Social Security has never missed a payment. DOGE actions threaten 'interruption of benefits,' ex-agency head says
Source: CNBC
Social Security has never missed a benefit payment since the program first began sending individuals monthly benefits more than eight decades ago.
But the recent actions at the U.S. Social Security Administration by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency are putting monthly benefit checks for more than 72.5 million Americans at risk, former commissioner and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley told CNBC.com.
“Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits,” O’Malley said. “I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.”
Ahead of any interruption in benefits, “people should start saving now,” O’Malley said.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/01/doge-actions-may-cause-social-security-benefit-interruption-ex-agency-head.html
This is not good, when the former administrator is telling us DOGE may screw up our Social Security checks.

Skittles
(163,383 posts)part of the PAIN he warned about
Imagine what it would do to the economy......
Silent Type
(8,972 posts)Musk’s paper wealth is virtually zero, as is wealth of most oligarchs.
If it does happen, even GOPers would join in impeachment efforts to save their own rears in midterms.
RainCaster
(12,637 posts)I can't imagine any scenario where the GOP turns towards it's constituents.
womanofthehills
(9,632 posts)And by that year, they will only have 87% of what they need - so gov would have to add to fund.
Silent Type
(8,972 posts)and Democrats turned on him for his so-called "cat food commission," that called for a hike at lower end of SS scale.
sakabatou
(44,562 posts)But the powers that be don't give a shit.
UpInArms
(52,574 posts)It is not a bug … it’s a feature
3Hotdogs
(14,074 posts)Fuck the banks I owe $38k to.
no_hypocrisy
(51,152 posts)paychecks, without a guaranty of return. Imagine paying for auto liability insurance, you have an accident, and your carrier informs you that it can't pay for any reason. And your state requires you to carry auto insurance.
Skittles
(163,383 posts)oh wait
cstanleytech
(27,535 posts)Because without that monthly influx of money at places like the grocery and other retail stores the stores will fire people and cut back on hiring.
BonnieJW
(2,863 posts)Putin wants our country and economy to collapse, and his wish is the felon's command.
ChazInAz
(2,885 posts)defacto7
(14,044 posts)to make sure all the 1040-SE income has been filed and paid before dropping the hammer. They wouldn't want to miss out on all that SS income. After that, who knows.
LetMyPeopleVote
(161,645 posts)It’s one thing for Musk to peddle bogus claims about imagined Social Security “fraud.” It’s something else when he targets the system itself.
https://bsky.app/profile/jessicamullen.bsky.social/post/3ljizbss5l22i
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/elon-musk-slams-social-security-ponzi-scheme-sparking-new-concerns-rcna194538
But the problem is not limited to Musk’s falsehoods. After all, the fact that he’s plainly wrong might not be consequential at all: Musk claims to have found “fraud”; reality proves otherwise; and we all move on with our lives. Right?
Well, maybe not. Making matters worse is the apparent fact that the donor helping run the executive branch in 2025 has a problem with the Social Security system itself. USA Today reported:
Elon Musk sharply criticized Social Security in a Friday podcast interview with Joe Rogan, labeling the critical elder benefits program a “Ponzi scheme.” Musk, who is the world’s richest man and an increasingly powerful adviser to President Donald Trump, also described the federal government as “one big pyramid scheme.” Musk is a leading figure in the administration’s effort — largely through the Department of Government Efficiency — to cut costs and dismantle the federal bureaucracy.
And it’s at this point where the offensive becomes tougher to shrug off
Indeed, let’s take stock. Trump has put his top campaign donor in a position of enormous authority, despite Musk’s unfamiliarity with basics of governing. This same donor regularly peddles falsehoods about Social Security, keeps suggesting there are people receiving benefits checks that shouldn’t exist, is helping advance thousands of layoffs at the Social Security administration and, in case that weren’t quite enough, is condemning the structure of the popular social insurance program.
It’d be tough to blame someone who relies on Social Security for feeling a bit nervous right about now.
“You don’t need to scratch your head and wonder what’s going on when you see that the Trump administration is decimating Social Security offices and staff,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “And you don’t need to ponder what might happen next when Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, says that the tens-of-millions of seniors, families, and children who depend on these earned benefits are part of some scam — because that’s a real threat and a real promise: they are coming for your Social Security.”
Musk and trump are going to try to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Pinback
(13,149 posts)that thousands will be protesting loudly in the streets. That’s when the Sultan of Rot will declare martial law.