To the editor:

A Social Security Administration audit by an Inspector General (“Preventing, Detecting, and Recovering Improper Payments”) was released in July. It found less than 1% in improper payments from 2015 to 2022. An actual audit is what Congress should be using in the process of increasing efficiency and addressing waste or fraud.

Inspectors General, ethics officials and other federal watchdogs have been fired. The current administration seems to agree with recently pardoned Charles Kushner, who said, “You want to know what I think about watchdogs? All they want to do is assure that poor, not successful people get into government. If you’re successful, you shouldn’t be penalized by stupid ethics watchdogs.”

That’s good news for successful Elon Musk, who calls Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” and us “parasites.” Waste and fraud DOGE claimed to find in Social Security was actually his unqualified team’s misunderstanding of the older coding system. They made mistakes in cutting critical staff and funds across multiple agencies that had to be reversed. DOGE has no auditors or watchdogs, and the Republican controlled Congress dodges the blame for cuts by sitting back and letting DOGE run wild.

Musk blames the debt on Social Security, but Ronald Reagan once explained, “Social Security has nothing to do with balancing a budget or lowering the deficit.” In fact over 7% of the national debt is owed to Social Security. Its excess funds are invested in U.S. Treasury securities. Could Social Security run out of money? Yes. But there are many ways Congress could fix it. Scrapping the cap would make it solvent for 70 years. Musk and DOGE will break Social Security for political reasons. Secretary Leavitt described money spent that “goes against the president’s policies” as fraud. That’s not what fraud means, and DOGE is not elected government. It’s simply a wrecking crew bypassing laws while eliminating humanity from government.

The great dealmaker’s promise was American greatness. What he’s giving us is something America never was before, something our founders warned against, something our Greatest Generation fought to keep from our shores. What a deal.

Patricia Missling

Springfield