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WIRED: DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase In Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse
Makena Kelly
Politics Mar 28, 2025 10:07 AM
DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase In Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse
Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.
The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is starting to put together a team to migrate the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely—at risk.
The project is being organized by Elon Musk lieutenant Steve Davis, multiple sources who were not given permission to talk to the media tell WIRED, and aims to migrate all SSA systems off COBOL, one of the first common business-oriented programming languages, and onto a more modern replacement like Java within a scheduled tight timeframe of a few months.
Under any circumstances, a migration of this size and scale would be a massive undertaking, experts tell WIRED, but the expedited deadline runs the risk of obstructing payments to the more than 65 million people in the US currently receiving Social Security benefits.
“Of course one of the big risks is not underpayment or overpayment per se but [it’s also] not paying someone at all and not knowing about it. The invisible errors and omissions,” an SSA technologist tells WIRED.
The Social Security Administration did not immediately reply to WIRED’s request for comment.
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SheltieLover
(65,592 posts)
usaf-vet
(7,415 posts)SheltieLover
(65,592 posts)But if it were written for 1st graders, I would not trust those ruskie loving traitors to do it. 
Response to SheltieLover (Reply #82)
usaf-vet This message was self-deleted by its author.
SheltieLover
(65,592 posts)Hopper was.clearly a genius & patriot, the exact opposite if fleaon, beardo, tsf, et al.
Ty for sharing!
usaf-vet
(7,415 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 29, 2025, 12:12 AM - Edit history (2)
See the entire post here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/13242860
And additional info regarding Musk suggesting they are going to REPROGRAM Social Security COBOL based program.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1324&pid=2878
SheltieLover
(65,592 posts)I replied to it to give it a kick there as well. I'd repost for a few days at different times of the day because this is really important for people to wrap their heads around!
TY again!
flamingdem
(40,242 posts)Wow. Jensen Huang convinced the orange one or Eloon?
brush
(59,391 posts)businesses and gov agencies and departments have used for decades...called out of retirement twice to straighten out messes made after she left?
She was just about indispensable.
I can't imagine that musk and this screw p crew of teen/20-something hackers think that can cobble together something to replace it in a couple of months..
LaRaven
(105 posts)Response to LaRaven (Reply #2)
Post removed
PatSeg
(49,986 posts)are NOT collecting SS. You might consider finding a different news source. 
Response to PatSeg (Reply #37)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Walleye
(39,193 posts)Response to Walleye (Reply #47)
Name removed Message auto-removed
PatSeg
(49,986 posts)Though I figured they wouldn't be around for long. Ever so subtle. 
dchill
(41,748 posts)Response to Post removed (Reply #34)
dchill This message was self-deleted by its author.
TBA
(847 posts)We are updating a legacy (COBOL) system for a large state's Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle department. We have probably 25 Developers and untold testers and Business Analysts on the project and its been ongoing FOR YEARS. I've been here since 2019 and it was in process then. We aren't expected to complete for several more years.
Not to mention the fact that the SS Regulations I've heard are thousands of pages.
Demovictory9
(34,970 posts)patphil
(7,582 posts)It's obvious they don't intend to follow the software development lifecycle.
It would take at least a year for a large group of experienced software engineers to develop the design documents. At each step during the process, the customer must review and sign off on their efforts.
Once the documents are approved, the coding begins...a process that will take years for large, complex systems. Each module is tested and revised as needed. This happens again at the various sub-system levels, and finally as a complete system.
Once the programmers have finished their part, the customer has to develop and get approval of plans and documents for the system level testing. This testing is done by the customer, because they know what the system is supposed to do. Programmers have blind spots due to not actually being system users.
It's not uncommon to have serious errors show up at this point, which means a lot of the process has to be re-done.
This is why Cobol was still being used. It's a massive project to completely redo the Social Security Computer systems in a different computer language. No one in government was willing to allocate the huge sum of money needed to do the job, especially on such a mission critical system.
Also, once the new system is complete, the users have to be trained in it's use. Even with a drastically reduced staff, we're still talking a whole lot of people. AI is not able to do everything; not even close.
