Fact Check: Elon says 150 year olds getting Social Security, Gaza condoms, and more...

[AgnosticBoy]

If you listen to the Right-wing media or even ordinary Republican people, you'd believe that Elon's DOGE agency is finding fraud and abuse all over the place. When you listen to the Left-wing media and other Democrats, you'd think that Elon was off his rocker and is just making stuff up or just flat out incorrect. Most of the mainstream media are engaged in so much political spin and narratives that it's hard to trust their information.

Some information I want to look at:
1. Has DOGE found any fraud and/or waste in the government?
Will research later on.


2. Are there 150 year-olds collecting social security?

Musk first made the claims during his Oval Office press conference last week, when he claimed that a “cursory examination of Social Security, and we got people in there that are 150 years old. Now, do you know anyone that's 150? I don't know. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records … So that's a case where I think they're probably dead.”

Musk, during the Oval Office press conference which was attended by his son, claimed the payments to 150-year-olds was part of the billions, maybe even tens of billions, in corruption and waste that his DOGE effort had already uncovered.

- Wired

I rate Elon's claim to be partially true. The truth is that there are times when the Social Security database shows 150 year-olds being active in the system (or not dead). However, it is false or speculation on Elon's part to claim that all these 150 year-olds are receiving benefits. Some are but it's a smaller but not all as Elon assumes.

Here are some key facts:
- This explains 150 year-olds listed as active or alive in the Social Security database and how that doesn't necessarily mean that they are getting benefits...

In a statement Wednesday, newly named Social Security Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek addressed what he called "recent reporting" about the number of people older than age 100 who could be receiving benefits from Social Security.

"The reported data are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits," Dudek said.

- USA Today

- Explains payments to dead people does happen some times but that amount is not in the billions of dollars...

Between fiscal years 2015 and 2022, which includes Trump’s first presidency, the Social Security Administration sent almost $71.8 billion in improper payments, according to a July 2024 agency inspector general report. The inspector general’s office called improper payments "a longstanding challenge."

A November 2021 inspector general’s report found $298 million in payments after death to some 24,000 beneficiaries. (About $84 million was returned, the report said.)

- Politifact

3. Was Elon wrong on condoms to Gaza?
First here's information about this claim:

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s claim that President Donald Trump had thwarted $50 million in condom funding for Gaza made headlines around the world in late January. Trump kept repeating the story, and inflating the figure, even after media outlets reported it was highly unlikely to be true.

The saga of the imaginary condom aid began when Leavitt announced during her debut White House press briefing on January 28 that Musk’s team and the president’s budget office had “found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza” before Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid. Musk promoted Leavitt’s words on the X social media platform he owns.

- CNN

This claim is false or baseless, at best. While the US government has provided millions of dollars worth of condoms to multiple countries, but here Elon gets the details wrong when he brings up Gaza.

Here are some key facts:
-

An April 2024 report, opens new tab shows that the U.S. delivered a value of $60.8 million in contraceptives and condoms to four regions, including the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

Reports for fiscal years, opens new tab 2007 through 2023 on contraceptives and condoms shipped by USAID to the rest of the world also do not show any record of condoms shipped to Gaza.

- Reuters

Perhaps Elon mixed up a Gaza province in Mozambique with the Gaza in Palestine? Even so, no Gaza received condoms according to CNN:
-

Federal figures show that USAID condom aid totaled about $8 million worldwide in the 2023 fiscal year, the last year for which data is available, and that no condoms at all went to Mozambique. Mozambique, which is among the countries with the highest prevalence of HIV, received about $5.4 million worth of non-condom contraceptives that year from USAID.

So why would anyone mention Mozambique in the context of this inaccurate claim about tens of millions in nonexistent condom aid? Some social media users theorized that the White House made the claim about condoms for the Palestinian territory of Gaza because it had gotten confused by federal records showing that a health project in Mozambique’s Gaza (and another province there) has been supported by $84 million in US funding.

