XPost: alt.social-security-disability, alt.politics.trump, alt.f   
   n.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   Nearly a century removed, the Republican president heralded his   
   Democratic predecessor for “one of the most significant pieces of   
   legislation ever signed into law,” the bill that created Social   
   Security.   
      
   The program turned 90 this month. Without reform, its 100th anniversary   
   is not guaranteed.   
      
   President Trump still heralded FDR for the program, created at the   
   height of the Great Depression, and vowed in the Oval Office to preserve   
   and improve it “for 90 years and beyond.” The president said this was   
   his “sacred pledge to our seniors.” Had he not returned to the White   
   House, Trump boasted, “Social Security was going to be destroyed.”   
      
   And true to his word, Trump has not meddled with senior benefits. His   
   marquee legislation has, in fact, reduced their tax burden by making   
   Social Security benefits tax-free. But the actuarial tables are less   
   rosy than the president put on in front of the cameras.   
      
   According to new estimates from the program’s chief actuary, Karen   
   Glenn, Social Security will not make it to its 100th birthday as things   
   stand. Instead, the trust fund will be insolvent in just seven years.   
   Money was expected to run out by the first quarter of 2033, but after   
   the One Big Beautiful Bill became law and made benefits tax-free, that   
   forecast was moved up slightly to the fourth quarter of 2032.   
      
   At that point, according to analysis by the Congressional Research   
   Service, the federal government would have three options at the point:   
   increase taxes, decrease benefits, or a combination of the two.   
      
   Trump, who will have joined the ranks of former presidents by then,   
   seemed unconcerned with those predictions. “You keep hearing stories   
   that ‘in six years, seven years, Social Security will be gone,’” he told   
   reporters, “and it will be if the Democrats ever get involved because   
   they don’t know what they’re doing.” So long as his party is in control,   
   he promised, “it’s going to be around a long time with us.”   
      
   Despite accusations from the left, Republicans have been unwilling to   
   touch the program despite the flashing fiscal warning lights. A   
   political football during campaign season, the popular entitlement is an   
   entrenched third rail on Capitol Hill.   
      
   The financial troubles of Social Security are not new. They have   
   worsened through both Republican and Democratic administrations alike.   
   Every single report published by the Social Security trustees since   
   1983, as the liberal Brookings Institution notes, has found that the   
   program faces a shortfall. Confronting that fiscal cliff was once   
   conservative orthodoxy.   
      
   Former President George W. Bush warned that Social Security was “headed   
   toward bankruptcy.” Betting much of his legacy on the reform, the   
   Republican proposed partial privatization and a provision allowing   
   citizens to divert some of their taxes into investments. Ultimately, it   
   was stillborn and never even received a vote in Congress. Former   
   Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney later proposed more modest reforms while   
   running for president, like increasing the retirement age and reducing   
   benefits for the wealthy, only to be pilloried on the campaign trail.   
      
   Despite warnings from Elon Musk, who described Social Security as “the   
   biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” while still a member of the   
   administration, Trump has shown no appetite for overhauling the program   
   in its entirety. His administration has instead focused on making the   
   bureaucracy more efficient while rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse.   
      
   Social Security Administrator Frank Bisignano has been at the helm of   
   the agency for less than three months and arrived at the White House   
   eager to give a report.   
      
   Customer service has improved; the average wait time is down from 30   
   minutes to six. New technology has gone live; seniors can now access   
   information 24//7 online about their benefits. The backlog of disability   
   claims has been reduced by 26% and 3.1 million payments were sent to   
   beneficiaries months ahead of schedule.   
      
   To the delight of the president, more than a quarter of a million   
   illegal immigrants have been removed from the system, and millions over   
   the age of 100 have been removed from the rolls, though it is unclear if   
   a majority of those deceased centenarians were still receiving payments.   
      
   After the modernization efforts are complete and fraud is addressed,   
   Bisignano told reporters, “When we do all that, then we’ll really know   
   the answer to if we have a hole.”   
      
   Some experts find that kind of assessment overoptimistic and stress that   
   fraud is already comparatively rare in Social Security. “There is always   
   room for improvement, especially when it comes to the disability   
   program,” the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget concluded in a   
   recent paper, “but fraud and abuse are rare in the Social Security   
   program – certainly not large enough to make a significant difference in   
   the program’s finances.”   
      
   A spokesperson for the Social Security Administration told   
   RealClearPolitics that ensuring the long-term health of the trust fund   
   remains “a top priority” and that Bisignano is committed to working with   
   Congress, the White House, and other stakeholders to strengthen the   
   program.   
      
   “During the Oval Office event today,” the spokesperson continued,   
   “Commissioner Bisignano detailed some of the ways SSA is working to   
   tackle waste, fraud, and abuse under President Trump’s leadership to   
   ensure that the program can continue to thrive for the next 90 years.”   
      
   https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/16/trump-vows-social-security-will-thrive   
   -for-another-90-years/   
      
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