To think Musk's kids can do this in months, and get it right, is like me taking a flying leap and landing on Mars.
There's no fucking way they can do it successfully.
hotellanai1986
(160 posts)Your line, "It's obvious they don't intend to follow the software development lifecycle. " made my day and well, I am still laughing. This entire year will be FAFO.
ultralite001
(1,483 posts)🤣🤣🤣
thought crime
(43 posts)ultralite001
(1,483 posts)Read by all the best people...
AZJonnie
(598 posts)Also it did say 'such as Java' though, that's the part that's funny to me. You're going to do it 'in months' but you haven't even decided what language(s) it's to be written in? Just doing THAT part smartly on a system this big (and ancient) is time-consuming because there will be components that are more logically suited to be done in different languages. Just figuring out what all the systems ARE that you need to convert is a many-months long process. Then you need to pick the languages ... thoughtfully.
Of course ... Java is owned by Oracle.
reACTIONary
(6,354 posts).... This is not going to end well. It's not even going to start well. It's going to be FUBAR from start to crash and burn ending.
FPGramma
(4 posts)Is so inefficient and old coders weren’t s organized as they could have been. There’s probably. Lot of undocumented stuff that will bite the doggees and us before it’s all done. I’ve done coding, QA, project management and participated in rewrites of systems. This is very ambitious and concerning.
Skittles
(162,906 posts)just that took more time than what they're talking about
they either delusional OR, more likely, just TRYING to break SS
dalton99a
(87,606 posts)Social Security is one of the most important and reliable databases in the U.S. government
AmericaUnderSiege
(777 posts)The only explanations are criminal.
uponit7771
(92,626 posts).. data just like it's planned onto computers and software and code that doesn't perform as high in key metrics out of the box.
This SSA software and hardware porting cost will be eaten by the US tax payers to pay for the up front capital corps has spent on AI investments that won't ever live up to these corps hype
AmericaUnderSiege
(777 posts)
Wiz Imp
(4,484 posts)Systems as old as the SS system are notoriously unstable and have likely been patched dozens of times. At some point, a system like this will just totally collapse. However, it is beyond insane to think it could be rewritten in a matter of months. It's a project that realistically should probably take 5 to 10 years.
The SSA announced plans to modernize the system in 2017. The project was projected to take 5 full years. It never got very far due to the COVID pandemic leading to shifting priorities.
https://www.ssa.gov/open/materials/IT-Modernization-Plan.pdf
AmericaUnderSiege
(777 posts)Good old Dunning-Kruger.
dsc
(52,837 posts)it wasn't in use by the time I went to college which is now nearly 40 years ago. At some point all of them will die off.
Klondike Kat
(874 posts)But we're getting up there. I'm 68 and I could probably still code in COBOL given a little time to "knock the rust off".
Be The Light
(85 posts)He's 70 now and SS is a big part of his retirement
He is laughing, crying and shitting his pants at the same time!
camartinwv
(114 posts)
Bengus81
(8,443 posts)Musk wants it DEAD so they can loot it and then get an even bigger tax cut.
Rewriting code my FUCKING ASS.
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)I was an IBM mainframe software person for 30 years. Z systems can run without an outage for a solid 12 months or more. I'm sure that the SSA system is probably running.in parallel to avoid any unexpected hiccups.
There used to be a saying, "If it ain't broke, leave it alone."
Wiz Imp
(4,484 posts)has over its history repeatedly harnessed technology to improve efficiency, productivity and customer service. But that was then. SSA
had state-of-the-art systems in the 1970s, but today those legacy
systems are increasingly obsolete. They are expensive to maintain,
prone to breakdown, and difficult to reprogram.
Modernizing SSA’s IT infrastructure has been a challenge, as
budgetary constraints have limited the agency’s ability to invest beyond maintaining its current systems and implementing small upgrades to its existing infrastructure. Since 2010, the Social Security
Administration’s basic operating budget has been cut by 10 percent
after adjusting for inflation. At the same time, the number of beneficiaries has continued to steadily increase, rising by 7 million people since 2010. These cuts have squeezed all aspects of the agency’s
operations, including its capacity to keep its IT up to date.
