Social Insecurity?
"You wake up one day and discover you're dead,” Ned Johnson told The Seattle Times. "It's been truly surreal."
82-year-old Leonard “Ned” Johnson’s Social Security was cut off this year after the agency declared that he was dead. $5,201 in Social Security payments was removed from his bank account retroactively. His Medicare was canceled. He had to call his local Social Security office several times a day for weeks to get an appointment to prove that he was very much alive. Mr. Johnson says he faced a long line at the office just to get in, and his case remains unresolved.
"When I was in that line, I was thinking that if I was living solely off Social Security, I could be close to dumpster diving about now," Ned said.
They are our grandparents and parents, our friends and our neighbors, our veterans and our disabled.
Social Security was designed to provide financial support to retirees, disabled individuals, and survivors of deceased workers. It was a promise that the federal government was there for everyday Americans, especially those in difficult circumstances.
Our nation was in the grips of the Great Depression, and millions were disillusioned with the American Dream when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law in 1935.
Today, seventy-three million Americans who worked hard and paid into Social Security all their working lives now count on it to help them meet their living expenses. For thirty million of them, it is their only income, which they use to meet basic expenses, including rent and food.
The Trump administration is now slashing agency positions and closing field offices, making it more difficult for retirees to receive their promised benefits. This will reduce payments and increase difficulties for vulnerable populations nationwide.
Martin O’Malley, former commissioner of the Social Security Administration, warns that cuts made to the agency by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could result in the “collapse” of the entire system.
“All Americans should be appalled at this. We need to call our members of Congress and stop this steal before it’s completed. Social Security is a lifeline to millions of Americans. The cavalier disregard for how so many Americans live is appalling, and a cruelheartedness that we’ve never seen before as Americans.” - Martin O’Malley, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2023 to 2024.
If you want to call your member of Congress and help “stop the steal,” please click here to find their office phone number.
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I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Social Security. Please share them in the comments section.
Resources:
Is This Any Way to Say "Thank You For Your Service"?
America Wages "Shock and Awe" Against America
Elon Musk-ovites, Christo-Fascism & the Specter of End Times
Bonus Video:
Thank you, Brad. I truly hate reading or listening to the news each day but I also know it is imperative to stay informed.
Very important post, Brad. thank you. I hope it's not too late to stop them from dismantling the social safety net. It seems foreign--completely unrelatable--to the broligarchs, but it is the reality for the 30M who subsist on Social Security, and the 70M who depend upon it.