Elon Musk’s recent comments on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast shed light on a critical issue within the Social Security Administration (SSA): systemic fraud enabled by outdated records and political resistance. The SSA’s database contains anomalies, such as entries for individuals over 300 years old and those with future birth dates, which are clear indicators of fraud rather than mere data errors. These discrepancies have allowed for the misuse of Social Security numbers, leading to fraudulent payments across various government programs, not just Social Security benefits. The root of the problem lies in the SSA’s failure to update records of deceased individuals, a practice that Democrats have reportedly opposed because it would disrupt the flow of fraudulent payments to other programs, benefiting illegal immigrants and fraud rings.
Elon Musk reveals the real reason why Democrats never cleaned out the Social Security system of dead people is they were using those names to send fraudulent payments to illegals
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) November 3, 2025
If you removed those names, it would shutoff benefits form multiple other programs paying benefits… pic.twitter.com/GlwX40KtvH
The financial scale of this fraud is staggering, with estimates suggesting hundreds of billions of dollars lost annually. This revelation comes at a time when the U.S. government is experiencing its longest shutdown on record, exacerbating the challenges of managing federal programs and highlighting the broader context of fiscal mismanagement and political gridlock. The Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.), once led by Musk, aims to tackle such inefficiencies, but faces resistance due to entrenched interests. Musk’s call for action, including verifying impossible birth dates, points to a potential solution that could save billions, but requires overcoming significant political and bureaucratic inertia.