- DOGE cost-cutter-in-chief Elon Musk likened the U.S. retirement system to a pyramid scheme during a podcast with Joe Rogan, arguing something needed to be done to stave off any threat of potential insolvency.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, fears America’s state-backed pensions are no longer safe as fewer working-age Americans can pay for retirees who live a longer life.
Speaking on the Joe Rogan podcast for the first time since his appearance just prior to the November election, he likened Social Security to an illegal pyramid scheme where returns are generated not through prudent capital allocation, but an influx of money from new investors.
“Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” Musk said.
The national press office for the Social Security Administration could not be reached by Fortune for comment.
When Americans retire, they collect their basic pension, the costs of which are financed through payroll taxes. Employees contribute 6.2% of their wages up to a maximum of $176,100, while U.S. employers have to match that sum as part of their non-wage labor costs.
This is known as a “pay as you go” system. It is typical of most wealthy countries, which all copied the same approach based on the assumption that a country’s birth-death rate would continue to favor a growing population. With over 75 million baby boomers set to retire by 2030, this prediction is no longer valid.
Growing concerns over solvency of Social Security
With Social Security comprising one-fifth of all federal spending, the system is coming under stress now that there are fewer working-age Americans paying in to fund their pensions—something that will only get worse as the Trump administration cracks down on immigration. At the same time, retirees are living longer, exacerbating these stress factors.
“We better fix what we’ve got right now, because if it’s bad now, it’s going to be much worse in the future,” Musk continued.
As a result of concerns over Social Security, a political feud is brewing over whether or not painful structural reforms are needed to ensure its fiscal viability, such as hiking the retirement age substantially or even cutting benefits.
John Larson, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means subcommittee for Social Security, blasted the attack as evidence of a plan to gut the costly entitlement program.
“We will stand together to resist these cuts in every way possible,” he said in a Sunday statement.
In response, some are advocating for an end to the cap that means wealthier Americans can cover their contribution within weeks or even days of the new year—presumably without a proportionate increase to their benefits.
Advocates believe this could provide a large enough cash infusion to prolong the solvency of Social Security as is.
Potential target of politically motivated violence
Musk’s preferred approach, at least for now, is eliminating government fraud and waste by removing benefits from those committing fraud, such as failing to report the death of a family member.
If his efforts as cost-cutter-in-chief prove successful, he fears retribution, for example, from families desperate to continue collecting their benefits.
“I actually have to be careful that I don’t push too hard on the corruption stuff, because it’s going to get me killed,” he said. “If I fully destroy the corruption and the graft, they will kill me.”
In addition, he argued the current hostility to his role as Trump’s closest political ally has put him in the same firing line as the president, who survived two assassination attempts during the campaign.
“They’re making it sound like, if you kill me, you’re a hero,” Musk said.
The December slaying of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson furthermore revealed the unpleasant truth that many Americans are celebrating his vigilante killer as a kind of avenging angel for blue-collar workers who believe they’ve been victimized by an unfair system.