I am glad that SSA is making a thoughtful assessment of its current IT infrastructure and determining what it will need to bring
it up to date, but none of this can happen without resources. Without an additional investment from Congress dedicated to building
a modern, agile, and cost-efficient infrastructure, SSA’s systems
will become even more slow, expensive to maintain, and at risk of
catastrophic failure.
I am glad one of our witnesses, Rick Warsinskey, is here today
to tell us real-world effects of the agency’s aging IT systems. Rick
represents the managers of more than 1,200 Social Security field
offices and teleservice centers. His workers report that they lose
about 20 minutes a day to computer problems. It can take 10 minutes to restart a computer and get back online, sometimes while
the beneficiary is standing there waiting.
https://www.congress.gov/114/chrg/CHRG-114hhrg22296/CHRG-114hhrg22296.pdf
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)I stand behind my post 106. The IBM Z16 and Z17s are awesome in speed and number of transactions they can handle.
The quote is about local offices.
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/11920/chapter/5
Three-Tiered Structure:
The SSA's IT infrastructure is organized into three tiers: local/departmental offices, Remote Operations Control Centers (ROCCs), and the National Computer Center (NCC).
Local Offices:
These offices primarily use personal computers (PCs) running Microsoft Windows, local file servers, and standard local area network (LAN) technology. .
Wiz Imp
(4,484 posts)It's the software/programming that is absolutely unstable. What part of "prone to breakdown" and "at risk of catastrophic failure" do you fail to understand?
Other passages in the transcript:
However, failure to address these critical concerns will delay the inevitable and costs will only increase. In the meantime, severe disruptions of service will intensify as the system further degrades.
The current inefficient, outdated system cannot keep pace with
the services SSA must deliver each day, costing us millions of dollars.
However, we strongly believe dedicated and sustained
resources for the modernization of SSA’s IT infrastructure are necessary to ensure the agency can run efficiently, saving tax dollars.
The longer we delay addressing these issues, the more severe disruptions will occur, risking major systems outages.
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)program 'breaking down' and the only catastrophic failures were due to natural or environmental disasters.
Wiz Imp
(4,484 posts)I dealt with many of these systems built in the 60's and 70's, and believe me, they were problematic. Any time a problem came up or say some change in regulations necessitated an update to the computer system, all that could be done was to write in a patch to try to keep it working. After a while, one of these systems might have dozens of patches, meaning if something went wrong it could cause additional problems i other areas of the system.
While I never dealt with a totally catastrophic failure, in 35 years, I had to deal with numerous times where a system failed in some key area. Sometimes those could be fixed in a matter of hours but other times it could be months, meaning workarounds had to be developed to allow for vital operations to continue. Those workaround were usually outside the system, meaning it could complicate processes to do even routine work. And after that, at some point it would still need to be integrated in with the main system.
This is what I meant by unstable systems and it was a very real issue we had to deal with until these systems began to be modernized.
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)require modification (or patches) to accommodate new regulations or requirements?
I was assigned to two state government IT shops over the years. One decided to move off their mainframe in 2004. It took them 12 years to finally pull the plug and they had to go back to the legislature 3 times to get more funding for the project.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,400 posts)Martin O'Malley was talking about this a few weeks ago - the lack of COBOL-trained people to step in for those aging out. He said staffing was the primary driving factor for the project and that the system was forecasted to be live in 2030. He sounded super pissed too.
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)parallel sysplexes.
Your right, all us legacy programmers are getting old.
DiamondShark
(1,150 posts)In the programming world, once something "works" you don't touch it. No need to rebuild a system that is functioning fine.
Bengus81
(8,443 posts)about SS and the Administration. That's the problem here. Musk doesn't want to make any program better,he wants to tear it down. I didn't read the entire article, do you know what version of COBOL their using?
