D.O.G.E (Department of Government Efficiency) II

[CrimsonJazz]

I just don't understand how you think the insane wealth inequality in this nation is ok and healthy. If you're rich, you diversify so you can keep your wealth in any kind of economy. These near-trillionaires have already "invested" in every sector that makes sense and now they are buying up starter-homes, potable water, arable land; just because they have too much money.

We need to do what Europe is doing and enact a wealth tax. These super-rich would never feel it and we have too many poor that we need to take care of and we need to stop pricing out young home-buyers. There are great reasons Eisenhower had a 95% income tax on the super rich. Kennedy got elected and wanted it brought down because he was a richie but the evidence is overwhelming that we are gravely out of balance.

This is the way to fix the debt.

I'm not sure how you reached your conclusion based on my post. I've never said that wealth inequality is a good thing and if I've ever written anything that gave you that impression, I obviously failed to make myself clear. This country needs more revenue, period. It needs to spend considerably less, period. Failing to do both will just leave us flying in circles. I don't deny my contempt for the envious "eat the rich" people, but I do agree that the wealthy should be shelling out more taxes.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE

Twenty-one civil service employees have resigned from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they're refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

apnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

A whole 21 people? Welp, there it is. It's time to throw in the jock because we will never recover from this.

 

[75thru79]

Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE

Twenty-one civil service employees have resigned from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they're refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

apnews.com

A whole 21 people? Welp, there it is. It's time to throw in the jock because we will never recover from this.

As I suspected, they technically weren't DOGE, as in Musk's team, they were holdovers from the department that got renamed DOGE.

 

[Bazza]

I got hand controls installed on my truck in 2017. The Atlanta VA wanted me to have them visually inspected by a lady whose sole job was to approved adaptive driving modifications before they would pay the vendor. I drove more than an hour to the VA, drove directly to the spot the lady told me to meet her at. Spent 15 minutes on the phone circling the parking lot trying to find her. She then told me to just go home and she’d approve it. MONTHS later I got a call from the vendor asking me why they still weren’t paid. I called the Atlanta VA and was met with a frustrated employee who said the lady who’s supposed to inspect modifications hadn’t shown up to work in months and they didn’t know who could approve paying my vendor…

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1893738463523971197

 

[75thru79]

I got hand controls installed on my truck in 2017. The Atlanta VA wanted me to have them visually inspected by a lady whose sole job was to approved adaptive driving modifications before they would pay the vendor. I drove more than an hour to the VA, drove directly to the spot the lady told me to meet her at. Spent 15 minutes on the phone circling the parking lot trying to find her. She then told me to just go home and she’d approve it. MONTHS later I got a call from the vendor asking me why they still weren’t paid. I called the Atlanta VA and was met with a frustrated employee who said the lady who’s supposed to inspect modifications hadn’t shown up to work in months and they didn’t know who could approve paying my vendor…

I hate reading stories like this because it makes it seem that all Federal employees are lazy and/or stupid. I'm sure the vast majority work hard and are proud of what they do. I just can't escape the feeling that the population of "slackers" in the Federal government far exceed those in the private sector, percentage-wise.

I can unequivocally say that almost all of my worst interactions in everyday life have involved a deadbeat public servant.

 

[Bazza]

The majority of Americans are all in on rooting out non-essential and/or worthless Federal employees.

The problem has mostly been implementation of the act.

In the end we will see the intended results but getting there will be a little bumpy......

 

[arthurdawg]

I hate reading stories like this because it makes it seem that all Federal employees are lazy and/or stupid. I'm sure the vast majority work hard and are proud of what they do. I just can't escape the feeling that the population of "slackers" in the Federal government far exceed those in the private sector, percentage-wise.

I can unequivocally say that almost all of my worst interactions in everyday life have involved a deadbeat public servant.

Anecdotes don't really tell the tale. I've generally had excellent interactions with government workers at all levels, the post office, and Huntsville utilities. Part of it is because I make it clear early on that I appreciate the work they do and their help. Its amazing how many people are total jackasses to my nurse on the phone and then all sweet and saccharine when it comes to me - I suspect these same personalities are not pleasant to deal with and take a toll day in and day out. By the same token, I've have plenty of bad interactions with large and small private companies and their employees.

