#ponzi posting

[devotion-disorder]

Cook the ponzi

[doginprogress]

I don’t think I’ll ever get over how much my dog looks like her mom who looks like her mom and I get to see these mannerisms and expressions in photos over a decade old of a dog who could be the one on my couch if not for the generational difference

I can only hope that my future is haunted by the ghosts of the dogs I know and love now in the faces and personalities of their sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters

I never thought I’d honestly even get this far but I am so grateful for being a part of the larger community that is Ibizan Hounds and having the honor of being trusted to try to contribute to their continued existence

[fallensxvior]

❓ - even the gods from scientology are real?

"... No."

"Scientology doesn't have Gods anyway, they believe in alien ghost civilations."

[asexualtonysoprano]

i can't believe you left out the third paragraph (of many paragraphs) of the original post, which is one of the funniest:

in case you were curious, this is the current state of NFT crypto bros on twitter

[wajjs]

Today in Buenos Aires there was a protest for the betterment of retired people's rights (keep in mind they are all middle to low class). The government sent cops to repress this protest who shoved up in full riot gear to stand against... middle aged people and elders.

There are videos of cops punching, kicking and pushing to the ground elders. People with moving disabilities due to illnesses and age. There's a graphic video of an older woman getting pushed to the ground by a cop, hitting her head hard against the ground. A press photographer was attacked by cops causing a skull fracture and intense bleeding, as time of posting undergoing lifesaving surgery.

While this is happening, the president puts on a circus performance of going to Bahia Blanca, affected by lethal floods, to "oversee" the construction/repairs of a bridge, with protests from the public.

While this is happening, the president is currently getting away with promoting a ponzi scheme of international magnitude. This blatant promotion is unconstitutional and he should be impeached over it. Congress is looking the other way.

And this is far from the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things currently happening every single day in Argentina. But we carry on, and we persevere.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

stick with me baby.. @FinancialReview :: [Dave]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 3, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 04, 2025

As seemed evident even at the time, the ambush of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday was a setup to provide justification for cutting off congressionally approved aid to Ukraine as it tries to fight off Russia’s invasion. That “impoundment” of funds Congress has determined should go to Ukraine is illegal under the terms of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, and it is unconstitutional because the Constitution gives to Congress, not to the president, the power to set government spending and to make laws. The president’s job is to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

It was for a similar impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds for Ukraine, holding them back until Zelensky agreed to tilt the 2020 election by smearing Joe Biden, that the House of Representatives impeached Trump in 2019. It is not hard to imagine that Trump chose to repeat that performance, in public this time, as a demonstration of his determination to act as he wishes regardless of laws and Constitution.

On Sunday, Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) released a series of memos he and other senior career officials had written, recording in detail how the cuts to “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” at the agency will lead to “preventable death” and make the U.S. less safe. The cuts will “no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale,” one memo read.

Enrich estimated that without USAID intervention, more than 16 million pregnant women and more than 11 million newborns would not get medical care; more than 14 million children would not get care for pneumonia and diarrhea (among the top causes of preventable deaths for children under the age of 5); 200,000 children would be paralyzed with polio; and 1 million children would not be treated for severe acute malnutrition. There would be an additional 12.5 million or more cases of malaria this year, meaning 71,000 to 166,000 deaths; a 28–32% increase in tuberculosis; as many as 775 million cases of avian flu; 2.3 million additional deaths a year in children who could not be vaccinated against diseases; additional cases of Ebola and mpox. The higher rates of illness will take a toll on economic development in developing countries, and both the diseases and the economic stagnation will spill over into the United States.

Although Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised to create a system for waivers to protect that lifesaving aid, the cuts appear random and the system for reversing them remains unworkable. The programs remain shuttered. Enrich blamed "political leadership at USAID, the Department of State, and DOGE, who have created and continue to create intentional and/or unintentional obstacles that have wholly prevented implementation."

On Sunday, Enrich sent another memo to staff, thanking them for their work and telling them he had been placed on “administrative leave, effective immediately.”

Dangerous cuts are taking place in the United States, as well. On Friday, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk called Social Security, the basis of the U.S. social safety net, a “Ponzi scheme.” Also on Friday, the Social Security Administration announced that it will consolidate the current ten regional offices it maintains into four and cut at least 7,000 jobs from an agency that is already at a 50-year staffing low. Erich Wagner of Government Executive reported that billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) team had canceled the leases for 45 of the agency’s field offices and is urging employees to quit.