It's been around since the late 50's,no doubt SS has updated somewhere along the line.
live love laugh
(15,089 posts)
AmericaUnderSiege
(777 posts)No piece of code put in effect by these fucking Russian spies will be safe. Americans are gonna have a helluva job ripping out everything these bastards do to restore a semblance of national security and function.
orangecrush
(23,905 posts)And so are they.
They just don't know it yet.
Bettie
(18,078 posts)a kid who likes people to call him "big balls"....so, let's just say my confidence is not high.
Hope22
(3,786 posts)On the calendar of threats, today reads SS!
Tickle
(3,745 posts)No one should feel any pain if they do it correctly
patphil
(7,582 posts)There's no way they will do it correctly. See my earlier post.
Buns_of_Fire
(18,270 posts)* We can do it cheap,
* We can do it fast,
* We can do it right.
Pick two.
Bengus81
(8,443 posts)And kill off payments for years just so it will die on it's own.
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(18,270 posts)AZJonnie
(598 posts)Randomize the PII fields like name, address, SSN. We do this often at our shop, but our stuff is generally much simpler.
Evolve Dammit
(20,418 posts)MontanaMama
(24,352 posts)If it is not, why can no one put a stop to this?
AZProgressive
(29,456 posts)I'm not a legal expert but from what little I understand the initial actions of DOGE & Elon Musk were illegal which means we should have at least a special counsel. Also with the Signal Gate which those actions are also illegal which should also mean we should have at least have a special counsel looking at what crimes they may have committed.
The reason why I say this is Trump fired a lot of FBI that worked on the January 6th & other investigations of Trump and they also stopped the Eric Adams investigation for leverage to use over him which is why among other reasons why I don't believe we have an independent law enforcement to answer your question as to why no one is putting a stop this.
sakabatou
(44,392 posts)intrepidity
(8,210 posts)But no worries, Elon will produce a lot of progeny to replace them.
Talk about "replacement" theory!!
SpankMe
(3,416 posts)Some have been advocating for years to transition from the old COBOL code to something new and modern. But, proper software development for something like this takes years and a team of coders, reviewers, tests and such. Musk may be able to create something that would work at a superficial level. But 19 year old script kiddies don't have the experiential depth to delve into the history of the COBOL code, updates to account for new laws and conditions, etc. They're so young and inexperienced, they can't empathize with the customer base (elderly and disabled) and treat it with the sanctity it deserves. To them, it's just another database - if a few tens of thousands fall through the cracks, that's just the cost of doing business.
Developing rocket controlling software is a cakewalk compared to a system that handles and controls life-critical income disbursements for a vulnerable segment of our society.
Also, this clearly violates procurement rules. Normally, the government would develop a work statement and put this effort out for bids so that expert software developers could bid on it. This isn't something that should be done in-house and at-will.
Irish_Dem
(66,927 posts)Irish_Dem
(66,927 posts)
IronLionZion
(48,215 posts)their goal is benefits and system collapse. This has jack shit to do with efficiency or fraud or whatever. They've been making lots of big mistakes stopping benefits for people who are still alive, declaring them dead, and so on.
dalton99a
(87,606 posts)creon
(1,442 posts)They just want to destroy.
Modernize is an excuse.
Vinca
(51,813 posts)Bluetus
(828 posts)And how much is Musk getting from this work?
reACTIONary
(6,354 posts)... stinkin' contract.
Wiz Imp
(4,484 posts)Make no mistake, the system absolutely needs to be rewritten/updated in the near future or it will collapse completely which would be very bad. However, the idea that such a system could be rewritten in months is insane. A project of this size would require at least 5 to 10 years to update.
Having dealt with state Unemployment Insurance system rewrites, those have typically taken anywhere between 5 & 25 years. UI systems are typically probably a little more complex than the SS system, but are far, far smaller.
I can state flat out that it is impossible to rewrite the SS system in a matter of months. Even if you had thousands of people working on it 24/7, you're looking at many years to complete such a project.
https://www.ssa.gov/open/materials/IT-Modernization-Plan.pdf
Girard442
(6,585 posts)The idea of "improvement" is a fig leaf as transparent as Saran Wrap.