While I am all for making sure people get their jobs done and efficiency, I think the real purpose of spreading stories like this on the internet and through the media is to vilify and dehumanize people and make them an object of hate. Many hard working civil servants, scientists at the NIH, career law enforcement and military personnel, often with families, are going to be hurt badly by the political machinations that are ongoing. I have friends here in NASA, the GAO, and other places who have worked hard through the years and built up tremendous expertise and are looking to get out before the job markets are flooded. The other problem is that much of this expertise is going to be missed down the road and very difficult to reassemble.

 

[Bamaro]

The majority of Americans are all in on rooting out non-essential and/or worthless Federal employees.

The problem has mostly been implementation of the act.

In the end we will see the intended results but getting there will be a little bumpy......

I hope that you are right but it doesn't look very promising to me. Nearly every step so far has been wrought with serious problems.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I just don't understand how you think the insane wealth inequality in this nation is ok and healthy. If you're rich, you diversify so you can keep your wealth in any kind of economy. These near-trillionaires have already "invested" in every sector that makes sense and now they are buying up starter-homes, potable water, arable land; just because they have too much money.

We need to do what Europe is doing and enact a wealth tax. These super-rich would never feel it and we have too many poor that we need to take care of and we need to stop pricing out young home-buyers. There are great reasons Eisenhower had a 95% income tax on the super rich. Kennedy got elected and wanted it brought down because he was a richie but the evidence is overwhelming that we are gravely out of balance.

This is the way to fix the debt.

The problem with your "solution" is you actually believe that any additional monies gained from raising tax revenue will dollar for dollar go to the poor and the young home buyer. That is a fairy tale, my friend. They would take in the additional revenue and by the time monies filtered down to the intended citizens a bulk of that money would already be used to go toward the "pork" that is in everything the government passes.

What happens next is the original plan of helping the poor and young home buyers wouldn't be sufficiently funded but we'd pay out the money anyway and once again we'd be operating in a fund deficit. I have no problem with increasing the taxes for people "richer" than me to help the less fortunate. But much like the American Red Cross and a lot of other "charitable" organizations, the government is the same, only pennies on every dollar actually go to the intended people. Which once again, brings us back to a spending problem. I work in government, I see this first hand happen literally every budget year.

 

[cdub55]

The problem with your "solution" is you actually believe that any additional monies gained from raising tax revenue will dollar for dollar go to the poor and the young home buyer. That is a fairy tale, my friend. They would take in the additional revenue and by the time monies filtered down to the intended citizens a bulk of that money would already be used to go toward the "pork" that is in everything the government passes.

What happens next is the original plan of helping the poor and young home buyers wouldn't be sufficiently funded but we'd pay out the money anyway and once again we'd be operating in a fund deficit. I have no problem with increasing the taxes for people "richer" than me to help the less fortunate. But much like the American Red Cross and a lot of other "charitable" organizations, the government is the same, only pennies on every dollar actually go to the intended people. Which once again, brings us back to a spending problem. I work in government, I see this first hand happen literally every budget year.

Hence how multiple life long Congress men/women are now damn near close to being billionaire's. "Give me that money rich person so I can now be a rich person". Ah, it just tingles the soul thinking about doing good for someone else...

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Hence how multiple life long Congress men/women are now damn near close to being billionaire's. "Give me that money rich person so I can now be a rich person". Ah, it just tingles the soul thinking about doing good for someone else...

Yeah, that's something that I still don't understand. How in the world do these congress men/women come into government with one size personal bank account and then end up being millionaires and billionaires? No way "speaking engagements" draw that type of wealth.

I wonder when an audit of that will ever be done. It will be a cold day in hell before anything like that is done because truth be told if it were done the right way, they'd all face prison time.

 

[cdub55]

Yeah, that's something that I still don't understand. How in the world do these congress men/women come into government with one size personal bank account and then end up being millionaires and billionaires? No way "speaking engagements" draw that type of wealth.

