Excellent WaPo reporting on how DOGE is in the drivers seat at SSA and the risk that poses. Also good to see a mainstream publication say this for a change. The Ponzi slur is old as the hills and obviously false. Media almost never refutes.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

In the newsletter: the Social Security customer service crisis is about to get worse. Also: how most people would prefer to fix Social Security. Also: will DOGE mess with Social Security and Medicare payments? It's a busy, crazy week. (The newsletter is free.) open.substack.com/pub/retireme...

Instead, it's this:

In the newsletter - a look at the Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed reductions in Social Security benefit for public sector workers with pensions. The WEP and GPO made sense to policy experts but just about no one else - and created confusion and anger among affected retirees.

As usual, D.C. press frames a change to Social Security spending as though it impacts the federal debt - it does not. SS has its own funding source (FICA) and does not draw general revenue or generate debt. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/u...

The word "based" is doing a lot of work here. Yes, your Social Security benefit is calculated off the years that you participated (paid FICA) but the amount is not based on what you paid in - it's an income-replacement formula based on your earnings record.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...