{"id":37505,"date":"2025-07-31T18:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/37505\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T18:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:53:10","slug":"now-weve-got-a-backdoor-to-privatize-social-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/37505\/","title":{"rendered":"Now We\u2019ve Got a \u2018Backdoor\u2019 to Privatize Social Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed the president\u2019s new investment accounts as a \u201cbackdoor for privatizing Social Security.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Republicans\u2019 \u201cBig Beautiful\u201d budget bill<\/a> created Trump accounts\u2014a new type of tax-deferred investment account that allows parents to contribute up to $5,000 each year on behalf of their children. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,\u201d Bessent said at a Breitbart event in Washington, Politico<\/a> reported. \u201cIf, all of a sudden, these accounts grow and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, that\u2019s a game-changer, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The funds must be invested in portfolios tied to U.S. stock indexes and are structured similarly to individual retirement accounts. The beneficiaries can make penalty-free withdrawals after age 59 and six months, or earlier for college expenses or first-time home purchases.<\/p>\n

Despite President Trump\u2019s promises not to touch Social Security, experts have warned for months that the program was already unofficially on the path to privatization<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"ElonExperts have warned that changes to the Social Security Administration introduced earlier this year by DOGE\u2014then headed by billionaire Elon Musk\u2014had unofficially put the agency on the path to privatization. Allison Robbert\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Many of the changes<\/a> brought about by the cost-cutting task force DOGE<\/a>\u2014formerly headed by Elon Musk\u2014threaten Social Security\u2019s future as a government entity, WarketWatch<\/a> reported earlier this year. <\/p>\n

Democrats quickly jumped on Bessent\u2019s remarks as evidence that the Trump administration has been planning to move toward privatization all along. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBessent actually slipped and told the truth: Donald Trump and his government want to privatize Social Security,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech.<\/p>\n

Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House tax-writing committee, told Politico in a statement that Bessent had \u201csaid the quiet part out loud: Republicans\u2019 ultimate goal is to privatize Social Security, and there isn\u2019t a backdoor they won\u2019t try to make Wall Street\u2019s dream a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later on Wednesday, Bessent attempted to clarify his remarks in a statement on X.<\/p>\n

\"SenateSenate Minority Leader Charles Schumer accused Bessent of “slipping and telling the truth” about the administration’s plans to privatize Social Security. Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cTrump Baby Accounts are an additive benefit for future generations, which will supplement the sanctity of Social Security\u2019s guaranteed payments,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis is not an either-or question: our Administration is committed to protecting Social Security and to making sure seniors have more money.\u201d <\/p>\n

Notably, his statement did not say that Social Security would continue as a government program\u2014just that it would continue. <\/p>\n

A Treasury spokesperson offered a similar statement to Politico: \u201cSocial Security is a critical safety net for Americans and always will be. This Administration has not just fought tirelessly for seniors, but is also fighting for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and Treasury Department for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed the president\u2019s new investment accounts as a \u201cbackdoor for privatizing Social Security.\u201d The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,24447,1377,250,133,131,132,12400,2438,27543,27544],"class_list":["post-37505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-doge","tag-donald-j-trump","tag-elon-musk","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-scott-bessent","tag-social-security","tag-treasury","tag-treasury-secretary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}