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john larson
Trump Labor Statistics Pick Called Social Security a 'Ponzi Scheme' That Should Be Shuttered
"Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits," said Rep. John Larson. "It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position."
Aug 13, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to replace the top labor statistics official he fired earlier this month has called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" that needs to be "sunset," comments that critics said further disqualify the nominee for the key government role.
During a December 2024 radio interview, Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni said it is a "mathematical fiction" that Social Security "can go on forever" and called for "some kind of transition program where unfortunately you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes, but never actually receive any of those benefits."
"That's the price to pay for unwinding a Ponzi scheme that was foisted on the American people by the Democrats in the 1930s," Antoni continued. "You're not going to be able to sustain a Ponzi scheme like Social Security. Eventually, you need to sunset the program."
Trump's choice for the Commissioner of the Bureau Labor Statistics called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" in an interview:
" What you need to do is have some kind of transition program where unfortunately you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes, but… pic.twitter.com/MXL7k1C644
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) August 12, 2025
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), one of Social Security's most vocal defenders in Congress, said Antoni's position on the program matters because "Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits."
"It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position," Larson said in a statement. "I call on every Senate Republican to stand with Democrats and reject this extreme nominee—before our seniors are denied the benefits they earned through a lifetime of hard work."
Trump announced Antoni's nomination to serve as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) less than two weeks after the president fired the agency's former head, Erika McEntarfer, following the release of abysmal jobs figures. The firing sparked concerns that future BLS data will be manipulated to suit Trump's political interests.
Antoni was a contributor to the far-right Project 2025 agenda that the Trump administration appears to have drawn from repeatedly this year, and his position on Social Security echoes that of far-right billionaire Elon Musk, who has also falsely characterized the program as a Ponzi scheme.
During his time in the Trump administration, Musk spearheaded an assault on the Social Security Administration that continues in the present, causing widespread chaos at the agency and increasing wait times for beneficiaries.
"President Trump fired the commissioner of Labor Statistics to cover up a weak jobs report—and now he is replacing her with a Project 2025 lackey who wants to shut down Social Security," said Larson. "E.J. Antoni agrees with Elon Musk that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and said that middle-class seniors would be better off if it was eliminated."
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'Wow! Watch This.' Ranking Dem Rips GOP Refusal to Probe Trump-Musk Push to Privatize Social Security
"This is the energy we need," one podcaster said of Rep. John Larson's impassioned remarks.
Mar 13, 2025
"This is how mad everyone should be."
That's how one social media user responded to a video clip in which Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) "goes off" on Republican members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, who on Wednesday voted down his resolution of inquiry requesting that President Donald Trump provide certain information relating to the administration's attacks on the Social Security Administration since Inauguration Day.
Larson, ranking member of the Social Security Subcommittee, specifically wants materials involving the agency and Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk—whose recent remarks about cutting up to $700 billion in "waste and fraud" in "entitlement spending" have elevated warnings that the administration is working to privatize Social Security.
"Where's Elon Musk? ...If he's so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so eminent, why isn't he here explaining it?"
It is "a sad morning, a very sad morning, when this committee, the oldest and most continuous in the Congress, neglects its responsibility and essentially holds this hearing today to block any further discussion," Larson said with his arms crossed.
"The men and women on this committee are good people—they're honest and caring people—and that's why I do not understand why you would relegate this committee to no longer being of significance and resort to saying you will do whatever Elon Musk and Donald Trump tell you to do," he continued, raising his voice. "Where's the independence of the committee? Where's the legislature? We're an equal branch of government."
Gesturing to empty seats, Larson asked: "Where's Elon Musk? I'm sure he's a genius, and is a very credible person because of the wealth he's accumulated, but that does not put him above the law or the responsibility to come before this committee and this Congress. If he's so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so eminent, why isn't he here explaining it?"
"You know why, 'cause he's out to privatize Social Security," charged Larson, a longtime defender of the program. "He's been on television the last couple of days, talking exactly about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and what he intends to do."
Clips of Larson's tirade sparked enthusiastic responses on social media, including Musk-owned X. One user said: "Wow! Watch this." Another declared, "THIS IS STRAIGHT FUCKING FIRE!!!"
Advocacy groups including Social Security Works and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare also promoted Larson's comments online.
Progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen suggested that other critics of the Republican agenda should follow Larson's lead, saying, "This is the energy we need."
As CT Insider reported Wednesday:
Bette Marafino, president of the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans, said Wednesday she is "horrified" by the Trump administration's rhetoric around Social Security, including baseless claims about long-dead people collecting benefits.