C_U_L8R
(46,816 posts)What doge shit. These nosepickers can fuck right off. Hands off our savings !!
Ocelot II
(123,862 posts)If it's working while running on COBOL, as it has been for a long time, what's the rush? Does it really need to be converted at all (unless maybe because everybody who knew COBOL is now dead)? If so, why not complete a parallel recoding, test it and switch it over gradually?
Klondike Kat
(874 posts)then it would be next to impossible to port it over to a new language. In order to port it over you need someone who understands both the original language and the language to which you're translating.
Ocelot II
(123,862 posts)And maybe DOGE has fired them.
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)Retrograde
(11,011 posts)Humans managed to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics when the last people who were fluent had been dead for nearly two millennia - converting COBOL to a new programming language shouldn't be that difficult*. It's not so much a matter of what the SSI system is written in as how it will be rewritten - who's going to provide the specs? who's going to vet the coders and their output? who's going to test the new code? who's going to test the new system (I doubt it's just one program)? what's the roll-out plan? what's the backup plan in case the new system fails?
*I've never written COBOL code, but back in the early 70s I used to pick up extra cash by keypunching. I hated COBOL programs because they were wordy and the keywords overly long IMHO.
camartinwv
(114 posts)
jalan48
(14,769 posts)Wonder Why
(5,320 posts)Happy Hoosier
(8,839 posts)Ask any developer.... you can write a LOT of software very quickly. The trick is testing it to ensure it works, incuding corner cases. That takes a LOT of time.
HipChick
(25,545 posts)There will be no QA testing...just straight out into production
No mention of Disaster Recovery in the plans either...
NotHardly
(2,032 posts)
Susan Calvin
(2,238 posts)So it can be put back in place when DOUCHE totally screws things up.
lindysalsagal
(22,555 posts)
Initech
(104,364 posts)We've all seen his stupid trucks explode and collapse. 
dflprincess
(28,737 posts)Get out to your SS account and print copies of your earnings; save every piece of mail you have from SSA.
subterranean
(3,589 posts)The way they're screwing around with the system, I can't trust that my earnings history won't be "accidentally" deleted or altered.
LiberalArkie
(17,739 posts)Because the script kiddies do not know how to do the real financial stuff in COBOL.
Walleye
(39,193 posts)Person of Interest
(377 posts)This would be a monumental task!! SSA systems run on millions of lines of programs, not just in COBOL.
The real work is in redesiging the data stores, which will require years to migrate to relational databases (much of data is in QSAM, VSAM, CICS, and other legacy tech stacks).
Touching these systems will be catastrophic!!
Walleye
(39,193 posts)Person of Interest
(377 posts)
New Breed Leader
(779 posts)
Joinfortmill
(17,676 posts)dchill
(41,748 posts)Mama always used to say. And anyone who believes that Elon Musk is a genius is quite a few ticks below being qualified to judge. All this is just self-serving hackery.
MineralMan
(148,757 posts)They can't even keep xitter up and operating properly. How on earth would they code for the complexity of SSA?
Be afraid. Be very afraid. The script kiddies are on the job.
JCMach1
(28,513 posts)Absolutely.
Is this how you go about it? Hell to the NAH.
They are literally going to have GROK writing code for this.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(120,763 posts)I hope they at least have the sense to do that.
lotusblossom
(48 posts)This is insanity!! As a COBOL programmer most of my professional career, it is mind-boggling that they think they could just replace the huge systems and files. It would take years to even do the design of the changes and no guarantees that if they try and replace with Java based code that it could even handle the huge volume of data that those new databases would be required to use. Unless things have changed drastically since I retired 9 years ago, there is no way this could work. That is why legacy systems still exist today. They handle the back end code and file systems for government, banks, insurance, and many other large systems. Java is for front-end systems that connect to the back-end code and files. And it sounds like they aren't even planning on testing this before it goes live with that ridiculous timeframe. This is a recipe for disaster.
sinkingfeeling
(54,755 posts)IBM’s modern mainframe series started with the 360 up to its current z/OS series. Mainframes are not dying; according to IBM, they still process over 70% of online transactions. According to DevOps.com, “One mainframe can process 2.5 billion transactions in a single day, which is the equivalent of handling 100 Cyber Mondays." Mainframes remain the backbone of processing for banks and insurance companies; although some people have the misconception that mainframe technology is obsolete, IBM is continuing to develop it. The IBM z/OS version 14 mainframe now enables pervasive encryption without any application changes.
