This 1962 educational film about Social Security is a nicely produced story, by educational film standards anyway. It tells about SS by following a young reporter who visits the administration with her grandpa, to see how SS works for young people and old people.
At one point the film mentions that modern computers enable SSA to keep operating expenses low, about 3% of the amount of benefits paid. It shows the process of keypunching cards, transferring to paper tape then magnetic tape for the giant mainframe to handle lightning fast.
Let’s compare 1962 with now, when computers do a lot more of the work. No card punches or tape drives or check-writers, just digital all the way.
Total benefits last year = 1.35 trillion.
Administrative expenses last year = 14 billion.
A bit more than 1%, so twice as efficient as 1962.
That’s enviable efficiency for any benefit association or insurance company. For instance, Charity Watch classifies anything less than 25% as excellent, and lists their approved charities. Only a few are under 10%.
= = = = =
Demon Elon is trying to destroy SS in the name of efficiency.
How efficient is Elon?
His total share value is 325 billion. Tesla’s income for 2023, the last year before he got into politics, was 15 billion. SpaceX had an income of 13 billion. The other enterprises are either much smaller or top secret. For the sake of estimating, let’s say that Tesla and SpaceX have been bringing in the same amount for 10 years, which obviously isn’t true. Both started much smaller. Even by this guess, the total income over the 10 years when Elon has been operating the enterprises must be less than 300 billion, in other words somewhat less than his total share value.
If Elon was as efficient as SS, the total income of his enterprises over ten years would be 32 trillion, not 300 billion. He would be taking 1%, not 100%.
When government says Efficient, it means
We get 1%, you get 99%.
When rich people say Efficient, they mean
I get everything, you get nothing.
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Later and smarter thought: How do tech tyrants magically take more than 100% of the company’s sales into their net worth, especially when the company is losing rather than profiting?
It’s a religion, not a business.
Tech Tyrants bring in money from cult followers who adhere to the supposed beliefs of the founder. There are several apocalyptic denominations: Gaia, Bitcoin, Effective Altruism, Tech Singularity. Elon pulled in 325 billion from fools who thought he was leading a Gaian religious movement. When he switched sides to the nominally anti-Gaia Trump cult, many followers lost their charitable impulses and sold their Gaian indulgences.
Polistra's Mill 