I'm of the opinion that we owe these people a debt of gratitude rather than a barrage of disparagement..
An Interesting Quick Look Inside DOGE'
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I'm of the opinion that we owe these people a debt of gratitude rather than a barrage of disparagement..
The DOGE team is a very impressive group. I had no idea. The public perception about the team and what they are doing is off by 180 degrees. The stuff they are finding should make our blood boil. Seems like the details of running a government has never been considered. Too much money, politics, greed, laziness, and incompetence.
There’s a lot of rot in big organizations. I’m glad to see this. Same holds for nonprofits. I’ve given up on United way. We pump about $70 million into ours. They had a process whereby new agencies could become members. Existing agencies would be divided by topics and panels of volunteers would visit and then all come together to decide how to divide up the money. It was great.
They changed it to a critical need bs process. They do an analysis of commubity needs every three years and fund that while insulating all of the old legacy members as guaranteed funding. It’s antithetical to new ideas. It just guarantees money to the same old tired agencies who now really don’t have to work for it
That's a long way from the talking points about snot nosed engineers with names like bigballz running wild with carte blanch.
They should have been more transparent and pushed back harder on the narrative.
They should have been more transparent and pushed back harder on the narrative.
Nah. The never-Trump movement is way too influential. DOGE is very transparent. The administration pushes back. The public-opinion-makers do what they do.
What’s the over and under about how long it will take the democrats and never-Trumpers to harass the DOGE team members and families and key their cars? They took a big risk by going on TV.
i'm sure they would egg their cars but the price hasn't come down yet as promised.
US egg prices hit five-month low
The price of eggs became a symbol of inflation during the 2024 presidential election.
www.newsweek.com
Things they ARE finding, or things they claim to find that are flat out wrong (150-year-olds receiving Social Security)?
DOGE says it's saved $105 billion, though it's backtracked on some of its earlier claims
The DOGE website is now updated to claim cost-cutting savings of $105 billion -- though it deleted several contracts that it previously claimed saved billions of dollars.
I was speaking about the makeup of who was involved. As far as I know, this is the first time some of these big hitters were made public. They should have done that up front and controlled the narrative. Now a large portion of the public thinks it's made up of kid hackers stealing data.
Not much difference between that portion and the portion who now think keying a car is domestic terrorism.
It wouldn't have mattered in my opinion. The left was going to push back on this and form a narrative no matter what DOGE did. They're not going to lose their honeypot without a fight.
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The mine that nobody knew about? Jesus Christ, everyone knew about it. It is Iron Mountain. Great article about it here:Things they ARE finding, or things they claim to find that are flat out wrong (150-year-olds receiving Social Security)?
DOGE says it's saved $105 billion, though it's backtracked on some of its earlier claims
The DOGE website is now updated to claim cost-cutting savings of $105 billion -- though it deleted several contracts that it previously claimed saved billions of dollars.abcnews.go.com
Iron Mountain: The Final Obstacle for Federal Retirement
Iron Mountain is a Limestone mine in PA now used to process retirement paperwork for Federal Employees
stwserve.com
If they read the GAO audits over the years (and we know they have because 99% of the stuff they claim was "discovered", is already in an audit), they would have know that the Government has tried to digitize this stuff for years and years.
As to the social security stuff, this has been raised for awhile, and DOGE didn't discovery it at all. There are multiple audits on it:
Warner says millions of Social Security numbers still active for people 112 or older
People die, but their Social Security numbers often linger on. So says U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who recently introd
www.politifact.com
Here is one of those reports: http://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-06-14-34030_0.pdf. That report concluded that the auditors found no instance of people illegally collecting social security through older numbers. Certainly it could have the potential for abuse--I'm sure we can agree on that.
I have no issues with people auditing how the government works. It has been done for years. I have a problem with a guy who claims he discovered shit when he really didn't.
The mine that nobody knew about? Jesus Christ, everyone knew about it. It is Iron Mountain. Great article about it here:
Iron Mountain: The Final Obstacle for Federal Retirement
Iron Mountain is a Limestone mine in PA now used to process retirement paperwork for Federal Employees
If they read the GAO audits over the years (and we know they have because 99% of the stuff they claim was "discovered", is already in an audit), they would have know that the Government has tried to digitize this stuff for years and years.
