Donald Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick who is a billionaire said those who complain about missing a monthly Social Security check are mostly fraudsters. He gave the example of his 94-year-old mother-in-law and said, “Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain.”
“She just wouldn’t. She’d think something got messed up, and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”
“Anybody who’s been in the payment system and the processes, who knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, because whoever screams is the one stealing,” he said. “Because my mother-in-law’s not calling, come on, your mother, 80-year-olds, 90-year-olds, they trust the government.”
“So, the people who are getting that free money, stealing the money, inappropriately, getting the money, have an inside person who’s routing the money,” he said. “They are going to yell and scream.”
The statement is the latest to make Social Security beneficiaries go into panic mode as the Donald Trump administration has been speaking about the SS payments a lot — though not exactly about cutting the payments, but exactly the opposite, about weeding out the fraud from the system but the people are angry and anxious as Social Security is on the radar of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Musk called Social Security the ‘biggest Ponzi scheme of all time’ as Trump said dead people are receiving checks.
Last month, the Social Security Administration notified employees that “significant workforce reductions” were on the way amid reports that thousands of workers could be let go. Dozens of SSA offices are also expected to shutter as the government-wide cost-cutting operation continues.
Lutnick’s statement drew backlash as users commented that Lutnick’s mother-in-law does not depend on the SS money as she says with Lutnick and his wife Allison.
