February 17, 2025, 07:21 PM
sigmonkeyquote:
Originally posted by armored:... He replied that they were from the MILLIONS in gold bars that President Carter had sent to Iran in order to accomplish a diplomatic mission, I can't remember now what that mission was but think it had to do with the Hostage release of the American embassy employees they held. I was shocked to hear this as I never remembered any news of us paying Iran millions in gold for hostages....
It was one billion worth.
I think it is time we get that back, with interest and adjusted for inflation...
February 17, 2025, 07:48 PM
12131Adios!
Head of Social Security abruptly resigns after clash with Elon Musk over DOGE's access to sensitive dataBy STEPHEN M. LEPORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 20:18 EST, 17 February 2025 | UPDATED: 20:35 EST, 17 February 2025
The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration has quit after a disagreement with Elon Musk over the 'First Buddy' and DOGE attempting to access government records.
Musk has served as a sidekick to Donald Trump early on in his second term, using his role as DOGE chairman to attempt to cut unnecessary waste, fraud and abuse from government.
Social security is no different, as Musk today shared staggering data showing there are millions of dead Americans still eligible for social security payments.
King - a career bureaucrat who has worked for the SSA since 1994 until being named to the top post this year - apparently clashed with Musk over his attempts to access sensitive government records, though its unclear which records they were trying to get.
Trump has already nominated Frank Bisgnano to get the role permanently but he is still being vetted by the Senate, the Washington Post reports.
Leland Dudek, who runs the SSA's anti-fraud division, has been appointed acting commissioner.
'President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks,' the White House told DailyMail.com in a statement.
'In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner. President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long.'
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Social Security Administration for comment.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is investigating wasted taxpayer money as a matter of urgency after Donald Trump promised voters huge savings at the federal government.
Musk posted a chart on X showing that there are more than 20 million Americans listed over the age of 100, including 3.9 million in the 130-139 range, more than 3.5 million aged 140-149 and more than 1.3 million in the range 150-159. There is even an 'alive' citizen aged over 360, according to the records.
The billionaire Tesla boss wrote: 'According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security.'
The Department of Health and Human Services agency is under fire from Musk for having on its records 60 million people more than the entire U.S. population, which means millions of people who are no longer alive – or possibly never existed – could be receiving monthly checks.
In 2024, 68.5 million people received benefits from SSA through retirement, disability and other payments.
It's unclear so far yet how many of these payments were distributed due to fraud or mistakes made by the agency failing to confirm the age and eligibility of beneficiaries – including if they are alive or not.
But DOGE vowed it is now 'looking into this.'
Musk posted a table showing the tabulated number of existing U.S. citizens accounted for at the SSA on Sunday.
While the ages of Americans aged zero through 99 was on track for the U.S. population, once the ages got to upwards of 100-years-old it got much more unbelievable.
There are, according to Musk's spreadsheet, more than 4.7 million people aged between 100 and 109. And there is at least one person aged above 360 and another still in the system who is in their 240s.
A shocking 1,039 people are still alive in the SSA database who are between the ages of 220 and 229, Musk's analysis finds.
'Yes, there are FAR more 'eligible' social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA,' Musk wrote. 'This might be the biggest fraud in history.'
A 2023 count shows there are 334.9 million U.S. citizens. But Musk said on X that the 'number of US citizens eligible for social security is closer to 310M.'
This is impossible considering that would mean approximately 92.5 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to receive retirement, disability or survivor benefits from the federal government.
Musk made clear last week that the Social Security Administration was next on his DOGE hit-list for an audit.
During a press availability held in the Oval Office alongside President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Musk revealed DOGE found people who are 'probably dead' and still receiving Social Security checks.
'Reexamination of Social Security – we've got people in there that are 150-years-old,' Musk lamented during an impromptu press conference as Trump signed an executive order.
'Now do you know anyone who's 150?' the billionaire asked. 'I don't know. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. They're missing out.'
'So, you know, that's the case where I think they're probably dead, is my guess, or they should be very famous – one of the two,' he concluded.
Already, Musk has entirely dismantled USAID and targeted FEMA by having its four top finance officials fired for paying $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.
Additionally, 40,000 federal employees have accepted a buyout Trump offered for them to voluntarily leave their roles in exchange for full pay through September.
He has also cut billions in federal government contracts, including those paid out by the Department of Education and National Institutes of Health to outside companies and corporations.
Much of the cuts have been aimed at ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and practices.
February 17, 2025, 08:53 PM
soomaOther projects that were formerly funded by the U.S. included $14 million for “improving public procurement” in Serbia, $29 million for “strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh,” $47 million for “improving learning outcomes in Asia,” and $14 million for “social cohesion” in Mali.
DOGE also reported that the federal government was giving $9.7 million to University of California, Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills,” and an additional $2.3 million for “strengthening independent voices in Cambodia.”
Another whopping $40 million was allotted to a “gender equality and women empowerment hub,” and a staggering $486 million was going to go to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening,” including $22 million for “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova and $21 million for voter turnout in India.
February 17, 2025, 09:08 PM
bozmanWhoa there cowboy. I was forced to pay into Social Security and Medicare for 40 years. It better Goddamn well be there for me.
If not in its current form, then they can lump sum pay me what I paid in plus inflation at a minimum.
I just retired on Friday and I need to fund a nearly 45-year retirement.
February 17, 2025, 09:27 PM
ElToroElon and the boys just need to “fix the glitch”. The problem will work itself out naturally.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BUE0PPQI3isShort of that, If you never told SSA grandma died 20 years ago and you have been cashing the check for decades, I say a 30 day amnesty to come clean. Otherwise 1) the glitch gets fixed. And 2) you will be prosecuted for the theft and you get to start paying it back. I know times are touch so we will work out a payment plan with low interest rates. In the extreme rare case the SDA check was direct deposited and the account was never touched for years, ( which after working in a bank for decades I could see this happening) we will let it go and just pull all the cash back out of said account.
February 18, 2025, 04:55 AM
tleddy‘More than 12 million people in the Social Security Administration database of eligible benefits recipients are listed as being older than 120, according to data shared by tech billionaire Elon Musk.”
If they are shown as ‘alive’ and eligible for payments, I presume checks are going out - at least on some percentage. I cannot find a $dollar amount, only unattributed number of up to 50 Billion per month… difficult to fathom.
Has anyone seen a verifiable amount with reference?
February 18, 2025, 05:26 AM
egregoreSS could well need benefit cuts and/or run out of money at some point, but I've heard so many such dire predictions for decades that they are hard to take seriously. It needs reform and shoring up (cutting the waste and fraud is a great start towards both), not ending. I might be a little biased.
February 18, 2025, 06:05 AM
tleddyAfter doing a little research on average SS Payments of about $24,000 per year per person and some 60 million getting payments, then the total annual payout should be around $1.3 Trillion.
Both Google and DuckDuckGo indicate payout of a bit over $1.5 Trillion, leaving about $300+ Billion unaccounted for… or something over
$25 billion per month.
A Billion here and a Billion there can add up to some real money!!
Please note… to count to over ten, I need to take off my shoes and socks. I ask that Forum Members check my math and give your opinions.
February 18, 2025, 06:16 AM
Sig2340Since this is based on age, using SS benefits for retirees only, the average payment is $1872 per month. Multiply $1872 by 12 months, then multiply that product by 12 million recipients over 120 years of age, and you get $270B.
In my decades as a government consultant, I am always amazed when fed.gov employees are incapable understanding thousands multiplied by millions yields a product in the billions.
