4d ago

An unelected billionaire is gunning for Social Security. Get Musk out, now.

www.usatoday.com An unelected billionaire is gunning for Social Security. Get Musk out, now. | Opinion

The time for Americans to demand Elon Musk's removal from the federal government is now.

Summary

Elon Musk sparked controversy by falsely claiming entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have "$700 billion" in fraud annually, vastly exaggerating the actual figure (~$10 billion/year).

Musk labeled Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" and spread conspiracies about immigrants exploiting the system.

Critics argue Musk’s ignorance and conspiracy-mongering threaten essential public programs and data privacy, while his inflammatory rhetoric—such as calling Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and combat veteran, a "traitor"—reinforces demands for his immediate removal from government.

80 comments

Musk is ruining America.
- MIRA?
  
  que pasa

Why aren't you all protesting? You should all be out on the streets.
Your politicians aren't going to save you.
- There are protests everywhere. The media isn't covering them.
  
  Then rush the media!
- People in the US think politics is just another soap opera on the daytime TV that has nothing to do with their lives just like watching celebrities and Trump was picked because he adds to all that
  Biden was deliberately put in office to be a good step stool for Trump
  
  Well, they do have a Gerry Springer guest in the White House.
- Everyone's situation is different, but for me: I'm not white and only have derived citizenship (as opposed to "natural born" citizenship), and my dad is still a Chinese Citizen (because he sucks at English for natualization test). They are already trying to deport Mahmoud Khalil. Can't risk putting a target on my family's back.
  CCP is hostile and already tried killing me, theres no going back (not that I have Chinese Citizenship anymore anyways). I could end up stateless and that's not fun.
  My only hope is that the fascists are incompetent and elections still exist in the future.
  I think protesting is a very brave thing to do, but I also can't blame anyone for not doing so. Its very risky.
- Hard to feed yourself on the street

Social Security is a non-partisan red line.
If this chode killed it his chances of survival would plummet.
- That the case may be, but he'd be a martyr for the ultra-capitalistic sorts that make these efforts their life's work.
  A despicable end, but one that may appeal to Musk himself.
  
  Nah. No one would mourn him. The next ultra rich person would learn from his mistakes, but continue on with his work.
- I really hope he fucks with it.
  I would buy all the popcorn to watch 2 million boomers walk up Pennsylvania Avenue to Gaddafi his ass for days.
  
  Same, I truly believe Americans won't be on the same page about anything. Unless they fuck with it.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

I wonder why he always brings his toddler kid to public gatherings...
- I have a theory his kid is a human shield so he doesn’t get luigi’ed.
  
  He's been wearing that kid like a hat ever since that CEO got shot. First time anyone had EVER seen the kid in public, too, and suddenly he hasn't been seen anywhere without him.
  
  All it does is puts a second person on that side of the trolly tracks.
  
  It's a strange tactic coming from someone who supports Israel, where "human shield" is used as justification to destroy said shield along with the target.
  
  I feel like he's a lot more at risk of getting Luigi-ed by his own kids than most people are.
- And doesn't the man have like a zillion kids with multiple different women?
  Imagine being one of Musk's other children. You know, the ones who don't get their attention from their father while this one random kid gets all of it.
  
  "Imagine being one of Musk’s other children. You know, the ones who don’t get picked to be daddy's human shield due to their small size and ability to be held up in front of bullets."

If he guts SS, it will be his demise. That’s all the working class has to look forward to.
- 77 million mouth breathers will blame “woke”
  
  They will themselves become "woke" when they realize they've been asleep for so long.
- At the first missed payment, they'll start burning down Social Security offices.
  You don't want to piss off the old people. For many of them, its all they have. If you take that away, they'll have nothing left to lose, and lot of them are armed. That's a bad combination.
- They'll just hold a press conference and tell the people how that's Obama's (the black man, remember) fault.

before his slash-and-burn nonsense and warped views of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cause a spike in the sale of pitchforks.
Ha. I'd argue the time for pitchforks is already here.
- I have one in my shed maybe I'll pull it out!

