Summary

Elon Musk suggested cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in a Fox News interview, citing debunked claims about fraud and linking benefits to illegal immigration.

He falsely claimed millions of deceased individuals remain in the Social Security system, a statement previously refuted by officials.

While Trump has promised not to cut entitlement programs, Musk’s remarks indicate they are under threat, potentially impacting millions of Americans.

His rhetoric echoes far-right conspiracy theories, raising concerns about his influence on policy discussions regarding social safety nets.

  • Jimius@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 days ago

    That’s all technically correct. That’s how it works in a lot countries, Europe included. But that’s not how it feels, or what people think is going on. They’re paying into a system that is going to benefit them. Even if what they receive is derived from future taxes on other people. They contributed to the system, therefore they are also entitled to benefit from it.

    • dx1@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 hours ago

      Well, their interpretation is at odds with reality, and they should reconcile that. Regardless of what they told or what they believed, they paid into a system where they were forced to subsidize current recipients, while the system itself could be revoked at any point, leaving them high and dry, and not running into 14th Amendment issues or anything like that. See Flemming v. Nestor, 1960 - quoting Wiki:

      Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U.S. 603 (1960), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the constitutionality of Section 1104 of the 1935 Social Security Act. In this Section, Congress reserved to itself the power to amend and revise the schedule of benefits. The Court rejected that Social Security is a system of ‘accrued property rights’ and held that those who pay into the system have no contractual right to receive what they have paid into it.[1]

      Note that I’m not saying anything “should” be one way or another, besides that people should be fully aware how the current system works in law.