That was on a Z13 and the Z17 is due out this year and can blow that away.
louis-t
(24,114 posts)"We'll try to have it fixed in a few months."
Bengus81
(8,443 posts)Oh and it's just a minor computer "glitch"--so don't blame Musk and DOUCH. We might have the bugs worked out of it in a few years.
jmowreader
(52,046 posts)The licensing agreement for Java says, do not build mission-critical applications in Java. The list of things they don’t want you writing in Java includes - this is no shit - nuclear weapons.
Aren’t all the kool kids calling DB2 from Ruby on Rails these days anyway?
SamKnause
(14,128 posts)What a fucked up 1 party government we have.
They always have the power.
In the minority they had the power.
In the majority they have the power.
If they don't like something, they just ignore the rules and law.
dobleremolque
(987 posts)Social Security payments do not go out to 72 million SS retirement recipients, and another 5-million receiving SSI disability. I cited the willingness of banks and the financial industry to work for some brief period, suspending payment deadlines etc., with people affected by natural disasters.
After she stopped laughing, she pointed out that the banking and financial industries are looking forward to the billions of dollars they'll rake in with dishonored transaction fees, as Social Security recipients can't pay their bills. The Biden administration capped bank fees for "bounced checks" at $5 each. Bankers sued to overturn that. They used to charge as much as $40 per. But now there is legislation moving thru Congress to remove all caps on bank fees. It is enthusiastically embraced by Republicans.
A simple calculation of 72-million SS recipients x the average SS payment of $1,909 (as of Jan. 2025), is a monthly hit to the economy of $137.4-billion, if those checks don't go out.
When it occurs, it's going to be ugly and costly for everyone....banks included.
C_U_L8R
(46,816 posts)I wouldn’t even trust this job to team as skilled as Google or Microsoft or Apple. It’s a massive critical undertaking and there’s no way to move fast and break your way to a workable system. What chumps.
Martin68
(25,251 posts)particularly if it was thrown together in a hurry. What disturbs me more is the probability that the tech bros will build in a backdoor for them to steal millions from retirees and the government.
Beartracks
(13,832 posts)sakabatou
(44,392 posts)turbinetree
(25,960 posts)that is "OUR" money................
paulkienitz
(1,396 posts)When I left it had been about two years, and it was nowhere near finished. And that was just four million lines of code, not tens of millions, and the prior code was a lot more modern and readable than Cobol.
Given that job I would start with an estimate of five years, and make it clear that it could be longer.
paulkienitz
(1,396 posts)they'll have an AI do it!
rickford66
(5,807 posts)I've worked on a number of standalone rehosts on mini real-time computers and we talked about months to a year. The COBOL code is probably very inefficient today, with layers of updates on top of each other and probably should be replaced, but It might be cheaper and quicker to give each of us retirees a million dollars and cut us loose.
Meowmee
(8,121 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(18,270 posts)of source code. If this change makes everything go belly-up, how can we at least get back to where we were, inefficient as it may be?
Rule #2: You NEVER, NEVER. EVER update live files while testing.
Rule #3: An intellectually-deficient South African Nazi or a guy who calls himself "Big Balls" won't be bailing you out if you ignore Rules 1 and 2.
Ford_Prefect
(8,309 posts)accounts.
I worked supporting a research university system wide adaptation of unique scientific data into an accessible library intended to allow people all over the world to look at the original data and how it had been produced. A large portion of the experiments and data predated desktop computing by decades. It took 3 years to accomplish and involved accurately converting pre-DOS languages and sequences into UNIX friendly forms which could be viewed remotely across the then new internet. I saw first hand the difficulties faced at that time by the programmers and scientists in building this library.