Republicans are doing a great job on both sides...social security in case your luck fucks out, and the market in case your thought you could get away:
Who said retirement? That's illegal! You and I will be working for elon until we both end up 6' under. (By that I mean fucking dead like a month Python parrot)

Unelected tech lord deciding grandma's retirement funds is exactly the cyberpunk hellscape novels warned us about.
🐱

He needs to be able to steal that money, you guyzzzzz!
Enriching fElon is about "efficiency", at least according to MOE - the Ministry of Efficiency, where up is down, black is white.

Musk = POS Nazi.
- POS Nazi
  Redundant statement is redundant.

Maybe stop using "unelected". Most of the cabinet is technically "unelected". Focus on the part where he did not get a senate confirmation.
Like... he must be so unpopular if he can't even get a republican controlled senate to approve him.

He’ll be replaced with another billionaire. Why are people focused on musk instead of at the root of the problem?
- Perhaps if we made a strong enough example of him it'll make other billionaires think twice. The De Witt Brothers come to mind, tell them "It's either this or 92% wealth tax on assets, you pick."
  
  There will always be a billionaire somewhere out there who’d be willing to give it a go. They don’t need to be a wealthy American who doesn’t want to pay taxes to do it. They can be a Russian oligarch. We need to get to the root source.
  
  Who is "we"? You're not American.
- maiden fan?
  
  And poker

Musk labeled Social Security a "Ponzi scheme"
Well, he is correct about that. But in true republican fashion his solution is to get rid of it, instead of reforming it to be more sustainable without infinite population growth

Musk is a symptom! Trump is the elected guy responsible for the actions of his "employee". Get him out and fix the nation!
- Trump is also a symptom
  
  Specifically, he is just one a dozen+ members what I dub Yarvin's Cabal, a group of elites trying to implement Project 2025. They all need to be hanging out with Mussolini, else the enshittification of America will continue unabated.
  
  Like a sucking chest wound is a symptom.
  
  While playing whack a mole with symptoms won't fix the problem, once enough moles are whacked the problem becomes clearer. So let's not let perfect be the enemy of progress.

We can't move to direct voting quickly enough.
Get these "representatives" out of power and put them in regular jobs like the rest of us.

He may not be elected but he paid the guy who got elected a ton of money, so that's basically the same as being elected... Right? Right?!?

I do not understand why the fact that Musk is "unelected" matters so much to everyone. Is the Secretary of Defence elected? The Attorney General?
- Is the Secretary of Defence elected? The Attorney General?
  Those are real positions that are appointed by every President. "DOGE" is a complete bullshit position/department pulled out of thin air to avoid any kind of confirmation and/or security clearance.
  It is incredibly dangerous for a President to be allowed to invent whole government departments and appoint whoever he wants to them without any checks and balances.
  
  oh I fully agree. But you didn't address the issue of electedness at all.
- I think it's just to point out another layer of legitimacy he doesn't have to do what he's doing.
  
  You don't hear this criticism levelled at other malfunctioning government officials though. Perhaps one would if they went as off-the-rails as Musk. Still, I wish people would use accurate critiques of their opponents, such as as @Doctor_Satan mentions, that he is wholly without cheques or balances.
  
  @sporkler @jsomae has he formally passed any security checks yet?

No. I'm sick of ratcheting right, of normalizing the former Republican president's regime by half, of promising that maybe, eventually, long after my kids have died of old age, we'll get around to fixing what's broken. A return to normalcy will only legitimize this fucking bullshit. The climate is collapsing, there's microplastics in my brain and balls, the wealthy are actively trying to re-establish feudalism, and the level best the democrats can do is hold up signs and give me downvotes when I say they're not doing enough. There's evidence coming out that microplastics inhibit photosynthesis and cause crop failures, the shit's everywhere, and lol and fucking behold the UN can't even talk about it without getting drowned in a tsunami of lobbyists. Yes, hello, my name is Timothy Thompson, I'm with United Plastics, and I'm here to tell you about how single use plastics are good actually; can I offer you $5,000? I've recently come around to the idea that there's only around 10,000 very specific enormously wealthy, influential, or both people that we'd need to persuade to make the world a better, more livable place for everyone on the planet now and in the future, and right now, they aren't being effectively persuaded.
Friendship ended with centrist democrats. I am now friends with accelerationism.
- How many Luigi's do we need to persuade the rest of the 10,000?
  
  More than the one, it seems

This isn't what I'd expect to see from the McPaper.

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