help save Social Security in its present form, reduce the U.S. federal deficit, and tend to lead to a lower interest rate structure. It would benefit all Americans, especially the poor and middle class, who need it the most.