It sure sounds like Elon Musk is coming for Social Security

Elon Musk thinks he’s found a foolproof get-rich scheme.

As he’s described it in interviews, all you need to do is get a fake Social Security number and file as a 300-year-old person, and the money will come rolling in.

But don’t be fooled. The only scheme here is Musk’s, and the only people who will get richer are him and President Donald Trump.

As the federal government teeters on the edge of a shutdown, these falsehoods about “waste, fraud and abuse” are being spread as a justification for Musk to take his chainsaw to the earned benefits that help keep tens of millions of Americans out of poverty.

If they win this fight, the next shutdown will be of Social Security, achieving a dream of hardcore libertarians and movement conservatives for more than 90 years.

First, let’s get the facts straight.

According to a 2024 report from Social Security’s inspector general, less than 1% of payments made over a seven-year period were improper, which is a far different standard than fraudulent. Musk, meanwhile, is claiming tens of millions of fraudulent recipients, which, since there are about 73 million Americans on Social Security, would be a fraud rate of at least 25% — or roughly 1 in 4 recipients.