Beware seniors, families with grandparents and young people who want to know that their FICA taxes will someday be a source of retirement income.
Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slipped up at a Breitbart event speech in July 2025 and revealed that the new “Trump Accounts” are really a “backdoor for privatizing Social Security.”
These accounts allow parents to contribute up to $5,000 each year on behalf of each child. The funds must be invested in portfolios tied to the U.S. stock indexes and mostly can’t be withdrawn without penalty until after the child is 59. That’s fine if stocks remain strong. Fine for the families who have $5,000 to contribute to each child’s “privatized retirement fund” every year. And it’s especially fine if the family is wealthy.
But so many families these days are struggling just get by and millions of families simply can’t contribute to a savings account like that. The propaganda is that the Trump administration won’t later cancel Social Security but that slip from Secretary Bessent really tells you what’s in their minds. Truly.
In my lifetime, I have seen that when public services are privatized profit quickly becomes the main objective and people suffer. In this short letter, I cannot relay the statistics about how elders suffered before the establishment of the Social Security program.
Don’t let them pull this ruse and take our safety net away. Beware and let your Congressional representatives know that you support Social Security and not its privatization.
Connie S. Durand
Durango