The acting commissioner of the agency, Leland Dudek, a mid-level staffer who got his post after sharing sensitive information with DOGE, blamed former president Joe Biden for the cuts. In contrast, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) pointed out that the system currently delivers 99.7% of retirement benefits accurately and on time. He warned that the administration is hollowing it out, and when it can no longer function, Republicans will say it needs the private sector to take it over. He called the cuts “a prelude to privatization.”

“The public is going to suffer terribly as a result of this,” a senior official told NPR. “Local field offices will close, hold times will increase, and people will be sicker, hungry, or die when checks don't arrive or a disability hearing is delayed just one month too late.”

In South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, more than 200 wildfires began to burn over the weekend as dry conditions and high winds drove the flames. Firefighters from the Forest Service helped to contain the fires, but they were understaffed even before Trump took office. Now, with the new cuts to the service, prevention measures are impossible and there aren’t enough people to fight fires effectively and safely. South Carolina governor Henry McMaster (R) declared a state of emergency on Sunday.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo picked up something many of us missed, posting today that Trump’s February 11 “workforce optimization” executive order is a clear blueprint for the end goal of all the cuts to the federal government. The order says that departments and agencies must plan to cut all functions and employees who are not designated as essential during a government shutdown. As Marshall notes, this is basically a blueprint for a skeleton crew version of government.

But for all that the administration, led by DOGE, insists that the U.S. has no money for the government services that help ordinary people, it appears to think there is plenty of money to help wealthy supporters. In February, the cryptocurrency bitcoin experienced its biggest monthly drop since June 2022, falling by 17.5%. On Sunday, in a post on his social media site, Trump announced that the government will create a strategic stockpile of five cryptocurrencies, spending tax dollars to buy them.

Supporters say that such an investment could pay off in decades, when that currency has appreciated to become worth trillions of dollars. But, as Zachary B. Wolf of CNN notes, “for every bitcoin evangelist, there is an academic or banker from across the political spectrum who will point out that cryptocurrency investments might just as easily go up in smoke, which would be an unfortunate thing to happen to taxpayer dollars.”

The first three currencies Trump announced were not well known, and the announcement sent their prices soaring. Hours later, he added the names of the two biggest cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. After the initial surges, by Monday prices for the currencies had fallen roughly back to where they had been before the announcement, making the announcement look like a pump-and-dump scheme. Economist Peter Schiff, a Trump supporter, called for a full congressional investigation, suggesting that someone other than Trump might have written the social media posts that set off the frenzy and wondering who was buying and selling in that short window of time.

Also on Sunday, the administration announced it would stop enforcing anti-money-laundering laws that were put in place over Trump’s veto in 2021 at the end of his first term and required shell companies to identify the people who own or control them. Referring to the law as a “Biden rule,” Trump called the announcement that he would not enforce it “Exciting News!” The Trump Organization frequently uses shell companies.

A world in which the government does not regulate business or address social welfare or infrastructure, claiming instead to promote economic development by funneling resources to wealthy business leaders, looks much like the late-nineteenth-century world that Trump praises. Trump insists that President William McKinley, who was president from 1897 to 1901, created the nation’s most prosperous era by imposing high tariffs on products from foreign countries.

Trump confirmed today that he will go forward with his own 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% on goods from China, adding to the 10% tariffs Trump added to Chinese products in February. While President Joe Biden maintained tariffs on only certain products from China to protect specific industries, it appears Trump’s tariffs will cover all products.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada called the tariffs “unjustified” and announced that Canada will put retaliatory tariffs on $20.8 billion worth of U.S. products made primarily in Republican-dominated states, including spirits, beer, wine, cosmetics, appliances, orange juice, peanut butter, clothing, footwear, and paper. A second set of tariffs in a few weeks will target about $90 billion worth of products, including cars and trucks, EVs, products made of steel and aluminum, fruits and vegetables, beef, pork, and dairy products.

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum did not provide details of what her country would do but told reporters today: “We have a plan B, C, D.” Chinese officials say that China, too, will impose retaliatory tariffs, singling out agricultural products and placing tariffs of 15% on corn and 10% on soybeans. It also says it will restrict exports to 15 U.S. companies.

The tariffs in place in the U.S. at the end of the nineteenth century were less important for the explosive growth of the economy in that era than the flood of foreign capital into private businesses: railroad, mining, cattle, department stores, and finance. By the end of the century, investing in America was such a busy trade that the London Stock Exchange had a separate section for American railroad transactions alone.