I cannot imagine how the millions of lines of fragile COBOL based SSA system language could be replaced by JavaScript in only a few months by a couple of hackers.
I have worked alongside people who imagine that because they can hack an existing system, and cull out the data THEY believe is important, that they are wizards of code and IT who can magic anything into being over a few cups of coffee on the weekend. They have enormous contempt for anything made by anyone else at all, whether that is an operating system, or a diplomatic network which keeps the world from blowing up through miscommunication, or a hand made artifact from an era older than they are.
They exist to satisfy their personal greed and their pathetic desire to prove that they are the most powerful people on the planet. They intend to die with the most toys by stealing them from everyone else. If this results in the death of everyone else that just goes to prove their own superiority.
New Breed Leader
(779 posts)they know damn well you can't rebuild millions of lines of COBOL code in months. That takes years and they know that.
they know that.
They know it's going to break and that's their goal.
Ford_Prefect
(8,309 posts)It is the pretense of "fixing something" which they have mythologized as broken in order to get rid of it. They have said the same thing about DOE for decades, so that they now can justify ending it. Along with the EPA they see them as Icons of the New Deal and the Great Society eras when government was expanded expressly to care for ordinary citizens, allegedly at the expense of the wealthy elites. When FDR first announced the New Deal the entitled rich trashed it as wasted money spent on lower class people who did not deserve to be helped by a government they saw themselves as owning.
The entitled elite see the world as belonging to them by right of conquest because they own most of the resources, most of the property, most of the political parties, and control nearly all the money.
Eliot Rosewater
(32,789 posts)If we physically push back they will send the military out to kill us, for real.
moondust
(20,826 posts)A quote I heard last night on how long it would take.
Ursus Rex
(352 posts)I'm also a 25-year veteran of mainframes and large-scale financial systems. At the most basic level, the precision and speed with which COBOL operates and the way you can handle numbers (not just digits per se) are two big reasons it's still widely used in the financial and business sectors. Pertinent here, another reason is that it's a sunk cost and it still works, so why spend the money to replace it with something not really any better? Also, the whole object-oriented features that Java supports aren't really a concern when the program has one job, i.e., count the money, and the inputs and outputs are thoroughly defined. The whole "it's unstable" should sound familiar to anyone who has to ask for money to continue meeting SLAs, and often has little to do with the inherent quality of the program. The *environment* - including support from programmers, etc - may be unstable, but that program on decent hardware will run for years as long as its allowed to do the one thing it was built to do. Many or even most younger programmers and managers have no idea about that, having grown up in a world where desktop and/or small server processing was their baseline. Keep in mind that Java was originally written by Sun in the 90s for networking household appliances 
I suspect the main reasons they want Java include: they have libraries etc that they can repurpose; they more or less understand it, even they don't fully understand the use cases/application; they don't care about multi-digit precision; and they will get paid for development and own the codebase.
Eliot Rosewater
(32,789 posts)For real.
LudwigPastorius
(11,994 posts)incumbent on YOU to prove that you are you and are entitled to receive benefits...and how much you should receive monthly.
"Sorry, we lost some records in the transition. Can you prove you're not trying to commit fraud?"
Eliot Rosewater
(32,789 posts)Hopefully people realize now that carrying signs won't work.
Local foodbank just got word no more Federal money, posted it on FB and most of the reaction was anger but maga came on and said "get a job."
They will defend the pieces of shit even when they are taking their SS away from them, watch.
New Breed Leader
(779 posts)a friend of mine went on a virtual townhall with her republican congressman and someone asked if the news about losing social security is true, and he said that it's "Dem fearmongering"
THAT'S their gaslighting.
Eliot Rosewater
(32,789 posts)New Breed Leader
(779 posts)Everything I get has to go towards living, I don't have enough to save, so prepare HOW?
Eliot Rosewater
(32,789 posts)Kaleva
(39,096 posts)My pay is equivalent to what I get for SS so if there's an interruption in getting SS, my situation won't be worse then it was be before I began to work again