Summary

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, leading Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” are pushing for $2 trillion in federal budget cuts, which could target Social Security and Medicare.

While they claim to streamline government, critics argue billionaires like Musk and Ramaswamy are unaffected by these cuts, which could harm ordinary Americans who depend on these programs.

Despite Trump’s repeated promises to protect Social Security, skepticism remains over whether these cuts will influence Congress, where voter opposition to reducing benefits is strong.

Critics call the department’s influence limited but politically concerning.

  • MrSilkworm
    link
    fedilink
    57 days ago

    Thing is that when something similar happened in France, all hell broke loose. Strikes went on for a long time. And even though the pension plan passed with a presidential degree rather than through parliament, the president became so unpopular, that the country is in shambles now

    • @blattrules@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      37 days ago

      Yup, that’s my line in the sand for rioting. I’m comfortable, but if they take away something that I’ve paid into my whole life and fuck my retirement over, I won’t stand for it.

    • @reddig33@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      117 days ago

      They won’t cut it. They’ll privatize it/enshittify it. It’ll be a slow boil until it’s worthless after the grifters have skimmed off the top.

    • I would love to be wrong about this but I just don’t see it happening.

      People in the US just roll over and take it when this stuff happens. Either its because they have been sold a line of bullshit from their preferred propaganda source about how its actually a good thing because SoCiAlIsM bAd or because they can’t engage against riot police or protest because they have to work to stay above the water. There is no safety net in the US and that is working really well to keep us toeing the line.

      Its going to take something really massive for the citizens of the US to actually group up and make change, as massive as shitcanning or changing Social Security is, it impacts elderly and disabled folks moreso than the healthy and able bodied who could actually fight this if it directly impacted them at this time.

      • @foggy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        147 days ago

        Are you under the impression that every tax paying citizen hasn’t paid thousands into social security?

      • The Quuuuuill
        link
        fedilink
        English
        187 days ago

        solidarity motherfucker, develop it.

        if the old folks are rioting, get between them and the police with your young body

  • …and all the voters who sat home because the democrats didn’t hold their hand all the way to the ballot box. Yeah, the neo-con platform sucked, but it wasn’t going to suck like trump being president.

  • @dhork@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    757 days ago

    It’s going to happen, but not in as direct a fashion as a budget cut. They will remove it from the Federal budget entirely, by privatizing it. They will sell the privatization as a benefit to the average retiree, by billing it as “removing bloated bureaucracy”. They will form a company with all of Trump’s broligarchs as owners, and all payments will go through X. This company will magically win the contract to provide this service, without any competitive bid.

    None of their promises will be fulfilled, and benefits will be enshittified, just like everything else these people touch. Eventually, the company will go belly-up, but not until after losing all of its our assets in a convenient crypto heist. All the founders will then live suspiciously lavish lifestyles off of their crypto stashes. Eggheads will discover that the owners took the crypto themselves, but President Trump will dismiss that as “fake news” and issue pre-emptive pardons to prevent “Woke FBI agents” from investigating them.

    • chingadera
      link
      fedilink
      287 days ago

      I’d really like to know what these fucking morons plan to do when they tank the USD.

      • @dhork@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        77 days ago

        They don’t have to worry once all the Dogecoin they bought for $0.002 is now worth $69

        • @errer@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          107 days ago

          There are two ways crypto goes up in dollar value: the crypto is intrinsically worth more, or the dollar is intrinsically worth less

        • chingadera
          link
          fedilink
          3
          edit-2
          7 days ago

          Hahahah I think you spelled “when they all fall victim of a pump and dump schemes, again” wrong

          • @dhork@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            67 days ago

            No, the Broligarchs don’t have to worry, because they have enough liquidity that they will be the ones pumping and dumping. It’s all the plebes who listen to their podcasts and invest In the “next big thing” that will be holding the bag.

            • chingadera
              link
              fedilink
              47 days ago

              Ah yeah, I forgot who we were talking about exactly. You right

      • IninewCrow
        link
        fedilink
        English
        327 days ago

        This is the thing I love about all this … billionaires don’t have a nationality and have no allegiance to any nation … in fact, they believe that nations should have allegiance to them.

        I have a friend who likes to talk politics all the time and he keeps repeating like a mantra … the Americans did this, the Americans did that, America, America … and I keep correcting him, it’s not Americans, it’s just a bunch of billionaires directing the show to get what they want.

        It’s really weird because it’s a well known conspiracy, an open secret, a true lie … it’s not an organized cabal or an evil mastermind … it’s just a bunch of billionaires that want to control everything and everyone so that they can keep making more money. And they really don’t care of they are American, British, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Indian, Brazilian, or whatever … all they care about is money and they get to the point in life and wealth that they have so much money that their nationality no longer matters.

        • @whoisearth@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          25 days ago

          And herein lies the problem. The absolutism of removing any and all responsibility from the American public. Anything to avoid looking in the mirror I suppose.

      • @Steve@startrek.website
        link
        fedilink
        37 days ago

        Most of their net worth is in assets, not dollars.

        Guess what they do hold in dollars? Debt.

        And what happens to debt when the dollar tanks?

  • @Etterra@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    117 days ago

    As a disabled person who voted for Harris, I’d just like to say fuck every goddamn retard and some who voted for the Orange Idiot and I’m glad you’re all about to have your faces chewed off by the leopards. I can’t wait until you all start cannibalizing each other’s stuff in other to pay for healthcare and nursing homes, you shit chugging bug fuckers.

  • @Treczoks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    27 days ago

    Well, the poorer the subjects are, the more desperate they are to work. Even for less. More money for the already rich. That is the plan, try to change my mind.

  • @IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    187 days ago

    So this guy is “ceo” of space x, Tesla, and twitter and now he’s running a play project that covers the entire government? This man must be the most useless scattered inefficient grifter in the world.

  • chingadera
    link
    fedilink
    157 days ago

    Unaffected?

    They will benefit greatly from fucking us over as usual, that’s how they have all of the money and the power to begin with, they got it by fucking us over.

    Benefiting from something is an effect.

    To write this any other way is straight up irresponsible and morally wrong.