Musk calls Social Security the “Ponzi Plan.” The real scam is Trump’s peddler | Robert Reich

Elon Musk said at Joe Rogan’s show last week that Social Security is “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

garbage. In the Ponzi scheme, CON artists lure investors into fake investment projects, pocket cash, then have new “investrs” collect cash on the old ones. The suction cup remains with a worthless bag.

Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme. This is a very efficient part of the American social safety net and the opposite of the Ponzi scheme. That’s why the vast majority of Americans are against cutting it.

Social Security is a “pay for you to go” program. Current workers fund payments for retirees and disabled people via payroll taxes. In 2024, about one in five U.S. residents received Social Security.

I was previously a trustee of the Social Security Trust Fund. I know about Social Security.

As the Social Security Administration explains, “In 2025, when you work, about 85 cents of all Social Security Taxes you pay will be sent to the Trust Fund, which pays monthly benefits to current retirees and their families, as well as the surviving spouses and children of deceased workers. About 15 cents go to the Trust Fund, which benefits people with disabilities and their families.”

The only reason Social Security is running out of money is that its councillors did not expect current income inequality in America.

A way to fix this is to raise the maximum income cap that is covered by Social Security Payroll Tax. This is currently $176,100.

Do you want a real Ponzi scheme? Look at the crypto investments that Musk and Trump are hyping

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg met their 2025 Social Security Salary Tax liability just after midnight on January 1st. Most Americans continue to pay salary tax all year round.

Do you want a real Ponzi scheme? Look at the crypto investments that Musk and Trump are hyping.

Trump’s new cryptocurrency, $Trump, crashed after a surge. It generated enormous profits for insiders and a cumulative loss of $2 billion for more than 800,000 other investors.

Trump claims ignorance. “I don’t know if that benefited or not,” he said. “I don’t know much about it.” (Trump’s family and his business partners earned nearly $100 million in trading fees alone, with coins alone.)

The mask has been promoting dogcoin since 2019. Its value has skyrocketed by more than 70% after Trump announced the so-called release of masks.
“The Ministry of Government Efficiency” (Doge). Since then it has been dropped like a rock. Classic Ponzi scheme.

With Trump now in office, cryptography has emerged from four years of federal crackdown on crypto fraud, market manipulation and other fraud following the collapse of Sambankmanfried’s crypto exchange FTX in 2022, one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in recent memory.

On Friday, Trump hosted a “cipher summit,” where he will promote the idea of ​​a federal cryptocurrency sanctuary that will give a temporary boost to crypto schemes by increasing their demand.

But why should American taxpayers make cryptocurrency bills? The most obvious winner is Trump, whose own Crypto Venture carries millions of dollars in tokens to be included in the sanctuary. The other winners were crypto executives, many of whom have contributed extensively to Trump’s reelection efforts.

One example: Ripple – the XRP token is one of five that Trump has included – donated $45 million to industry-wide PACs that tried to help Trump and other Republicans elect.

In fact, most of Trump’s crypto schemes are just ways to curl his favor by paying him back.

Consider Justin Sang, a Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur who was accused of securities fraud in March 2023 by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

After Trump was elected in 2024, Sun purchased Trump’s World Liberty Financial (WLF) crypto token worth $30 million and put $18 million directly into the president’s pocket. Since then, he has invested another $45 million in WLF. Overall, Sun’s investment won over $50 million in Trump.

Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped the Sun’s prosecution.

The SEC also dropped the lawsuit against Crypto Trading Platform Coinbase after the platform donated $75 million to the Trump-related Political Action Committee and $1 million to the inauguration ceremony.

In addition, the SEC has determined that “Memocoin” is not a securities. This means that Trump’s novel crypto tokens are not subject to regulatory surveillance. Public invitations to other Trump Ponzi schemes.

Trump and Musk are pitching a much larger Ponzi scheme.

They promise great “savings” from destroying the federal government (including destructive programs such as Social Security and Medicaid). This is the savings sent to wealthy and large American businesses in the form of tax cuts.

The Social Security Administration recently announced that it will merge its current 10 regional offices, which it maintains four, to cut at least 7,000 jobs with a 50-year staffing.

The Republican budget has recently run through a home that has cut more than $880 billion from Medicaid.

Who has the bag? Most Americans.

Zoom out and you’ll see that the entire Trump 2 regime is a huge Ponzi scheme. He promises to “make America great again” by raising tariffs, deporting more than 11 million people, stealing the ball that will destroy the federal government, crushing democracy, and joining Putin and other global dictators.

Trump is the con man behind this huge Ponzi scheme. He lures voters into his fake MAGA project, pocket some of his cash, rewards more people with his billionaire supporters, leaving most Americans with a corrupt society of death.

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich is Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter can be found at robertreich.substack.com