DOGE and Pres. Trump have each made shocking claims about the program, but the confusion around them demonstrates the government still has an enormous transparency problem.
A few weeks ago, I was listening to Dr. Ed Weir, PhD, "Former Social Security Manager on his youTube channel linktr.ee/MyGovExpert and this question came in about DOGE and all of the people over 100. Dr. Weir stated Elon didn't know what he was talking about and he was looking at the wrong files. Maybe he can share more?
We don't have to worry about transparency. It's not going to happen. DOGE didn't even know COBOL or placeholders. They could have easily crashed that system and to even skilled personnel may not have been able to recover the system. It's almost like they wanted it to crash.
President Trump's EO was not followed. DOGE was supposed to be made up of an attorney, engineer, and human resource specialist. The didn't even have sufficient knowledge of the records they could and could not access. They shouldn't have accessed any personnel records or sensitive data without a court order but personnel records were the first target in the agencies I'm aware of. That alone should gotten them fired. It Musk couldn't properly train them, then he should been fired to. Everyone complains about incompetent federal employees, but Trump let friendship get in the way and they and allow them to remain when they didn't know what they were doing.
The lack knowledge of about databases and understanding COBOL in such an important agency, just shows how incompetent DOGE was. I wouldn't trust them to analyze anything else. If you're going to work with a database, especially one that old, you need to know the functions and why there are placeholders but you have know that placeholders exist and act accordingly.
There aren't 200-year-olds drawing social security, there are 200-year-old accounts. The accounts are maintained to keep historical data. It's all tied together and deleting some can screw up your system if you don't know the internal structure. I would hope they had backups. But firing the group of people who knew this system was a recipe for disaster. This was a system that could easily be crashed, that's right, easily be crashed. It's arrogant to think you can come in and run something when you don't know the language, well most of the time. I haven't worked in COBOL for quite a long time, but I remember placeholders because it was such an oddity to me when I learned. Anyone who comes in and blasts their way through computers running old programs, is taking a risk, a really expensive risk that could have devastating results.
Sure, lets put DOGE in charge for another round of theater., another chance to crash our Social Security system.
Trained investigative personnel investigates fraud, waste and abuse and I'm sure DOGE was not trained. They should have known that it's against federal law to access personnel records and sensitive data, but that's what they did and who knows what else. I'm sorry for lecturing, I'm retired and I thought I was out of investigations and research but I love this Open the Books and I know COBOL, imagine that. After all these years, I know something that younger folks don't know! Ya'll stay safe.
Is it fraud or just sloppy data entry and bookkeeping? Then they need to check the last address where the money was sent...and ask some serious questions...
Are these people getting benefits, or is it the SS database used to determine things like identity?
Because if they were getting checks, that would implicate a lot of reports in lying. Like the reports that show the age range of SS recipients. Possible but highly unlikely.
Good to clean these things up, but they are not likely saving the budget with this.
Will DOGE continue to audit and function now that Musk has left? Or will things just slide back into obscurity? We need some permanent, non changeable laws that REQUIRE annual audits and transparency from now on!!! No more of this "Oh, it's too complicated" excuse to ignore what should be done!! Musk and his team have proven that it is not impossible to do.
$166bn "recovered" and $135bn in costs to us, I don't see that as a success. But I have a different perspective. They did a lot of damage, accessed records they were not entitled to like personnel records and sensitive data. If they followed the EO and had one DOGE team for each agency, then they could have taken then the time they needed and done a thorough job.
I want to thank OTB for their efforts to allow their readers to easily understand how our government fails Americans. DOGE has found so much abuse, yet the system is clogged with our representatives’ own interests. Trump & Co has uncovered so much, but we see the pushback. Even from Republicans! Theses are sad days 🙏🇺🇸
So who has been getting the money from the deceased? Why haven't they been arrested for stealing from taxpayers? When my father- in-law died, we had to pay back the money for the month he died in, even though he died at the end of the month!
And they grab it back FAST. The fastest of anything the government does. They did the same to my FIL. He died on rhe 5th of the month and if IIRC they had yanked the money back within a week or so, whoxh was very disorienting for my MIL because all of her finances changed as a result before we had a chance to sort everything out. Luckily she could afford it.
I encourage everyone to write and call their US Congressman. The numbers matter; they keep track and when they realize enough expel are paying attention, the more likely they are to take action.
We definitely need Congress to step up and get DOGE cuts and reforms codified. Our databases need updated for transparency purposes and accountability.
Yeah well, don't count on any of the Democrats to go along with ANYTHING that President Trump wants to do, regardless of how much it hurts the American population.
Despite the war of egos raging between Trump and Musk, D.O.G.E. has to prevail! I always hoped a non-politician could get elected to power and overcome the inherent deceit, fraud, waste and rampant criminality in Washington politics. I knew it wouldn't be easy. D.O.G.E. has to be supported, fortified and congress (BOTH sides of the aisle) must act to eliminate these travesties
A few weeks ago, I was listening to Dr. Ed Weir, PhD, "Former Social Security Manager on his youTube channel linktr.ee/MyGovExpert and this question came in about DOGE and all of the people over 100. Dr. Weir stated Elon didn't know what he was talking about and he was looking at the wrong files. Maybe he can share more?
We don't have to worry about transparency. It's not going to happen. DOGE didn't even know COBOL or placeholders. They could have easily crashed that system and to even skilled personnel may not have been able to recover the system. It's almost like they wanted it to crash.
President Trump's EO was not followed. DOGE was supposed to be made up of an attorney, engineer, and human resource specialist. The didn't even have sufficient knowledge of the records they could and could not access. They shouldn't have accessed any personnel records or sensitive data without a court order but personnel records were the first target in the agencies I'm aware of. That alone should gotten them fired. It Musk couldn't properly train them, then he should been fired to. Everyone complains about incompetent federal employees, but Trump let friendship get in the way and they and allow them to remain when they didn't know what they were doing.
