My neighbor in Bigfork phoned the Social Security Administration last week in hopes of obtaining a tax document for the estate of her late husband, who died in 2024. After being placed on hold for four hours, she finally hung up.
Another indicator, or so some believe, that Donald Trump’s covert mission to privatize Social Security is afoot.
“All of this is about turning the public against the [SSA], and they do that by wrecking its ability to provide customer service in a timely way,” Martin O’Malley, SSA commissioner under former President Biden, has warned in recent days. “And then that way they will feel justified in enough of the people’s eyes to rob it and take the dollars for some other purpose.”
Under O’Malley’s watch, SSA “call-in” wait times were reduced on average from 43 minutes to 12 minutes. Not only are they increasing again, but with 5,000-plus SSA employees recently shown the door “in-person” appointments at agency field offices are getting pushed further into the calendar year.
By the way, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke says he’s “been assured” by Trump’s band of budget-cutters that Kalispell’s SSA field office is being downsized, not closed, and “all services will continue” for Flathead constituents (anybody experiencing otherwise, please let me know).
Seeking some answers to what’s unfolding, I reached out to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare in Washington, securing interviews with president and CEO Max Richtman (for 10 years he worked for Montana Sen. John Melcher, including as his chief of staff on the Senate Special Committee on Aging) and secretary treasurer Nicholas Smith, who happens to own a home in the Flathead Valley.
“This isn’t about politics, this is about money,” Smith tells me. “This is how they will get all of the trillions of dollars in Social Security benefits into the hands of Wall Street managers, who are going to make billions off of the system and the United States taxpayer.
“The bottom line is this,” he says. “The Social Security Administration is not perfect, but it is good. It’s delivered to people what they deserve. And what’s happening now is Social Security is going to be broken by [DOGE head Elon] Musk and Trump … and then they’re going to come in and say we’re going to fix it by privatizing it.”
The White House doesn’t outright deny that, saying only: “The Trump administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it over and over and over again. Elon Musk didn’t say that, either.”
What Trump and Musk do claim, quite outrageously, is that gazillions of Social Security dollars have been paid to kazillions of dead people, some so mummified they predate Benjamin Franklin. In addition, the president alleges, “3.5 million people from age 140 to 149” are reaping Social Security benefits.
If you believe that I’ve still got a bridge to sell you.
Try this on for size instead: a 2024 inspector general report found that from 2015 through 2022 “less than one percent” of all Social Security payments were improperly paid – mostly “overpayments” to living breathing beneficiaries, not cadavers – and two-thirds of that money ($49 billion) was recovered.
As for the big picture, the SSA in fiscal 2024 administered $1.5 trillion in benefits to 73 million Americans, accounting for 22.4 percent of all federal spending (which Trump wants to drastically cut). Closer to home, 250,000-plus Montanans – more than one in five residents – depend on monthly Social Security payments.
Another 230,000 Montanans with limited incomes and resources are covered by Medicaid, the majority of their expenses (79 percent) paid by Uncle Sam, with much of the rest (13 percent) footed with state funds from Helena.
Richtman, who is one of this nation’s foremost authorities on Social Security and Medicaid (he’s led the national watchdog committee, founded by the eldest son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, since 1989), says under the Trump regime both programs are in unchartered waters.
“In 2004, when Bush W. was reelected, we were watching him on television,” he recalls. “We were in our board room and he came out to the podium and he said, ‘I have earned political capital in this election and I’m going to use it to privatize Social Security.’ We couldn’t believe it. It was the very first thing he talked about, the very first thing …
“He had 30 town hall meetings all over the country, and we went wherever he did,” Richtman tells me. “And we defeated that. He couldn’t even get a vote on his plan in a Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But Bush was more honest about it, we knew what we were dealing with. This [purported] Trump plan is a much more devious approach. These guys are using deceit and trying to manipulate the public.”
Some examples?
“We keep hearing Trump say, ‘I’m not going to touch Social Security, I’m not going to touch Social Security.’ And he’s saying that because he knows people love Social Security. So they’re not going to go the direct route; they’re smarter than that. What they’re doing is undermining the support that 85 percent of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents have for Social Security.”
By sabotaging the program?
“By making it so difficult and so complicated for people to file to get benefits, to have their questions answered,” the CEO replies. “This is what former commissioner O’Malley has been talking about. And once people start questioning whether a huge amount of fraud is being perpetrated – which is not true – and they can’t get anyone to help them with filing a claim, or changing a beneficiary, or if your spouse changes, then people eventually are going to say, ‘Well, this isn’t such a great program after all. Maybe we should let Elon Musk and his billionaire friends change the way people save for their retirement and we’ll put it into Wall Street instead of into Social Security.’
“They’re lying about the fraud, they’re lying about the problems they say people are having when dealing with Social Security,” he continues. “And while doing all of this they’re cutting staff, offices are being closed, so people are going to have to drive farther … they’re going to be on the phone forever, and they’re going to hang up. And the support and faith people have in Social Security will start to dissipate. And that’s when they’ll make a move to change it.”
But is that such a bad thing? After all, there’s the solvency issue with the Social Security program, where short of any reform its funds have a projected depletion date of 2035 – only 10 years from now! In other words, why not allow the country’s retirees, the survivors of deceased workers, people with qualifying disabilities access to private accounts with potentially higher yields?
“Yes, the trust fund is going to run out of the surplus in about 10 or 11 years,” he acknowledges. “And if nothing changes there will be a shortfall – not bankruptcy, the money won’t disappear – but there will be a shortfall in benefits of about 18 to 20 percent. That can happen, and that would be a disaster.
“But the answer is not privatizing – the answer is bringing more revenue into the program by having the wealthy pay their fair share [into the system].”
Wall Street then is too risky?
“It’s so volatile,” Richtman answers. “You don’t know where the market is going to be when you retire. Is it going to be in good shape or are you going to take a bath? With Social Security you get a statement, you know what it’s going to be, you’re going to get it every month, it has a built in adjustment for inflation, a COLA – which isn’t enough, but it’s there.
“You wouldn’t have that with a private account. And this isn’t just about retirees, it’s about insurance for your family, it’s for survivors, for spouses, for children’s insurance that you are paying for with your payroll tax deductions. You’re not going to get that in a private account.”
Instead, Richtman prefers to reboot the program, where it will meet financial obligations well into the future. And to keep SSA field offices, like ours in Kalispell, fully operational and staffed, especially with the current flood of Baby Boomer retirees and Generation X on the horizon.
“If you were an older person or disabled, you’re not going to be able to get in your car and drive over to Butte when you need help, especially in the winter,” he says. “It’s not going to happen. You’re going to be out of luck.”
John McCaslin is a longtime journalist and author who lives in Bigfork.