Social Security rushing service cuts at White House request, sources say

The Social Security Administration is rushing cuts to phone services at the White House’s request, the agency’s acting commissioner told Social Security advocates in a meeting on Monday, two sources who attended tell Axios.

Social Security rushing service cuts at White House request, sources say

Previously:

Trump’s Billionaire Commerce Secretary: Only ‘Fraudsters’ Will Complain If Social Security Checks Don’t Arrive

No, 150-Year-Olds Aren’t Collecting Social Security Benefits

Trump’s Medicaid reversal should worry Social Security recipients.

As Elon Musk Begins Shutting Down Payments to Federal Contractors, a Strange Money Trail Emerges to His Operatives Inside the U.S. Treasury’s Payment System

Elon Musk is the billionaire CEO of the publicly-traded EV company, Tesla. As such, under corporate law, he owes a Duty of Loyalty to Tesla. Notwithstanding this well-established law, Musk is engaged in an array of other corporate endeavors outside of Tesla, including being the CEO of SpaceX, a private rocket company.

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‘It’s a Coup’: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security

Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency—or DOGE—have been granted access to a sensitive Treasury Department payment system that contains the personal information of every American who receives tax refunds, Medicare, Social Security, and other payments from the government.

‘It’s a Coup’: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security

IRS audits Black taxpayers more often than other groups, agency confirms

The Internal Revenue Service audits Black taxpayers at significantly higher rates than other Americans, Commissioner Daniel Werfel told lawmakers Monday, confirming earlier findings by researchers at leading universities and the Treasury Department.

IRS audits Black taxpayers more often than other groups, agency confirms

Related:

The IRS Targets Black Taxpayers, Researchers May Have Uncovered Why

Consistent underfunding of the IRS means it’s a lot easier for them to go after someone who is low-income and qualifies for the EITC than it is to go after someone with a million lawyers hiding money in the Cayman Islands.

Targeting the rich for their tax-related shenanigans takes some major coins, and the IRS severely lacks the funds it would need to do that. Unfortunately, that means they’re more likely to knock on the doors of people just trying to get by.

Good thing Republicans are trying to repeal IRS funds?! /sarcasm

Raising Social Security’s retirement age would slam low-wage workers yet again

A proposal by Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70 would be a massive benefit cut, particularly affecting low-wage workers. If Congress enacts it, millions more Social Security taxpayers would not live long enough to collect a cent in retirement benefits.

Raising Social Security’s retirement age would slam low-wage workers yet again

Related:

Social Security Solvency: Raised Retirement Age More Likely as Congress Fails to Compromise

Bill Gates and the Secret Push to Save Biden’s Climate Bill

Bill Gates and the Secret Push to Save Biden’s Climate Bill

Gates started wooing Manchin and other senators who might prove pivotal for clean-energy policy in 2019 over a meal in Washington DC. “My dialogue with Joe has been going on for quite a while,” Gates said. “Almost everyone on the energy committee” — of which Manchin was then the senior-most Democrat — “came over and spent a few hours with me over dinner.”

Also at Manchin’s insistence, automakers also will see new strings attached to electric vehicle tax incentives so they will have to be made in North America and, by 2024, can’t use batteries sourced from China. Labor leaders bemoaned that the final package doesn’t contain much support for workers who lose their jobs in the green transition.

There’s been such whiplash from 2016 when, as Gates puts it, green spending from the US government “had dropped to near zero.” Six years later, American climate finance has been “reinvigorated,” and Gates now sees innovation “going way faster than I expected. That’s why I’m optimistic that we will solve this thing.”

The working class is going to be thrown under the bus, but at least Bill Gates is happy. 🤷🏼‍♀️