The media loves Trump as he generates a lot of click-bait.
I mentioned that I started collecting Social Security the other day. I decided, due to my health, to collect now rather than wait until I am 70. It was a logical decision. I went on the My Social Security website and logged in using my Login.gov ID (with two-factor identification) and then signed up. I believe I had to send a copy of my driver's license, which took ten minutes to do with my camera phone.
Bing. Bam. Boom. Done. A couple of weeks later, my first "check" is deposited to my bank account. Hopefully it is not the last - which it will be if "Doge-y" has anything to say about it. The SSA has a very well run IT operation and it was very efficient and secure - and easy to use!
And despite the alarmist media articles of late, you can still use it and should. Even if you are decades away from collecting Social Security, you should check your statement every year. I print them all out and put them in a big binder. It was a contractual promise made to us by the US Government, and the US Government (should) keep all its promises, right?
Some of my friends and neighbors told me I would have to "make an appointment" with the local Social Security office, months in advance, to navigate the difficulties of Social Security and Medicare (the latter I also signed up for, online!). Others told me I had to "call" the Social Security office, which, as you might expect, was a DTMF telephone tree of madness as well as long hold times on scratchy, repetitive bad overly-loud music. I was a bit puzzled by this and thought perhaps I was doing it wrong - after all, my friends all stood in line at the Social Security office. Could they all be wrong?
Yes. Yes, they were.
Recently, it was reported in the press that Trump is closing a number of Social Security offices and making it no longer possible to sign up by phone. The latter provision was designed to prevent fraud, not only against the government, but against recipients. Before this recent change, it was possible to "verify identity" over the phone and also change direct deposit information. As you might imagine, this would allow a fraudster to redirect a retiree's Social Security payments to an offshore bank account, which could go on for months before it all gets sorted out.
These articles implied that the only way to sign up for Social Security or Medicare was to make a personal appearance at a rapidly-vanishing Social Security office. Only at the end of the article, or in a brief aside, do they mention that the online option is still available.
With the online system, a fraudster would have to know all my personal information (leaked online by a number of corporations over the years) but also my login credentials for Login.gov, as well as my e-mail login credentials, and be in possession of my phone and be able to unlock it. Sure, it might be possible to "social engineering" their way in, but it is a lot harder than a phone call.
Moreover, the website is far cheaper to administrate that telephone call centers or physical offices. Training seniors to use the telephone for things like this only encourages them to answer fraudster calls from India claiming to be from "Senior Services" (they're calling 3x a day now!) and asking for their passwords. No, no, online is safer, cheaper, and easier to use.
The media is having a field day, however. "Poor people don't have internet access and can't go online!" BULLSHIT! If you are dead broke, you can get an Obamaphone for free. I know because I qualified for one (our former mobile hotspot) and I am hardly dead broke. One can also go to the local library and go online there. When there are thousands of dollars of money on the line, the poor figure out how to go after it. A lot of "poor" people I know, who appear to be unsophisticated, can recite chapter and verse of all the regulations and rules for food stamps (SNAP), Section-8, and the like, as though they had been to law school. We all do what we need to do to survive.
But what about closing all those local offices? Let's face it - brick and mortar is dead. Malls are dead, even strip malls. Forever 21 is the latest chain to go bust as younger people are so used to buying everything online - a trend accelerated by the pandemic. Maybe aging boomers still like to make phone calls and "appointments" but the next generation does everything on their phone. And Boomers are dying off in droves and not too soon! So closing Social Security offices really makes sense and in a sense, is inevitable. It is not some "plot" to screw the poor.
But that doesn't make a good media click-bait story.
I am no fan of Musk or Trump - they are doing so much wrong, and in fact, disregarding the law and our separation of powers. The Judicial and Legislative branches, too cowardly to take action and make hard choices, have - over the years - ceded more and more power to the Executive branch. "You decide" they say, "We're too timid or worried about our re-election chances!" So too little, and perhaps too late, they realize they have created a monster that they can no longer control. Maybe if Chief Justice Roberts gives Trump another stern talking-to, everything will be all right!
THAT is a real issue, not closing Social Security offices.
Similarly, there was another alarmist article online about a man declared dead by the SSA. They cut off his Social Security payments and even clawed-back his previous payment from his checking account! What a nightmare! Curse you Elon and your minions! Except... that shit has been going on for years, even decades. A hospital reports a patient dead and their name is put on a "dead list" which Social Security uses to cut off payments to dead people. Yes, Elon, the SSA was pretty damn "efficient" long before you came along!
But once in a while, serious mistakes are made and the wrong name or social security number is entered and the wrong person is declared dead. It can take months to fix the error and indeed, it is heartbreaking to read these stories, just as it is heartbreaking to read about the wrong person arrested or convicted - or any of the other injustices that occur in this world. It doesn't mean, necessarily, that the entire system is broken and should be tossed out, however.
James Carville, the Ragin' Cajun (and maybe slightly crazy) recently opined that all these protests and lawsuits may be counter-intuitive. If we try to make the Trump Presidency "manageable" or controllable, then people may be content not to change things. And maybe that was what went wrong last time around. Until the average MAGA-head is personally affected by Trump policies, nothing will change. It wasn't until Berlin lay in ruins that Germans (most of them, anyway) turned against Hitler. It wasn't until the Soviet Union went bankrupt that Communism fell.
When Bubba's Asian wife is deported ("But she's one of the good ones!") or they lose their VA benefits ("you're hurting the wrong people! You're supposed to own the libs!") nothing will change. Elon is mucking about with government agencies and getting away with it - so far. But when the Social Security checks start bouncing in The Villages, the red-hat squad will be marching on Washington and it will make January 6th look like a child's tea party.
Unless of course, they just say "It's all Biden's fault!" They probably will.
But exaggeration isn't helping anything in the meantime, and in fact, is hurting. Because if every other alarmist article is debunked, people will start to believe that all criticism against Trump is over-stated. And maybe that is the exact point of these alarmist articles.
