Insiders at the Social Security Administration are accusing billionaire Elon Musk of deliberately sabotaging the agency as the changes he's demanded to protocols have resulted in repeated webpage crashes and interminable phone waits for beneficiaries.
In interviews with the Washington Post, current and former SSA employees said they believed Musk and his minions at the Department of Government Efficiency were trying to break Social Security to justify privatizing it.
"They’re creating a fire to require them to come and put it out,” said one former high-ranking SSA official who took an early retirement offer earlier this year.
The Post also documents how the changes demanded by Musk have severely degraded the SSA's service quality.
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"Alarmed lawmakers are straining to answer questions from angry constituents in their districts," the paper writes. "Calls have flooded into congressional offices. The AARP announced on Monday that more than 2,000 retirees per week have called the organization since early February — double the usual number — with concerns about whether benefits they paid for during their working careers will continue."
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) echoed SSA insiders' charges that Musk and his minions have been running a campaign of deliberate sabotage against a cornerstone social insurance safety net.
"What’s going on is the destruction of the agency from the inside out, and it’s accelerating," he said. "What they’re doing now is unconscionable."