The lack knowledge of about databases and understanding COBOL in such an important agency, just shows how incompetent DOGE was. I wouldn't trust them to analyze anything else. If you're going to work with a database, especially one that old, you need to know the functions and why there are placeholders but you have know that placeholders exist and act accordingly.
There aren't 200-year-olds drawing social security, there are 200-year-old accounts. The accounts are maintained to keep historical data. It's all tied together and deleting some can screw up your system if you don't know the internal structure. I would hope they had backups. But firing the group of people who knew this system was a recipe for disaster. This was a system that could easily be crashed, that's right, easily be crashed. It's arrogant to think you can come in and run something when you don't know the language, well most of the time. I haven't worked in COBOL for quite a long time, but I remember placeholders because it was such an oddity to me when I learned. Anyone who comes in and blasts their way through computers running old programs, is taking a risk, a really expensive risk that could have devastating results.
Sure, lets put DOGE in charge for another round of theater., another chance to crash our Social Security system.
Trained investigative personnel investigates fraud, waste and abuse and I'm sure DOGE was not trained. They should have known that it's against federal law to access personnel records and sensitive data, but that's what they did and who knows what else. I'm sorry for lecturing, I'm retired and I thought I was out of investigations and research but I love this Open the Books and I know COBOL, imagine that. After all these years, I know something that younger folks don't know! Ya'll stay safe.
Maybe we should request that DOGE provide detailed reports of what they accomplish each week. 😁
If you have ever visited a local social security office and observed the staff, you can be fairly certain where the fraud is happening.
Is it fraud or just sloppy data entry and bookkeeping? Then they need to check the last address where the money was sent...and ask some serious questions...
Are these people getting benefits, or is it the SS database used to determine things like identity?
Because if they were getting checks, that would implicate a lot of reports in lying. Like the reports that show the age range of SS recipients. Possible but highly unlikely.
Good to clean these things up, but they are not likely saving the budget with this.
Will DOGE continue to audit and function now that Musk has left? Or will things just slide back into obscurity? We need some permanent, non changeable laws that REQUIRE annual audits and transparency from now on!!! No more of this "Oh, it's too complicated" excuse to ignore what should be done!! Musk and his team have proven that it is not impossible to do.
$166bn "recovered" and $135bn in costs to us, I don't see that as a success. But I have a different perspective. They did a lot of damage, accessed records they were not entitled to like personnel records and sensitive data. If they followed the EO and had one DOGE team for each agency, then they could have taken then the time they needed and done a thorough job.
Plan to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse from any government and prevent it in the
future
1) Plan and execute a full DOGE initiative:
*Identify and quantify all waste, fraud and abuse in each department, agency
*Identify who initiated each, for how long has it been going on and what was the
justification for initiation...fit with administration's mission, rational for initiation,
and level of success in achieving stated objective?
*Identify all beneficiaries ... .domestic and international,,,ngos, consultants,
companies, organizations, governments and governmental officials (personal,
family connections) and rational for each receiving the handouts.
*Identify items/ plans /contracts that can be immediately cancelled and cancel.
*Claw back money that can be clawed back.
*Working with current Administration, determine continued justification or
immediately cancel.
*Determine if any current or past beneficiaires should be investigated for fraud
and initiate charging if justified.
2) Pass each significant documented waste, fraud or abuse case to the responsible
Department/Agency head to prioritize and plan actions to address, Require initial
report of actions and success to DOGE and engaging DOGE for additional support
as required.
*Pass full documentation to the responsible House and Senate group to aid in full
investigation, oversite and holding the Department Head fully responsible for
appropriate actions, to address.
3) Going forward require each Department/Agency to immediately initiate “Zero
Based Budgeting annual planning” for every plan they wish to initiate or continue
before funding will be provided. This would require that the rationale and actions
fully support the Department’s individual mission and the mission of the
Government and Country.
Where is this open source data on the SSA website?
I want to thank OTB for their efforts to allow their readers to easily understand how our government fails Americans. DOGE has found so much abuse, yet the system is clogged with our representatives’ own interests. Trump & Co has uncovered so much, but we see the pushback. Even from Republicans! Theses are sad days 🙏🇺🇸
This us why a report, could be simple, that accompanies a summary dataset is needed.
So who has been getting the money from the deceased? Why haven't they been arrested for stealing from taxpayers? When my father- in-law died, we had to pay back the money for the month he died in, even though he died at the end of the month!
And they grab it back FAST. The fastest of anything the government does. They did the same to my FIL. He died on rhe 5th of the month and if IIRC they had yanked the money back within a week or so, whoxh was very disorienting for my MIL because all of her finances changed as a result before we had a chance to sort everything out. Luckily she could afford it.
I encourage everyone to write and call their US Congressman. The numbers matter; they keep track and when they realize enough expel are paying attention, the more likely they are to take action.
We definitely need Congress to step up and get DOGE cuts and reforms codified. Our databases need updated for transparency purposes and accountability.
Yeah well, don't count on any of the Democrats to go along with ANYTHING that President Trump wants to do, regardless of how much it hurts the American population.
Sadly, so true. Dems only care about ‘resistance’ even if it hurts our country and our citizens.
Excellent article and objective analysis. Thank you.
Despite the war of egos raging between Trump and Musk, D.O.G.E. has to prevail! I always hoped a non-politician could get elected to power and overcome the inherent deceit, fraud, waste and rampant criminality in Washington politics. I knew it wouldn't be easy. D.O.G.E. has to be supported, fortified and congress (BOTH sides of the aisle) must act to eliminate these travesties