And the economic growth of the country did not help everyone equally. While industrialists like Cornelius Vanderbilt II could build 70-room summer homes in Newport, Rhode Island, the workers whose labor kept the mines and factories producing toiled fourteen to sixteen hours a day in dangerous conditions for little money, with no workmen’s compensation or disability insurance if they were injured. The era has become known as the Gilded Age, dominated by so-called robber barons.

Today, the stock market dropped dramatically upon news that Trump intended to go through with his tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 650 points, down 1.48%. The S&P fell 1.76%, and the Nasdaq Composite, which focuses on technology stocks, fell 2.64%. Meanwhile, shares of European defense companies jumped to record highs as Europe moves to replace the U.S. support for Ukraine.

Also today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecast a dramatic contraction in the economy in the first quarter of 2025. Evaluating current data according to a mathematical model, it moved from an expected 2.9% growth in gross domestic product at the end of January to –2.8% today. That is just a prediction and there is still room for those numbers to turn around, but they might help to explain why Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is talking about changing the way the U.S. calculates economic growth.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[kings-highway]

haikyuu characters but its just some of the most out of pocket quotes my roommate has recorded me saying mid-conversation:

Tanaka, probably loudly in conversation with Noya: "I could body a racoon."

Asahi: "If spiders developed wings, I would immediately check myself into a hospital. I would be a danger to myself and others."

Suga, offhandedly to Hinata when he finds out it's his birthday: "Statistically, you're more likely to die on your birthday. So... watch out."

Daichi, sometimes post timeskip talking about Kuroo: "nothing a twenty-five year old does isn't a ponzi scheme."

Iwaizumi, mid-Godzilla related conversation: "Me and Mothra have always had a special connection though."

Yabaha, at Kyotani: "If you're ever in a situation where you need to be escorted by an ambulance and you're feeling pain? GOOD."

Ushijima: "It's coming to the springtime. The sheep will be born."

Tendou, overheard in passing while mid-conversation with the other stz third years: "I don't think any other sub-class of human lays eggs."

Kenma, probably taken out of context about a video game but overheard by a very baffled Kuroo: "I may not be a follower, but I do love cults."

Bokuto, in an (playful) argument with Akaashi: "What the fuck would you do if I ate the declaration of independence?"

Tsukishima, chiming into a conversation he was barely listening to: "the last time the U.S got involved, fuckin' Berlin got cut in half."

Kita, unprompted probably: "Agriculture controls everything."

Mika (about Daishou): "Compared to other fairytales, he was an incredibly respectful snake."

Oikawa, texting Iwa at 5 am: "I hate that bamboo is real."

Hinata, loudly, probably because he forgot to bring his gatorade: "Humans were not made to consume water!"

Yachi, probably having stomach problems: "surely with all the synthetic science they have now they can make a burger product that doesn't make me wanna kill myself."

[thebibliosphere]

Hi, yeah. I'm aware one of my older posts about essential oil safety is circulating again. And I'm really glad that it's resonating and still helping people to realize that what the MLM cults are promoting is not safe.

However, that does not mean I want to engage with anyone about alternative medicines and my own background in alternative meds.

My knowledge in that field comes from growing up in a Christian adjacent new-age cult where I suffered profound medical neglect. The reason I know so much about alternative medicine and holistic therapies is because that was all I was allowed.

It does not come from a love of the alternative. It comes from a place of deep pain, suffering, and neglect. I made those posts to hopefully warn people and open their eyes to the harm that was being promoted.

I also got harassed endlessly back when my posts about essential oil safety were first doing the rounds. People went so far as to try and run me off the internet. The MLM cult mommies didn't like that I was calling them out on their child endangerment meets ponzi scheme. Funny, that.

Anyway. I'm not mad at anyone for being interested. This is just a blanket statement that I will not be engaging in that kind of conversation. I'm glad if alternative medicine has helped you. But I will not be fondly reminiscing with anyone about it.

Thanks for being chill about it.

(And if you're not being chill, fuck you 😘)

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 3/25/2025

~*migraine*~ so this is effectively half a tuesdaypost

listening

getting to a point at work where i can enter paperwork with mild distractions (listening to my own fucking music) and letting spotify feed me whatever video game adjacent it wants. this one does exactly what it says on the tin.

