DOGE ... Elon and Vivek ... and results by 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess we will see. Saw this on X last night:

• The CBO revealed at least 1,264 federal programs and bureaus have expired authorizations, but they still received $516B in funding for FY2024

• The Government Accountability Office estimates the federal government wastes $247B in taxpayer money each year

• The Department of the Treasury reported $24.5B in "unreconciled transactions" in the past meaning it spent ~$25B on unknown items

• Department of Agriculture employees misused government issued credit cards spending millions on personal purchases like concert tickets, tattoos, lingerie and car payments

• $33.2M was spent on transgender monkey research

• The NIH spent part of a $2.7M grant to study Russian cats walking on a treadmill

• The DoD ruined $170M of military equipment by leaving it outside

• The US Agency for International Development spent $6M to promote tourism in Egypt

• The SBA gave over $200M to music artists like Post Malone, Chris Brown and Lil Wayne through the Covid Paycheck Protection Program

• The US military bought soap dispensers for aircraft at over 80 times the commercial price

You saw it on X! That’s better than seeing it in person.

How about original sources?

Assuming this is all true, it means it’s already identified / being looked into. The soap dispensers were from a DOD IG audit. GAO presumably did the work and made recommendations related to the waste you mentioned. So systems in place already are doing that work.

Also, I don’t know the specifics of the tourism $ in Egypt but I did take a class in grad school on soft diplomacy and its impacts. (Eg the cherry trees in DC were a gift / example of soft diplomacy)

I remember asking - when I interned at a policy think tank 20 years ago - a presenter from the state Dept why the US was paying for irrigation in a Middle Eastern country. The answer was that it enabled people to grow cotton. A huge percentage of the population was men under 25 and if they didn’t have irrigation and didn’t farm cotton they were more likely to grow poppies (less water?) and make opiates or accept payments to engage in terrorism. It’s in the US’s national security interests for people in other countries to be able to thrive at jobs that don’t hurt the US.

[Anonymous]

Vivek was right in continue to not fund some of these stupid programs. Govt waste too much money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:isn't this what GAO and OIGs do? This seems like unnecessary overlap and duplication.

Yes! I was talking to someone about this earlier today and came to the same conclusion that most of what they claim to want to do is already handled by agency OIGs and the GAO. How is creating a new faux agency going to make things better?

Also, I don’t understand how the party that likes to consider themselves soooo patriotic hates the actual employees of this country. It’s so hypocritical to claim to love America, but want to make being a federal employee a completely miserable experience. These “brilliant” corporate minds should understand you don’t hire and retain strong performers by bashing them and threatening people’s jobs. Making federal service a miserable experience is a sure fire way to make agencies inefficient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My prediction: Elon will lose interest and move on to something else within a short time. He got his goal of buying himself Trump’s ear.

This.There will be lots of Trump turnover. Working as a fed head is too restrictive for many of these people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess we will see. Saw this on X last night:

• The CBO revealed at least 1,264 federal programs and bureaus have expired authorizations, but they still received $516B in funding for FY2024

• The Government Accountability Office estimates the federal government wastes $247B in taxpayer money each year

• The Department of the Treasury reported $24.5B in "unreconciled transactions" in the past meaning it spent ~$25B on unknown items

• Department of Agriculture employees misused government issued credit cards spending millions on personal purchases like concert tickets, tattoos, lingerie and car payments

• $33.2M was spent on transgender monkey research

• The NIH spent part of a $2.7M grant to study Russian cats walking on a treadmill

• The DoD ruined $170M of military equipment by leaving it outside

• The US Agency for International Development spent $6M to promote tourism in Egypt

• The SBA gave over $200M to music artists like Post Malone, Chris Brown and Lil Wayne through the Covid Paycheck Protection Program

• The US military bought soap dispensers for aircraft at over 80 times the commercial price

You saw it on X! That’s better than seeing it in person.

How about original sources?

NP. These examples seem about right. I know there are more. We've got a lot of talented, ethical federal employees, but there is a lot of bloat and a lot of petty tyrants.

I've worked in government a long time and been able to overhaul a few things that were truly outdated and dumb. But more often, once you look under the hood you find a reason it's being done that way. Not always a beneficial reason (though sometimes!) but definitely an intractable reason that other people would have fixed already if they could. Fixing those types of problems takes a huge amount of knowledge and resources, not a hatchet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess we will see. Saw this on X last night:

• The CBO revealed at least 1,264 federal programs and bureaus have expired authorizations, but they still received $516B in funding for FY2024

• The Government Accountability Office estimates the federal government wastes $247B in taxpayer money each year

• The Department of the Treasury reported $24.5B in "unreconciled transactions" in the past meaning it spent ~$25B on unknown items

• Department of Agriculture employees misused government issued credit cards spending millions on personal purchases like concert tickets, tattoos, lingerie and car payments

• $33.2M was spent on transgender monkey research

• The NIH spent part of a $2.7M grant to study Russian cats walking on a treadmill

• The DoD ruined $170M of military equipment by leaving it outside

• The US Agency for International Development spent $6M to promote tourism in Egypt

• The SBA gave over $200M to music artists like Post Malone, Chris Brown and Lil Wayne through the Covid Paycheck Protection Program

• The US military bought soap dispensers for aircraft at over 80 times the commercial price

You saw it on X! That’s better than seeing it in person.

How about original sources?

NP. These examples seem about right. I know there are more. We've got a lot of talented, ethical federal employees, but there is a lot of bloat and a lot of petty tyrants.

I've worked in government a long time and been able to overhaul a few things that were truly outdated and dumb. But more often, once you look under the hood you find a reason it's being done that way. Not always a beneficial reason (though sometimes!) but definitely an intractable reason that other people would have fixed already if they could. Fixing those types of problems takes a huge amount of knowledge and resources, not a hatchet.

Yes. Time to dredge up the concept of Chesterton’s Fence.

[Anonymous]

Do not underestimate the drive of an autistic person. Even if they achieve 2% in staff cut that's a big deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:isn't this what GAO and OIGs do? This seems like unnecessary overlap and duplication.

yep that was my first thought too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not underestimate the drive of an autistic person. Even if they achieve 2% in staff cut that's a big deal

Did someone put Barron in charge?

[Anonymous]

I survived the Gore Commission, which cut a lot more than DOGE will.

[Anonymous]

They will have the last laugh and some of you will be joining the unemployed line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They will have the last laugh and some of you will be joining the unemployed line.

Or move on to jobs that pay better

[Anonymous]

they have no power.

I will just point and laugh. DOGE is a joke anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:they have no power.

I will just point and laugh. DOGE is a joke anyway.

DOGE or no DOGE they are coming for your jobs. And some of you will be unemployed. If anyone thinks this time around they will leave the federal workforce intact then you are not paying attention to their determination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They will have the last laugh and some of you will be joining the unemployed line.

Why does this make you happy?