But, but, but...what about all the dead people? The old people? I thought we were kicking people off of the SS gravy train? And now we need to afford to fund even more people? Where's Elon when we need him?

I stopped in at the local SS office today to follow up on something for another person, since I happened to be driving by after dropping off their tax return and noticed their parking lot was not very full. The man helping me was great and he pointed out it's so much better to come in person than to call. That's because the level of service we want is judged by the type of service we use.

This law was already in place and I am pleasantly surprised that it wasn't revoked/ignored.

@qbteachmt You can just stop in to a local SSA office?

a. You have one, for now.

b. No appointment needed?

c. Do you have to go through security?

An advantage of living in rural/small town/outside the beltway/swamp America, I guess.

Reminds me of my bank, where the tellers don't like it when I use the ATM.  They don't get credit for those, which are processed at a central location.  But I don't have to stand there while they point me in the direction of the salesperson in the corner who sells lousy mutual funds with high commissions. 

At IRS, we found that a service rep could deal with 4 walk-ins an hour, and 18 phone calls an hour.  Of course the questions weren't always the same.  

Meanwhile, "The former head of the Social Security Administration is warning that the agency could be at risk of missing payments to seniors for the first time in its history thanks to the dramatic staffing cuts planned by the Trump administration as it seeks to slash the federal workforce.

“I do think it’s going to happen,” Martin O’Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner under former President Joe Biden, told Yahoo Finance. “If I were a beneficiary, I’d be setting aside some money right now.”

Social Security Administration officials announced late last week that they intended to lower the agency’s headcount to 50,000 workers, down from approximately 57,000 today and 66,000 a decade ago, in part by offering staff cash buyouts and early retirement incentives. The agency said its cuts would “focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services.”

I also heard that, before these cuts, they are at their lowest staffing level in 50 years.

With the cuts at Social Security, I'm almost positive those egg prices will be dropping --------- just like Tesla stock prices 😶

The elderly Iowa farmers with NOL's will have to raise more chickens.

They are going to have to raise more chickens.  I see China's response to our new tariff's is to put tariffs on food imports.  I'm not a tariff expert, but my gut tells me that isn't going to help the farming community very much.

@IRonMaN   Tariffs don't matter to farmers.  At least to those who are already losing money.  Their only concern is getting their return filed by March 3.  A lot of paper these days is imported from China, so they want to make sure it's done electronically.  

"An advantage of living in rural/small town/outside the beltway/swamp America,"

Hey! I live in the second largest city in the State. Yes, the local office is swamped at certain hours, but you can walk in mid-day. "Security" is the guy who directs you to the kiosk to take a wait ticket and confirms you aren't carrying any restricted items.

The office here and 2 hours North are to be closed per that first list. That means I could go to Spokane WA, I guess.

I have more paperwork for them and intend to stop in maybe three more times in the next two weeks, including taking my client over.

We went through local office shutdowns when I was working on motor vehicle legislative issues as a Governor's appointee to the state's Motorcycle Safety Advisory Committee (appointed by two different governors). We learned about "touches" at the registration desk. At the time, it cost more per touch than trailers, boats, motorcycles and small atvs brought to the system. We had DMV offices in farm country that didn't even open until April, and shut down by Oct. In MT now, you transfer the title and pay for Permanent registration at that time. But you might need to drive 3 hours one way to your nearest office.

I have a client who lives in the first capital of the state (back when it was a territory).  It's a big enough place that when he got a letter from Social Security addressed to his family and expressing condolences for his death, he could walk to the office and show them he was still breathing.  Then he could walk to the bank, which had frozen his account because Social Security had told them he was dead.  A few months after this happened, he was killed off again, and had to repeat the process.  

You always hear about the people Social Security doesn't know are dead, but you don't always hear about those who have to prove they are still alive. 

The Amazon Prime delivery van just drove by, and on the side it says "I'm electric."  That's not relevant here, I just thought it was interesting. 

The latest report is that IRS might have to cut its staff in half, from 100,000 to 50,000.  Great news for tax cheats, but a slap in the face to those who want to comply but occasionally need a question answered or an account reviewed.  Back in the days of the Salem witch trials, they blamed this governmental derangement on wheat rust.  I think I'm going  gluten-free for a while.