NO, 150-YEAR-OLDS ARE NOT COLLECTING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS.
And No, dead people are not collecting Social Security Benefits.
There is no evidence of this fraud.
None.
Is there fraud somewhere? Maybe.
But the reason the two presidents, Musk-Trump, think really, really old (or even dead) people are robbing Social Security is because of COBOL.
This is the definition of COBOL: COBOL an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural, and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments.
Here is a link to the Wired article:
This is a quote from "Wired." "Computer programmers quickly claimed that the 150 figure (that Musk and Trump are using) was not evidence of fraud but rather the result of a weird quirk of the Social Security Administration’s benefits system, which was primarily written in COBOL, a 60-year-old programming language that undergirds SSA’s databases as well as systems from many other US government agencies.
COBOL is rarely used today, so Musk’s cadre of young engineers may well be unfamiliar with it. Because COBOL does not have a date type, some implementations rely instead on a system whereby all dates are coded to a reference point.
The most commonly used is May 20, 1875, as this was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the Convention du Mètre."
Here is a link to the Wired article: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-doge-social-security-150-year-old-benefits/
And a link to a Politifact Story:
https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/feb/17/are-150-year-old-americans-receiving-social-securi/
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