I wonder when an audit of that will ever be done. It will be a cold day in hell before anything like that is done because truth be told if it were done the right way, they'd all face prison time.

100%.

It is a combination of:
-Money Laundering
-Theft
-Insider Trading
-Bribery

But we sit here and argue like our team is full of the "good guys"...

 

[MikeInBama]

Wealth inequality is a wonderful thing. None of us have ever lived under wealth equality. That would be something akin to feudalism/socialism/communism, where all but a few are equally impoverished. We don't have a fixed pie in the economy and it's constantly changing and expanding. We spend north of 7 trillion a year. That is a 7 with TWELVE zeros after it. The GDP for the entire country is only 27 trillion and we owe almost 37 trillion. That doesn't even touch the future unfunded liabilities (227 trillion). DOGE has maybe saved 140 billion so far or 0.06% of the problem. Much more needs and must be done or the house of cards will come crumbling down and the can can't be kicked any farther.

 

[CrimsonNagus]

Wealth inequality is a wonderful thing. None of us have ever lived under wealth equality.

Okay, come on. None of us who complain about the wage inequality are calling for everyone to have the same amount of wealth. The problem is really the productivity to pay gap and it has changed drastically since the 1980s. The rich are getting richer because they are hoarding the money at the top instead of paying workers better.

The Productivity–Pay Gap | Economic Policy Institute

 

[crimsonaudio]

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees were notified late Tuesday they would be given 15 minutes to collect their belongings from their offices as the Trump administration forges ahead with gutting the agency.

“All staff and their property will undergo magnetometer and x-ray machine screening upon entry. Staff will then be escorted to their workspace, where they will be permitted to collect their personal items and given approx 15 minutes to complete this retrieval and must be finished removing items within their time slot only,” the message says.

“Staff MUST bring their own boxes, bags, tape, and/or other containers to remove their personal items; these items will not be provided.”

The message was sent to employees by text, as many employees have had their email disabled, and it is currently the only content posted on the USAID website.

USAID employees given 15 minutes to clear out offices

 

[mrusso]

USAID employees given 15 minutes to clear out offices

I disagree with who DOGE is going after in most cases. Most of these employees are just that...employees doing what they were told to do. Unfortunately, the ones they really should be going after are the untouchable elected officials.

 

[cdub55]

I disagree with who DOGE is going after in most cases. Most of these employees are just that...employees doing what they were told to do. Unfortunately, the ones they really should be going after are the untouchable elected officials.

The employees are collateral damage. I don't hold any ill will for some lazy person getting paid 6 figures because someone was dumb enough to pay them. Should we continue to pay them for doing nothing? NO!

Agree on the last part as well...The bigger picture is lets go after the people who have been stealing from us for decades. Unfortunately Washington is full of people who scratch each other's backs and we know that will never truly happen. At best we will see "enemies" of the Trump regime take the fall for the actions of many. Honestly I'd rather see that then nothing at all. At least it might scare a few politicians to start acting halfway decent in fear that they will be outed when/if their party doesn't win the next election.

 

[dayhiker]

USAID employees given 15 minutes to clear out offices

It feels like they keep doing it wrong. I enjoyed the conversation about this aspect of it all on JRE with the most recent Mike Baker interview.

 

[mrusso]

The employees are collateral damage. I don't hold any ill will for some lazy person getting paid 6 figures because someone was dumb enough to pay them. Should we continue to pay them for doing nothing? NO!

Agree on the last part as well...The bigger picture is lets go after the people who have been stealing from us for decades. Unfortunately Washington is full of people who scratch each other's backs and we know that will never truly happen. At best we will see "enemies" of the Trump regime take the fall for the actions of many. Honestly I'd rather see that then nothing at all. At least it might scare a few politicians to start acting halfway decent in fear that they will be outed when/if their party doesn't win the next election.

Preach it! If the elites can keep the Epstein list secret they can dang sure keep each safe!

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I heard on our local news this morning some federal workers who are losing their jobs are being given 8 months severance WITH benefits. Talk about a helluva deal. The absolute best I've ever been given is three months severance and that was considered "wonderful" in my field.