Much of the news these days emanates from an opulent Florida golf resort with gold fixtures, so it felt appropriate to seek another view Tuesday in front of a homely one-story brick building in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood.
The building is where people in neighborhoods such as Garfield, Homewood and Point Breeze sign up for Social Security benefits or to get answers to questions about eligibility. No one is sure what’s going to happen to the building or the Social Security inside. A few weeks ago, the building turned up on a list of facilities the Trump administration intended to close or sell. Then that list disappeared. This rattled people and added to the uncertainty that’s become a daily fixture of life during the second Trump presidency.
About 40 people gathered on a sidewalk in front of the East Liberty building Tuesday to protest its potential closure. The office is easily accessible by public transit, rally speakers said, and its services are vital for senior citizens who have trouble navigating government websites.
A few minutes into the event, someone handed Renee Haynes Johnson the bullhorn that speakers were using so they could be heard over passing traffic. She held an attached microphone to her mouth and began speaking, but her voice wasn’t amplified. Johnson looked puzzled. A woman behind her reached in and pushed a button on the microphone, and the problem was fixed. Suddenly Johnson’s voice rang out. She used the brief glitch to make a point.
“I didn’t know how to work this microphone, and it’s ‘no tech,’ not low tech” said Johnson, 70. “There’s a lot of people in the age group that are collecting Social Security that are not tech savvy. They need to come in and speak to somebody in person.”
Nicholas Izzo, a 66-year-old Squirrel Hill resident, said it’s frustrating and time-consuming to use online services when attempting to resolve issues with benefits like Social Security and Medicare.
“I went on Medicare a couple of years ago, and when I first started, there was a mess up with my account,” he said. “And I tried for months to straighten it out online and by emails and electronically. Finally, I came down here to the office, and the good people in this office straightened it out in about two minutes. So that’s what they want to take away from us.”
Others spoke out in defense of the East Liberty office, but the rally quickly became a defense of Social Security itself. Clearly people were concerned the benefit will be cut in some way. They’ve seen the Trump administration’s scorched-earth method of reducing federal agencies, and it leaves them with little confidence Social Security will escape unscathed. President Donald Trump has in the past said he’d keep his hands off Social Security, but Elon Musk and his buddies at DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) have announced plans to fire 7,000 employees who work for the Social Security Administration.
Some raised the issue that Social Security is for many their primary source of income. Even those fortunate enough to have investments or other retirement income may need to rely on it more than they had planned, given what’s happened to markets since Trump took office.
At one point, 72-year-old Emily De Ferrari of Point Breeze asked the crowd, “How many people still have pensions?” A few hands went up.
“Those are going away,” she said. “They took those from us. A lot of people only have Social Security. Maybe you have a 401(k) that’s going to tank after this robbery is completed here in our country.”
It’s impossible to discuss what politicians call “kitchen table issues” these days without talking about the world’s richest man and his buddy, who happens to sit in the Oval Office. Musk’s presence loomed over the rally, as did Trump’s. One speaker made an oblique reference to the two billionaires when discussing her dependence on Social Security, which she said represents 50% of her retirement income.
“I really need it,” she said. “And it just irks me completely that two nepo babies who didn’t work but just inherited their wealth are now trying to take that away from me and many other people who are more desperate than I am.”
How stable is Social Security? A 2024 trustees report indicated its reserves will be depleted within a decade, then Social Security will be able to pay out only 83% of full benefits. The solution to that problem is simple, said retiree Al Hart: Make rich people pay more.
Working-class people shoulder the burden of funding Social Security. Here’s how: The federal government sets a limit on the amount of income subject to the Social Security tax. The limit in 2025 is $176,100. That means someone earning $1 million in wages stopped paying into Social Security on March 6, when their income reached the limit. The rest of us pay into the fund all year long. What’s more, unearned investment income isn’t subject to payroll tax. Musk, whose net worth reached $432 billion in 2024, paid off his Social Security obligation 15 minutes into the New Year.
“Everybody should pay all year,” said Hart, a former organizer for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. “I don’t care if you’re a multibillionaire. I don’t care if you’re a trillionaire. Tax every freaking penny of your income to support Social Security and then we can fix it.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said that, in his younger years, he witnessed a parade of neighborhood people going in and out of the East Liberty office. “I grew up right there, before they build the new housing,” he said, pointing across the street to a block of modern townhouses and apartments. “And I know how important this building is. I know how many people used this building through the years. I know how our mothers, our grandmothers, our neighbors, come here all the time.
“Trump 2.0, Elon, this MAGA movement, since they’ve been in office, all they want to do is hurt and burn social service safety nets that help people make it through life,” he said.
He called for people to continue to stand together and voice their opposition to cuts in services. “We as the people have got to continue to stand up against this MAGA machine that didn’t come to help, but only came to hurt.”
At age 37, Ashley Comans won’t be eligible for Social Security for decades, but she’s concerned about the benefit because her parents are nearing retirement age. She spoke specifically about her mother’s experience.
“She doesn’t know what’s going to happen with her 401(k) or her Social Security,” Comans said. “She’s just kind of like, ‘What do I do?’ And at this point, we don’t have any answers. We’re literally every day waiting to see what is actually going to happen. She is a working-class woman who raised three children. And at most what we can offer is to say, ‘Well, mom, we got a room.’ It’s scary.”
Steve is a photojournalist and writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he is currently on strike and working as a Union Progress co-editor. Reach him at smellon@unionprogress.com.