First-hand account trying to set up a SS account

[just-jim]

.
At the very phony ‘town hall’ that the Newhouse staffers held at the Twisp Grange a few weeks back - I stood in line with a woman, who was just turning SS age. She’d spent several months, already, going through the same hoop and frustration of calls, office visits, etc…attempting to get her own SS started.

My brother and I dealt with this with my Dad when he was still with us…..and it was very time consuming. I cant imagine what a nightmare trying to do the same, now, would be.
.

[Rideback]

"Today I saw firsthand the mess this administration has made with social security. I spent hours trying to figure out how to create an online account for my 87 year old mother without success. I couldn't create an account so she could get her information. I couldn't set up an appointment to go speak to someone in person. I couldn't talk to a person without waiting for hours. I called my local social security office and ended up in an endless maze of menus without any way to talk to a person or schedule an appointment. Finally I gave up and called my member of Congress and they told us to fill out a form. Apparently they have a social security case worker to help constituents which tells me there's a whole lot of problems.
This doesn't seem to be about efficiency to me. This seems designed to create problems for Americans who have paid for this program their entire life. Elon Musk has already shown his disdain for the "parasite class" who are taking advantage of federal programs to help Americans. These are programs paid for by US taxpayers. DOGE is crippling our governments ability to protect and serve its own citizens in the name of efficiency in order to find cash for another tax break for billionaires."