Marafino, 86, recalled her grandmother telling of visits to decrepit poorhouses, where poor Americans, many of them elderly, used to live in the days before Social Security and other safety net programs.
"If they get rid of Social Security or privatize it, which is what I think they want to do, what's going to happen?" Marafino said. "What's going to happen to so many people who only rely on Social Security?"
Larson dressed down the panel's Republicans after leading a letter—signed by over 150 House Democrats—to acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek last week arguing that office closures and layoffs "will devastate SSA's ability to serve the public and deliver Social Security payments, inflicting backdoor benefit cuts on the American people."
In addition to blocking Larson's resolution regarding what the congressman called Trump and Musk's "hostile takeover of Social Security," Republicans on the committee opposed another directing the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to turn over documents about DOGE's access to department payment systems and confidential taxpayer information.
Meanwhile, in the upper chamber, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday led a letter urging Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to immediately convene a hearing "to investigate alarming
developments" at the SSA, including Dudek giving DOGE "unfettered access to Americans' most sensitive information."
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Here Comes Trump's Privatization of the Social Security Administration
"After years of hard work and a lifetime of contributions, our seniors shouldn't have to worry about Republicans meddling with their Social Security," said one House Democrat.
Mar 04, 2025
A leaked email from acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek on Tuesday sparked a fresh wave of warnings about U.S. President Donald Trump and government-gutting billionaire Elon Musk privatizing the agency.
The Bulwark, an anti-Trump conservative news outlet, obtained Dudek's March 1 email to staff, which reportedly says in part that "we need to revitalize SSA operations by streamlining activities, outsource nonessential functions to industry experts, and reinstating human judgment and common sense into every decision at every level."
While Dudek did not elaborate on what outsourcing "nonessential functions" will look like, according to The Bulwark, Martin O'Malley, who led the agency under former President Joe Biden, warned that it could involve automation and the use of artificial intelligence to replace call centers staffed by people trained to help seniors and other beneficiaries sort out complex problems.
O'Malley also said that SSA employees he knows report a "toxic" work environment. He told the The Bulwark that "they are driving people out there with a viciousness that I believe will collapse the agency," which could result in an "interruption of benefits."
"We have a 50-year low in staffing while the baby boomer generation is swelling their ranks," O'Malley said. "That's the underlying reality here, and these guys appear hell-bent on breaking it. It seems they really want to break Social Security."
The former SSA commissioner isn't alone in expressing serious concerns about Dudek, the president, and Musk, head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is leading the Trump administration's attack on federal agenices.
Responding to The Bulwark's reporting on the Musk-owned social media site X, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said that "after years of hard work and a lifetime of contributions, our seniors shouldn't have to worry about Republicans meddling with their Social Security. This is an attack on our nation's seniors—plain and simple."
Also weighing in on X, Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) declared that "in no way, shape, or form, should we privatize any aspect of Social Security."
Concerns have mounted following a series of events last week, including a wave of Social Security Administration leaders retiring and the agency telling staff that it would be implementing an "organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions." The SSA confirmed a goal to have only 50,000 workers, which requires forcing out 7,000 people.
"With that came an announcement that the agency will consolidate its current 10 regional offices down to four, as well as reorganize headquarters," Government Executive reported. "And Elon Musk's DOGE operatives have canceled the leases for 45 field offices across the country, as well as the Office of Hearings Operations in White Plains, New York."
House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John Larson (D-Conn.) this week led a letter to Dudek signed by over 150 of the chamber's Democrats, who warned that office closures and layoffs "will devastate SSA's ability to serve the public and deliver Social Security payments, inflicting backdoor benefit cuts on the American people."
"Social Security helps approximately 70 million beneficiaries—including seniors, people with disabilities, children, and their families—put food on the table, pay the rent, heat their homes, cover medical bills, and more," the House Democrats wrote. "Shuttering field offices and gutting SSA staffing has nothing to do with 'governmental efficiency.'"
Like O'Malley, they cited the already low staffing level that has led to customer service issues at the SSA. They stressed that office closures "and gutting staff would only deepen the crisis, chaos, and confusion. If the Trump administration is serious about efficiency in delivering benefits to the American people, it would ensure that SSA has the staff and offices needed to serve the public."
Senate Democrats are also sounding the alarm. Government Executive noted that during a Monday press conference, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) accused Trump and Musk of "taking a wrecking ball" to the SSA while Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) warned that their actions are "a prelude to privatization."
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