Malice or Stupidity?

The attack on Social Security

Via: Starecat.com

Hanlon’s Razor posits that we should “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” But in light of certain recent developments — including the festering Signal-gate FUBAR — we may need to update that, don’t you think?

To be sure, sometimes the distinctions are crystal clear:

• Malicious: Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in wake of his attacks - The Washington Post

• Stupid: Vaccine skeptic hired to head federal study of immunizations and autism - The Washington Post

• (Incandescently) Stupid: “Trump Demands That Colorado Take Down His Jowly Portrait.”

But malice is not always distinct from stupidity; and we are reminded daily that they can easily coexist. Sometimes the razor is actually a blender. So, we get this:

• Stupid and Malicious: Speaker Mike Johnson floats eliminating federal courts as GOP ramps up attacks on judges

• (Really) Stupid and Malicious: DOGE Staffer, 'Big Balls', Provided Tech Support to Cybercrime Ring, Records Show

Which brings us to the question of whether the vandalism of Social Security can be attributed to malice or stupidity.

The strutting Silicon bros are infamous for their commitment to moving fast and breaking things. But in the case of Social Security, (1) do they know where they are moving? and (2) do they know what they are breaking?

Happy Wednesday.

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While the omnishambles of the “Houthi Small Group Chat” remains by far the most extraordinary story of the week, the sabotage of SSA may turn out to be more consequential.

Although he seems to have only recently become familiar with Social Security, Elon Musk has repeatedly (and falsely) claimed that it is beset with waste and fraud and he has unleashed his trolls on the agency — with dire consequences.¹ Here’s yesterday’s Wapo headline: “Long waits, floods of calls, web crashes: Social Security is breaking down”

The details are numerous and grim:

The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones in place of receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. Amid all this, the agency no longer has a system to monitor customer experience because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk.

And the phones keep ringing. And ringing.

I don’t think I need to remind you that this is a BFD. Tens of millions of Americans — 73 million to be exact — receive benefits from Social Security. They include retirees, their survivors, as well as poor and disabled Americans whose benefits are now at risk.

Social Security, of course, can be modernized; this might include raising income thresholds for the payroll tax or adjusting the retirement age to account for greater longevity. But that’s not what is happening right now. At all.

As a result of recent cuts, SSA “is engulfed in crisis — further undermining the already struggling organization’s ability to provide reliable and quick service to vulnerable customers, according to internal documents and more than two dozen current and former agency employees and officials, customers and others who interact with Social Security….

The turmoil is leaving many retirees, disabled claimants, and legal immigrants needing Social Security cards with less access or shut out of the system altogether, according to those familiar with the problems….

The problems are not all new. SSA has an aging technology system and its budget has not kept up with changing demographics, including the (totally predictable) explosion of baby boomer retirements.

But now, Trump and Musk have loosed a horde of children with hammers on the struggling agency. And, the Post tells us, some observers fear that the push “is part of a long-sought effort by conservatives to privatize all or part of the agency.”

“They’re creating a fire to require them to come and put it out,” said one high-ranking official who took early retirement this month

Last week, Judd Legum got his hands on a memo that laid out the plans to enshittify the agency. The internal memo, sent out on March 13, “details proposed changes to the claims process that would debilitate the agency, cause significant processing delays, and prevent many Americans from applying for or receiving benefits.”

The biggest change is a new rule that will require many recipients to visit field offices in person to provide identity documentation. “The memo anticipates creating a huge surge in demand for in-person appointments…”

But, but, but…

The new requirements come at the exact moment that the SSA is slashing staff and closing offices.

Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek has announced that he will terminate 7,000 workers, about 12% of the workforce. Meanwhile, dozens of SSA offices are being shuttered. Some people need to travel more than 100 miles to get to the nearest location. As the SSA limits services that could be provided over the phone, it is ending in-person services at some offices, converting them to phone-only.

The result? Delays. Denials. Chaos.

The memo acknowledges that the policy changes would create increased "challenges for vulnerable populations." This seems to concede that many elderly and disabled people are physically unable to travel to an in-person office. It is unclear how these populations will be able to receive benefits at all.

The combination of fewer workers, fewer offices, and a massive increase in the demand for in-person services could sabotage the Social Security system — effectively denying many Americans the benefits they are due.

All of this is directly acknowledged in the Diaz memo. The memo predicts "service disruption," "operational strain," and "budget shortfalls." It also says preventing people who cannot use the internet or travel to an in-person office from receiving benefits could result in "legal challenges and congressional scrutiny."

**

Let’s go back to our original question: how much of this is intentional? And how much is just blundering and incompetence?

Is all of this part of a plan to turn Americans against Social Security? And to what end? To provoke a cry from the unwashed for Trump and Musk to save them? That result seems unlikely in the extreme.

Here’s a reminder of what the polls tell us:

By almost any measure, Social Security remains the Third Rail of American politics; and yet Musk seems intent on flinging the GOP upon it.

But should we attribute this to malice or stupidity?

**

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce to you Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Last week, the billionaire cabinet member shared his deep thoughts about Social Security with some podcasters.

Attention ought to be paid:

“Let's say social security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain.

“She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”

He added: "Whoever screams is the one stealing . . . Come on, your mother, 80-year-olds, 90-year-olds, they trust the government.”

Words fail in explaining how fucked up this is. How utterly clueless and tone-deaf.

The stupidity, it burns.

But it reminds us that the billionaire class has unplumbed depths of ignorance when it comes to the lives of most Americans. It also suggests that the folks wrecking Social Security might not have any idea what they are doing.

In Lutnick’s world, rich old ladies don’t care if their checks arrive. He seems impenetrably ignorant of the fact that: “Social Security Lifts More People Above the Poverty Line Than Any Other Program”

Nota bene: What it means for senior citizens.

Exit take: If despoiling SSA is a concerted strategy, then it is a cunning plan cooked up in a laboratory of gormless idiots.

The Atlantic: Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal

Gift link:

As we wrote on Monday, much of the conversation in the “Houthi PC small group” concerned the timing and rationale of attacks on the Houthis, and contained remarks by Trump-administration officials about the alleged shortcomings of America’s European allies. But on the day of the attack—Saturday, March 15—the discussion veered toward the operational.

At 11:44 a.m. eastern time, Hegseth posted in the chat, in all caps, “TEAM UPDATE:”

The text beneath this began, “TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.” Centcom, or Central Command, is the military’s combatant command for the Middle East. The Hegseth text continues:

• “1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”

• “1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”

Let us pause here for a moment to underscore a point. This Signal message shows that the U.S. secretary of defense texted a group that included a phone number unknown to him—Goldberg’s cellphone—at 11:44 a.m. This was 31 minutes before the first U.S. warplanes launched, and two hours and one minute before the beginning of a period in which a primary target, the Houthi “Target Terrorist,” was expected to be killed by these American aircraft. If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests—or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media—the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds. The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.

Wednesday dogs

Good news: Our French dog, Zokami, is feeling much better after some visits to the vet this weekend.

1. Elon Musk claims ‘massive' Social Security fraud. How much money is actually lost to fraud or waste? - Poynter

Musk said, “Most of the federal spending is entitlements. So that’s like the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half trillion, maybe $600, $700 billion a year.”

Leavitt cited an inspector general report from the Social Security Administration that found more than $70 billion of fraud in that program alone.

The 2024 report did not conclude there was more than $70 billion in Social Security “fraud” – it said that the program sent almost $71.8 billion in “improper payments” from 2015 to 2022, a period that includes Trump’s first term. That is less than 1% of overall payments in that timeframe.