-

reading

could not finish this week’s frankly bonkers immediately post 9/11 lesbian thriller in time for this write up and do not want to worsen my migraine. so here we will chat about a book that made me…not homesick? for massachusetts and the boston area but did make me want to replay fallout 4, which was a very strange sensation.

audiobook corner proper, the 2005 Books on Tape version of Ponzi’s Scheme by Mitchell Zuckoff, narrated? performed? read? by David Birney. some very silly notes about the audiobook: not edited even a little bit from the CD version, so about every forty-eight minutes a different guy from the audiobook narrator will come on and inform you what disk you’re finishing and what disk you’re going to start next.

the narrator’s New England accent also comes out hard on place names which is considerately funnier than his decision to apply an Italian accent to direct Ponzi quotes in the first two chapters.

a book that was very successful at its goal of getting YOU the reader to understand why he was so successful: he had public opinion and all but one newspaper on his side. several investigations by nearly every level of law enforcement found it wasn’t technically illegal just uncool, but how are you doing this at the scale you need??? trade secret thanks bye! sows the field well in advance with a tale of a staggering act of generosity in his youth and how much of a wife guy he was. the ENTIRE book it has you sort of teetering on whether he drank his own kool aid. like he truly almost got away with it. and it beautifully recounts his own defenses in legal court and the court of public opinion. it waits until the FINAL TEN MINUTES and a deathbed confession for the reveal that yeah of COURSE he knew he was scamming the whole time. IDIOT. and i now more fully understand why so many people got so fully fleeced. extremely effective book!

-

watching

fallow

-

playing

not much! getting braver with genshin phone controls but they still suck shit compared to mouse & keyboard.

-

making

rounding cape horn to frisco bay (heel to gusset and instep) on this porthos sock. i already knew i hated top down socks (i love to toe up and then blithely knit until im out of yarn instead of playing yarn chicken) but im learning a new thing about myself, and that is i do not care for this pattern maker’s method of heels and gussets. i hate heel flaps and picking up stitches bc i feel like it never looks as neat or tidy as it could be. in other knitting woes, i ordered a ton of sock yarn for christmas presents THREE WEEKS AGO and it still has not shipped bc yarnspirations’ warehouse has suffered some sort of catastrophic admin breakdown. luckily these are for my brother’s summer birthday so i have some time but like. c’mon.

inside out bc that’s how knitting socks works

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Come see me on tour!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour

My next novel is The Bezzle, a high-tech ice-cold revenge thriller starring Marty Hench, a two-fisted forensic accountant, as he takes on the sleaziest scams of the first two decades of the 2000s, from hamburger-themed Ponzis to the unbelievably sleazy and evil prison-tech industry:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

I'm taking Marty on the road! I'll be visiting eighteen cities between now and June, and I hope you'll come out and say hello, visit a beloved local bookseller, and maybe get a book (or two)!

21 Feb: Weller Bookworks, Salt Lake City, 1830h: https://www.wellerbookworks.com/event/store-cory-doctorow-feb-21-630-pm

22 Feb: Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, 19h: https://www.mystgalaxy.com/22224Doctorow

24 Feb: Vroman's, Pasadena, 17h, with Adam Conover (!!) https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Cory-Doctorow-discusses-The-Bezzle

26 Feb: Third Place Books, Seattle, 19h, with Neal Stephenson (!!!) https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/cory-doctorow

27 Feb: Powell's, Portland, 19h: https://www.powells.com/book/the-bezzle-martin-hench-2-9781250865878/1-2

29 Feb: Changing Hands, Phoenix, 1830h: https://www.changinghands.com/event/february2024/cory-doctorow

9-10 Mar: Tucson Festival of the Book: https://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?action=display_author&id=15669

13 Mar: San Francisco Public Library: https://sfpl.org/events/2024/03/13/author-cory-doctrow-bezzle

22 Mar: Toronto: Wendy Michener Memorial Lecture: https://events.yorku.ca/events/wendy-michener-memorial-lecture2024/

24 Mar: NYC: Word Books (with Laura Poitras): https://shop.wordbookstores.com/event/word-presents-cory-doctorow

29-31 Mar: Wondercon Anaheim: https://www.comic-con.org/wc/

11 Apr: Harvard Berkman-Klein Center (with Randall Munroe) https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/enshittification

12 Apr: RISD Debates in AI, Providence, details coming soon!

17 Apr: Anderson's Books, Chicago, 19h: https://www.andersonsbookshop.com/event/cory-doctorow-1

19-21 Apr: Torino Biennale Tecnologia https://www.turismotorino.org/en/experiences/events/biennale-tecnologia

2 May, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Winnipeg https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cory-doctorow-tickets-798820071337

5-11 May: Tartu Prima Vista Literary Festival https://tartu2024.ee/en/kirjandusfestival/

6-9 Jun: Media Ecology Association keynote, Amherst, NY https://media-ecology.org/convention

Calgary and Vancouver – details coming soon!

