Are you better off than you were four – or eight – weeks ago? That paraphrase of the famous question once asked by Ronald Reagan has a distinctly more ominous ring to it today as Donald Trump reprises his occupation of the White House. In the short time that he has presided over the nation he has exceeded the worst predictions of the harm that his ignorant and incompetent stewardship would provide.
Click here to post this article on Twitter or Click here to post on Bluesky
Ever since Trump’s inauguration, the prospects for the financial well being of America and the American people have declined precipitously. Most economists are predicting a recession. Prices for many common consumers goods (gas, groceries, housing, etc.) have risen. And Trump’s punitive, inflationary tariffs promise to make things even worse.
SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Secretary Visits Fox News to Contradict Her Boss’s Lies About the Cost of Tariffs
But not to worry. Trump himself is going to be just fine. He is fully engaged in a White House based grifting operation that is keeping him flush with corrupt endeavors such as his floundering media company, and his crypto coin, both of which have lost billions of dollars for most investors not tied to the immediate Trump family. However, they provide a neat vehicle to make contributions (e.g. bribes) to Trump.
What’s more, the oligarch class to which Trump has pledged fidelity is also going to be just fine. As evidence of that, Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, made an appearance on the All-In podcast, whose hosts are right-wing venture capitalists, including Trump’s AI and Crypto Czar, David Sacks.
During the discussion with this mutual adoration society, the subject of Social Security came up. Specifically, there were questions about the viability of the program in the wake of the efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Elimination (DOGE) to undermine and eventually terminate it. With regard to that, Lutnick offered a little parable…
“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 just wouldn’t. She’d just think something got messed up, and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining.”
Oh Cool… This billionaire (Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick) is cool with his mother not getting her Social Security check on time.Is your mother cool with that? Are you?
— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-03-21T18:54:25.485Z
See? No problem. Except for one small detail. Not everyone’s family is fortunate enough to have a billionaire like Lutnick in it. While his mother-in-law could comfortably skip a month or thirty, most families can’t. Missing a month to the average Social Security recipient could mean missing a rent payment, missing meals, skipping medications and doctor’s visits, forfeiting child care services, and so many more financial obligations being unmet.
And if that’s not bad enough, Lutnick mocks anyone who might have reasonable complaints about the suffering that Trump is causing, and accuses them of being “fraudsters.”
The prospect of Social Security failing to send out benefit checks on schedule has never been as imminent as it is today. That is solely due to DOGE seeking to cut staff, end telephone access, appoint hostile administrators, and require in-person servicing, while simultaneously closing offices.
It is the clear intent of the Trump regime to sabotage the program that Musk has preposterously called “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” A characterization that is utterly absurd since it is funded by the contributions of the recipients throughout their working lives. And if funding were an issue due to the fluctuations of population, it could easily be resolved by removing the arbitrary salary cap that allows wealthy earners like Trump, Musk, and Lutnick, to avoid paying into the Social Security trust fund at the same rate as working class Americans.
Lutnick’s flaming insensitivity to the financial burdens of ordinary people is typical of the ultra-elitist mindset of the Trump administration. They can’t comprehend that there are people living check-to-check because they are so wrapped up in their excess. But that selfish blindness will not go unnoticed by Americans living on Social Security, or who will be, or their children, or other family members and caregivers. And Trump and Company will pay the price for their callous “let them eat cake” indifference to the realities that most people endure.
RELATED STORIES:
- Fox News is OUTRAGED that Americans Hate Musk and Trump Just Because They’re Destroying America
- Trump is FREAKING OUT About His Coming Recession and Is Begging Weaselly Republicans for Votes
- OH-NO! Trump WH Aide Brags They are Running the Country Like Trump and Musk Run Their Businesses
Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse
on Twitter and Facebook and Bluesky and Threads.And check out my books on Amazon:
Fox Nation vs. Reality:
The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.Thanks so much for your support.