Inside the DOGE Social Security Overhaul: Cuts, Reforms and Promises
Peter Reagan

Trump’s moves on Social Security – staff cuts, leadership changes, and benefit reforms – are sending shockwaves through America’s retiree population. With uncertainty mounting, it’s more important than ever to know what’s happening so you can make the right move…

Social Security has long been a landmine for anyone involved with national politics in the United States.

And why wouldn’t it be? After all, the overwhelming majority of people of retirement age are receiving Social Security benefits, and most adults getting closer to retirement age are counting on Social Security benefits to carry them through their retirement years in comfort.

So, because of that broad dependency, any hint of a cutting of benefits to retirees (or soon to be retirees) is received with outright hostility by a huge portion of the population.

In fact, currently, that block of people is the single largest voting block, by age, in the country. Ron Surz writes,

78 million baby boomers are about one-third of the voter-eligible population and 77 percent of them vote, so there are 60 million baby boomer votes. That 60 million is 38 percent of the 158 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential election. The baby boomer voters’ bloc is a big deal.

With that many retirement aged people voting, the thought of endangering Social Security payments is political suicide.

After all, people absolutely hate it when someone messes with what they consider to be “their money.”

DOGE has stirred up a hornet's nest even looking into Social Security

Sure, we can step back a moment, take a deep breath, and try to look over what’s going on from a rational, emotionless viewpoint (which I recommend doing with every financial decision).

Many people can’t do that, though, especially if they’re already stressed out from the insane price increases from inflation over the last few years.

So, expect to hear more gnashing of teeth around Social Security.

But for our discussion today, let’s take a look at some of what Trump has done with Social Security and try to keep our head while doing so.

So, first, Trump wants Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano to head up the Social Security Administration. If you’re not familiar with Fiserv, they are a tech company that work in the banking and financial industry (credit unions, mortgage companies, insurance companies, etc.).

This is encouraging because Bisignano has experience dealing with the financial industry, including payouts, and could help the Administration to run more smoothly and efficiently.

Kathryn Pomroy with Kiplinger writes,

During his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, March 25, Bisignano told senators he had ‘not thought about’ privatizing Social Security. He also said that Trump had said that Social Security benefits would not be cut under his administration, a plan he supported.

Frankly, people should probably feel more secure with someone like this running the show instead of a bureaucrat with an ideological bent but no real world experience making an organization work.

And the promise to not cut benefits (at least to people who are both living and legally eligible to receive them) will probably land well with most retirees.

So, we’ll call this a good thing.

Many people will also be pleased that Trump implemented the Social Security Fairness Act which Pomroy notes will have the “Social Security Administration [to] begin paying retroactive benefits and increase monthly benefit payments to over 3.2 million individuals whose benefits were affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).”

So, maybe we’ll also call this a good thing, at least for those who will benefit from it.

On the flip side of this comparison chart, though…

Many people are upset that DOGE has cut staff at the Social Security Administration, and we’re not just talking about the administration's political opponents. Pomroy writes:

In response to DOGE’s inquiries, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has reduced its staffing target to 50,000 employees, down from the current number of around 57,000. That’s a 12% cut in staff under the thought that the Administration’s work can be streamlined by shifting many responsibilities over to technology.

Believe me, I’m all for saving money, both personally and (especially) when it comes to government spending. This staffing cut and shift over to technology, though, will primarily affect the segment of the population that (other than infants) is the most tech averse in society.

Sure, there are many baby boomers who are perfectly comfortable texting and using Facebook, but make no mistake: this group has a much higher proportion of people who hate chat on websites, who want to talk to a human being in person (or at the very least by phone), and who are completely uncomfortable taking care of financial business online.

That stress for retirees can’t have been helped by the announcement that the Administration will no longer send checks but, instead, will send payments as direct deposits or other electronic methods except in certain, pretty limited exceptions.

How will these last two items affect the quality of service that retirees are able to get from the new streamlined Administration? 

I don’t know. It looks like we’ll find that out over the next few years.

To make the situation even more stressful for retirees, it looked like the Trump administration is planning on closing a number of Social Security offices, too. 

The Social Security Administration has since corrected that concern:

Since January 1, 2025, the agency has not permanently closed or announced the permanent closure of any local field office. From time to time, SSA must temporarily close a local field office for reasons such as weather, damage, or facilities issues, and it reopens when the issues are resolved. The agency has announced the permanent closure of one hearing office, in White Plains, NY.

Still, people already concerned with these staffing cuts were, no doubt, upset about the initial concerns about closing offices.

I could go on, but I’ll end this list with…

One last big Social Security concern

And this last big concern may not sound like a concern at first, but it is, believe me. 

This concern is Trump’s intention to stop collecting taxes on Social Security payments.

You may ask why that’s a bad thing, and I would, too, if I didn’t already know the bigger picture around it. Gabriella Cruz-Martinez with Kiplinger writes,

But with poverty rates among older adults and people with disabilities on the rise, people wonder who this proposed tax cut would help, given that Social Security recipients with low incomes already don’t pay taxes on their benefits.

In other words, this tax cut won’t help the poorest recipients of Social Security. But if you’re thinking that this won’t have any effect on things other than publicity, you would, unfortunately, be mistaken. Again, from Cruz-Martinez:

But Trump’s proposal would speed up that timeline [for Social Security to run out of money].

By eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits, the program’s retirement trust fund would become insolvent one year earlier: 2032 rather than late 2033. 

According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Medicare’s insolvency date would advance by six years to as early as 2030.

And speaking of Medicare, Pomroy has a list of changes that the White House has made there, too. I simply didn’t have enough space to cover those for you here for you.

With all of these changes going on that could have very real and unpleasant effects on retirees, I do have a recommendation that could make all the difference for you, though.

That recommendation? Don’t get in a position where you need to receive money from the government to retire in comfort. If you can help it, that is absolutely the last situation that you want to be in. Don't count on the federal government to take care of you! Instead, take control of your own financial future.

One way to start is by diversifying your savings with inflation-resistant stores of wealth so that you are the one who is driving your retirement vehicle where you want it to go. You can start your research on that by finding out more about precious metals IRAs.

 

 

Peter Reagan is a seasoned financial market strategist at Birch Gold Group with over 15 years of experience in the precious metals industry. He has been featured in several leading publications, including Newsmax and Zerohedge. At Birch Gold Group, Peter leverages his deep market insights to help educate customers on how they can diversify their savings into gold and other precious metals. His commitment to education has made him a trusted thought leader in the field. In addition to the Birch Gold website, you can follow Peter on LinkedIn.

 

www.birchgold.com