[tim-official]

people lump NFTs / the cryptocurrency craze of 2021 in with AI as "just another thing that tech grifters are excited about," and people love posting gifs of people cheering under news stories about OpenAI hemorrhaging money. this is a naive read on the situation, i think NFTs didn't work and never could. a ponzi scheme by definition cannot last. chatGPT, DALL·E, etc are things that sometimes work, and which work marginally better every month. this is infinitely more useful than NFTs, which are useless to everyone. as a result, some people actually want them - or, at least, people with capital think people will want them, which is just as good. also unlike NFTs, there is nothing about AI that means it inherently has to take huge amounts of electricity and clean water. the environmental cost of NFTs effectively gave them value; meanwhile, there are thousands of papers published and thousands of careers laser-focused on reducing the compute cost of machine learning. this is good, but keep in mind they're doing it because they want to put machine learning crap in all the fridges they crammed WiFi into five years ago, not because they care that much if the oceans boil

The people making NFTs were no-names trying to give everyone else FOMO for a quick buck. OpenAI is pouring cement mixers of Microsoft money into trying to generate a new market, and judging by the sheer number of people who have incorporated ChatGPT into their everyday routines, they are succeeding, and attracting insane amounts of investment in the process. When you have as much capital and market share as Microsoft you are freed from the obligation to ever make anything profitable. this is late capitalism: "supply" and "demand" are completely uncoupled, society is organized around production solely based on fictions and superstitions in the heads of private equity goons anyway. this is not an "AI is evil" or "AI is good" post. just don't compare the situation to NFTs or crypto and assume it's all the work of "techbros" or whatever. it's not comparable, by orders of magnitude

[devotion-disorder]

Ponzi may be the real mvp cuz he is Noel's wingman and creates chances to make the whole damn reason why s/o likes him, vulnerability and wholesome shit. (Go kitty go!)

play of the game, ponzi

imagine you try to escape but ponzi is sitting at the door looking all cute and flopping over and you can NOT just leave without petting them so you end up getting too engrossed in cat to remember what you were doing.........................would work on me

[doginprogress]

I think one of the best things the Ibizan Hound Club of the United States has ever done is the illustrated standard

It uses real pictures of real dogs and shows variations of conformation and style within the breed that can all be correct. It also has real examples of what isn’t desirable.

It also expands upon and goes more in depth into the official AKC standard and how it is generally agreed to be interpreted in the breed

Ibizans have some really unique conformational features and the illustrated standard was so instrumental to my own learning and is such a wonderful resource to share with others trying to learn. Honestly every breed should have an illustrated standard imo

Some personal favorite sections

[jpitha]

You have to understand.

At least at first, I didn’t mean to do it. I had just gotten out of College, a kid with a degree in History and an eye watering amount of debt. I made the mistake of telling the professor I did early 21st century historical reenactments for my summer job and he let me take on a titanic amount of debt for historical realism. I’m not sure who I owe the money to, since we live in a post scarcity society, but I sure worry about repaying it, so I have that going for me. Extra points for realism.

After I graduated - with an ulcer from stress worrying about the debt, another point for realism! - I was bumming around the orbital looking for a way to earn some quick cash and I realized how I could put my degree to use. Everyone has everything provided for them by the government because - after the Unpleasantness - we figured out that was easier and cheaper than giving everyone on the planet a gun.

But that means that everyone has mostly forgotten how to keep an eye out for scams. Who is going to scam you anyway when you all have the same access to cheap and easy housing, food, and Space Cocaine?

People who have mountains of debt due to historical accuracy, that’s who.

I set up shop right outside the exit from Customs on the station. Rubes-er People from all over the Galaxy would come, hellbent on seeing the sights of my planet and before they could hit up the Cøffee Haüs they would find me.

