President Donald Trump 's nomination of E.J. Antoni , a Heritage Foundation economist, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has triggered concerns over the potential politicization of key economic data—particularly the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is used to calculate Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for seniors.

"Seniors should know that the COLA on their Social Security benefits is tied to the CPI," former Treasury official Bruce Bartlett posted on X this week. "If the CPI is artificially reduced, as Trump wants, your benefits will be reduced."

Antoni has repeatedly described Social Security as unsustainable and has advocated for its eventual phase-out. In a 2024 radio interview, he called the 90-year-old program a "Ponzi scheme," arguing that current

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