"This week, a still-more ominous threat appears to be circling. Bloomberg reports that three individuals representing private equity concerns — firms in an insidious financial industry intent on harvesting anything that can rake in a profit for the ultrarich — have now shown up, alongside DOGE, to meddle in the life-sustaining work of the SSA."

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #destruction #chaos #FederalGovernment
/2

Danny Westneat tells the story of what happened to Leonard "Ned" Johnson after his wife got a notice from their bank in February that the Social Security Administration requested a return for benefits paid out after the supposed death of her husband. Since Ned was alive, his wife figured it was a scam, but SSA then yanked $5,201 from their bank account.

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #FederalGovernment
/3

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-dead-person-on-social-security-in-seattle-with-plenty-to-say/

After making multiple calls to SSA, during which he was "put on hold and then eventually disconnected" and securing an appointment that was ultimately rescheduled for the next week, Johnson went to his local SSA office, one of several sites DOGE now wants to shut down across the country.

He waited and waited to be seen at the SSA office and finally jumped the line and insisted he was alive.

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites
/4

Last week, he was told that SSA would fix the problem, but as of last Friday, he had not gotten his February and March SS payments.

Jeff Nesbit, public affairs chief for 5 federal agencies/departments including SSA under 4 presidents, shared this story on X, saying: "So incredibly sad that Musk/DOGE are now preying on people like this. I hope older Americans understand the assault underway against Social Security right now."

#Musk #Trump #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires
/5

Political consultant Matt Herdman says, "Elon Musk and Donald Trump are stealing seniors' hard-earned benefits. It's already happening, and it'll get worse if they go through with closing branch offices and cutting staff."

See Jessica Corbett's good report (link below).

#Musk #Trump #SocialSecurity #seniors #TaxCuts #billionaires
/6

https://www.alternet.org/trump-social-security-2671338127/

Joyce Vance comments on how much people through the center of the US relied on NOAA forecasts and warning with the massive storm system that has just caused so much damage and loss of life. Yet about 2,000 NOAA have been cut since January and there's no way the program will continue to function well with massive cuts in personnel.

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #NOAA #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #destruction #chaos
/7

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/who-doge-hurts-gutting-noaa

"Cuts that sound like a good idea to Elon Musk and Donald Trump have real impacts on the rest of us. That is only just beginning to dawn on people, who I’m sure you’re hearing, like I am, saying, “But I didn’t vote for this.” Trump 2.0, as I’ve written previously, isn’t a pick-your-own-adventure experience. You go to the carnival, you get all of the rides."

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #NOAA #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #destruction #chaos
/8

"WaPo reported that over 5 million Americans work in industries that could be impacted by retaliatory tariffs from China and Canada that just went into effect, and the vast majority of them live in counties that voted for Trump. New tariffs from those two countries primarily target the agricultural, manufacturing and energy sectors."

~ Ron Filipkowski

#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #NOAA #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #tariffs #agriculture #industry
/9

https://www.meidasplus.com/p/this-weekend-in-politics-bulletin-ddb