Källor: Republikaner vill ha färre Musk-intervjuer
Flera av Donald Trumps allierade inom Republikanerna oroar sig över Elon Musks uttalanden om det federala pensions- och bidragssystemet Social Security, och vill att han gör färre medieintervjuer. Det uppger fyra källor med insyn för NBC News.
Trump lovade efter valet att inte röra Social Security, men i Musks intervjuer har tongångarna låtit annorlunda.
I en intervju med medieprofilen Joe Rogan i februari kallade han Social Security för ”historiens största Ponzibedrägeri”, och några veckor senare kallade han det ”det största vi har kvar att eliminera” i en intervju med Fox Business-programledaren Larry Kudlow.
bakgrund
Social Security
Wikipedia (en)
In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The Social Security Act was passed in 1935, and the existing version of the Act, as amended, encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs.
The average monthly Social Security benefit for September 2023 was $1,706. The total cost of the Social Security program for 2022 was $1.244 trillion or about 5.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). This was raised to $1,783 in 2024. In 2025 there have been proposed budget cuts to social security.
Social Security is funded primarily through payroll taxes called the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) or Self Employed Contributions Act (SECA). Wage and salary earnings from covered employment, up to an amount determined by law (see tax rate table), are subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Wage and salary earnings above this amount are not taxed. In 2024, the maximum amount of taxable earnings is $168,600.
Social Security is nearly universal, with 94 percent of individuals in paid employment in the United States working in covered employment. However, about 6.6 million state and local government workers in the United States, or 28 percent of all state and local workers, are not covered by Social Security but rather pension plans operated at the state or local level. The amount of money allocated to social security is connected to the amount of amount of working class people in the labor force every month.
Social Security payroll taxes are collected by the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and are formally entrusted to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund and the federal Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, the two Social Security Trust Funds. Social Security revenues exceeded expenditures between 1983 and 2009 which increased trust fund balances. The retirement of the large baby-boom generation however, is lowering balances. Without legislative changes, trust fund reserves are projected to be depleted in 2033 for the OASI fund. Should depletion occur, incoming payroll tax and other revenue would be sufficient to pay 77 percent of OASI benefits starting in 2035.
With few exceptions, all legal residents working in the United States have an individual Social Security Number.
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