I started small; ran a couple of three card monte tables, but without a partner, convincing people they could win without them actually winning was tough. I hacked a janitorbot into being my assistant and soon enough I would have a crowd watching.

This, while effective was incredibly boring, so I changed to my plan B and just started making fake supplements. For maximum compatibility across all of the galactic species, mine were pure carbon (to absorb toxins you see). This increased who I could sell too without worrying (too much) about inadvertently poisoning anyone.

A few people were sad I moved away from scamming people with cards, but they became my first ‘partners’ in selling my supplement. I had to actually explain how a Ponzi scheme worked though, nobody remembered. I told them about how so long as they found more suckers underneath them, they wouldn’t be left holding the bag and it took off like an oxygen accelerated fire.

There was also an oxygen accelerated fire, but that can’t be traced back to me.

Three weeks later, I was the richest human in the Galaxy. Honesty, I didn’t even know where everyone even got the money, I thought we had eliminated it, but here I am, rich as hell. I feel a little bad about it, but if I admit the whole thing was a ploy to pay off my student loans, I worry that they’ll turn on me.

I still haven’t paid off my loans either. I don’t think I can swing the payments and the payments on my Super Dreadnought. Did you know they’ll build anyone one so long as you put the deposit down?

Anyway, do you want to get in on an incredible deal on the low effort world of supplement sales?

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Emily Singer at Daily Kos:

President Donald Trump and co-President Elon Musk's cuts to the Social Security Administration's workforce and operations have caused massive problems for the popular social safety net program that 73 million Americans depend on to afford their basic cost of living. The Washington Post published a bombshell report on Tuesday, detailing the problems Musk has caused at the Social Security Administration through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. From the report:

[The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts because the servers were overloaded. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones at the front desk as receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. But the agency no longer has a system to monitor customers’ experience with these services, because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk. […] The turmoil is leaving many retirees, disabled claimants and legal immigrants who need Social Security cards with less access or shut out of the system altogether, according to those familiar with the problems.]

The problems are thanks to a myriad of choices Musk has made to how the agency runs. The Social Security Administration plans to cut roughly 7,000 employees—or 12% of its workforce—which current and former Social Security officials say could make it impossible for the program to keep up with the needs of the tens of millions of Americans who receive and apply for benefits annually. “Everything they have done so far is breaking the agency’s ability to serve the public,” Martin O’Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner under former President Joe Biden, told The New York Times. Musk and his DOGE bros also changed the way recipients can verify their identities to the agency, nixing the ability to do so over the phone and requiring the elderly and disabled people who receive benefits to do it either online or in-person. That’s an incredible burden for a population that is not as computer literate as others. It could also burden recipients who live in rural areas or areas with poor internet access. Going in person would be even more of a burden since many elderly and disabled recipients cannot travel to offices—if they could even get an appointment.

A memo obtained by the newsletter Popular Information said the new identity-verification procedure would lead an additional 75,000 to 85,000 weekly visits to agency offices. In turn, that would lead to “longer wait times and processing times,” the memo said. Already, wait times for appointments can be more than a month. Musk has had it out for Social Security since his buddy Trump put him in charge of finding waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Musk criticized the social safety net program as a “Ponzi scheme.” He lied that the program is rife with fraud—lies that have led eligible people to lose benefits. He also helped force out the acting Social Security administrator and replace him Leland Dudek, an unqualified hothead who has acted vindictively since taking over.

In just over two months of the Trump/Musk regime, Social Security is in dire peril.

See Also:

The Bulwark: Musk Slashes Social Security as Republicans Debate What a “Cut” Is

Robert Reich: Why Social Security is in the worst crisis since its 1935 founding, and what you can do about it

[darkeagleruins]

This needs to be spread far and wide.

While Barack Hussein Obama II’s Vice-President, Joe Biden opened up Wall Street to a gang of fraudsters more dangerous than a a hundred million Bernie Madoffs.

Biden and Obama allowed the Chinese Communist Party full and unfettered access to Wall Street, allowing them to benefit from our stock market.

Just one example, the Chinese companies do not have to follow the same rules as all other companies.

The CCP companies have no oversight, transparency, accounting or auditing whatsoever.

We simply have to take their word for the numbers being reported. These are fake companies posting fake revenue and nonexistent profits.

Understand, American pension funds are investing in this Ponzi scheme!

President Trump signed a National Security Memorandum to restrict the CCP's capital nation market access.

What @frankgaffney explains is outrageous how China has wedged into our money.