- CNN

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Let's add in the VA.

Musk and his young hot shots have fired 1,000 new employees from the VA. These employees are listed as probationary and thus able to be fired.

And the right-wing claim is that the Veterans’ Administration had been spending money for illegal immigrants, for housing. Nope, doesn't even pass the smell test.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

And the right-wing claim is that the Veterans’ Administration had been spending money for illegal immigrants, for housing. Nope, doesn't even pass the smell test.

I couldn't find that claim, but I remember Trump made that claim about FEMA while campaigning. I remember him saying that to hurricane victims.. that they won't get as much from FEMA because FEMA used its money for immigrants.

Let's add in the VA.

Musk and his young hot shots have fired 1,000 new employees from the VA. These employees are listed as probationary and thus able to be fired.

With me, the firings by themselves aren't a problem in all cases. In my view, it depends on why it's done and how it would impact the agency.

I've watched some in the mainstream media paint these mass firings as being a problem by itself. Some news coverage do take it further and elaborate on what these mass firings would mean. You have the left leaning networks that tend to mostly bring up all the negatives that could occur from these layoffs. I look at that as just speculation or a reasonable perspective until what they say will occur does in fact occur (like mail deliveries being delayed, taxes being delayed, VA services being delayed compared to pre-Trump admin). At the sametime you have the Conservative-run networks that seem to just blindly accept whatever Elon's DOGE does and don't question how services would be impacted. Either way, I think it's premature given that Elon has only been on the job for a month. And I think Elon can do himself a favor to counterbalance some of that negative speculation about cuts by offering his own explanations as to how all of these cuts won't impact services, and of course, I'd want to actually see that play out (although it is easy to show we are saving money from all of these cuts, but the question is the impact to services)

If these mass firings are occurring to cut government spending and there's no negative impact on these government agencies, then I don't have a problem with it. If anything, I'd be asking, why didn't we figure out earlier that we can run just as good (or even better in some cases) with less staff and less spending.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

If these mass firings are occurring to cut government spending and there's no negative impact on these government agencies, then I don't have a problem with it. If anything, I'd be asking, why didn't we figure out earlier that we can run just as good (or even better in some cases) with less staff and less spending.

Okay, staying with the example of the Veterans’ Administration . . . we can't just wish our way to a “lean” organizations, can we?

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Federal agencies can ignore "What did you do last week?" email, Trump administration says

The office that asked federal workers to document five things they accomplished over the past week told officials that agencies can decide how to respond.

www.cbsnews.com

Feb 24 —
“ . . The directive sparked confusion, and several agencies told workers to ignore the request, including the Justice Department, the FBI, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. . ”

— — —

These are some large powerful agencies, esp the Pentagon! , and might be first truly serious opposition Elon has faced.

• and not Elon himself, but the “whiz kids” he's delegated to

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Okay, staying with the example of the Veterans’ Administration . . . we can't just wish our way to a “lean” organizations, can we?

No... and this is why I believe that Elon needs to let Congress know about the thought process and planning for these cuts (or at least if and how that would impact government services). Just telling us about the dollar amount saved without addressing the quality of service, whether good or bad, is a bad idea. He could probably do weekly press conferences to keep us up to date like the one he did here....

Feb 24 —
“ . . The directive sparked confusion, and several agencies told workers to ignore the request, including the Justice Department, the FBI, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. . ”

— — —

These are some large powerful agencies, esp the Pentagon! , and might be first truly serious opposition Elon has faced.

• and not Elon himself, but the “whiz kids” he's delegated to

Keeping an eye on that story.

THe media is betting on Elon eventually clashing with Trump... not sure if I should join in on that bet lol

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Another Elon update on DOGE...(Watch from start to around the 11:30 minute mark.

He gave a brief speech and started taking questions at 3:45 minutes mark

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Just telling us about the dollar amount saved without addressing the quality of service, whether good or bad, is a bad idea

Because cutting fat without a decline in services, or much of a decline, is tricky!