As to the social security stuff, this has been raised for awhile, and DOGE didn't discovery it at all. There are multiple audits on it:
Warner says millions of Social Security numbers still active for people 112 or older
People die, but their Social Security numbers often linger on. So says U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who recently introd
Here is one of those reports: http://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-06-14-34030_0.pdf. That report concluded that the auditors found no instance of people illegally collecting social security through older numbers. Certainly it could have the potential for abuse--I'm sure we can agree on that.
I have no issues with people auditing how the government works. It has been done for years. I have a problem with a guy who claims he discovered shit when he really didn't.
Yep, DOGE knows if they make huge claims, that is what people like CO will remember and repeat over and over and over. Then they backtrack, then it is found out it was already known about, etc, etc, etc. But their supporters ignore all that and repeat the original.
I didn't quote it, CO made a comment about DOGE being transparent. That of course is the biggest lie in the thread. That's why no one can come close to verifying what was found and how much has actually been saved.
Having an independent audit is good. But this is about as independent as Arthur Andersen was with Enron. They are reporting any half-truth (or less) that makes DOGE look good.
So the 150-year-olds on Social Security, Iron Mountain, cancelling government contracts on work already done, they go on and on. Numbers change, and there are no real ideas why or how.
They will save us money, but at what cost.
You also need to deduct the amount of money DOGE is being paid from the savings because if you spend 100 to save 100, it is 0 savings.
And when a dem is back in the white house, how much of the government is going to be reset to their pre-DOGE level?
I've looked at DOGE.GOV dozens of times and that's a terrible website. If they think that's providing good and clear information or that it's transparent, they're wrong. They claim they correct mistakes, and they've made many, but they don't announce those like they announce "fraud" or "waste," words they're using interchangeably because what they've really found so far is "waste" because they don't like what the money is being spent on (how they have the authority to do that to Congressionally approved things is a mystery). So, people believe the announced found fraud or abuse and cite it over and over although it's since been corrected, somehow.Things they ARE finding, or things they claim to find that are flat out wrong (150-year-olds receiving Social Security)?
DOGE says it's saved $105 billion, though it's backtracked on some of its earlier claims
The DOGE website is now updated to claim cost-cutting savings of $105 billion -- though it deleted several contracts that it previously claimed saved billions of dollars.
I’m less concerned about the DOGE website and more concerned about if they will actually manifest savings.
In a few months, when Elon is done, will you give him an attaboy for slashing a trillion?
You're higher than a kite if you think he can find a trillion to slash. I be surprised if the deficit isn't increased this fiscal year and next. Probably won't be decreased in a single year of this administration. If it happens, I'll like it.
We will see, I guess.
He’s promising a trillion, I expect close to a trillion at the very least. Government employees eat up a lot of the budget, you know.
If he does that, we will be in much better fiscal shape.
It doesn't bother some of you that in front of one audience Musk prances around with a chainsaw, but in front of another audience he says he is measuring 3 times before cutting once?
It doesn't bother some of you that in front of one audience Musk and Trump tout the team of young hackers doing all the dirty work, but in front of another audience Musk trots out business leaders in suits, just for appearances, people never previously associated with any role in DOGE whatsoever?
It doesn't bother some of you that, when asked to actually name a person heading DOGE, the administration gave a name of some woman on vacation who has never been heard from since?
Some of you seem gullible.
cult-like gullibility, even
It doesn't bother some of you that in front of one audience Musk and Trump tout the team of young hackers doing all the dirty work, but in front of another audience Musk trots out business leaders in suits, just for appearances, people never previously associated with any role in DOGE whatsoever?
It doesn't bother some of you that, when asked to actually name a person heading DOGE, the administration gave a name of some woman on vacation who has never been heard from since?
Some of you seem gullible.
cult-like gullibility, even
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We spend about $400 billion a year on federal employees. I assume you can do math, but in case you can't, $1 trillion is more than twice what is spent on federal employees, which includes all of Congress and all the political appointees and even the President and VP. They're not going to eliminate the federal workforce. They probably won't cut 10 percent of the federal workforce in the end.
He won't get close to a trillion. DOGE alone can't possibly do it. Only Congress could do that, and they won't do it either. I'd be pleased if we did.
No, but without the full context of the chainsaw, I can understand the bad optics if you're predisposed to not wanting significant change.
No. The people doing the dirty work are never the guys out front in the suits explaining what's going on behind the scenes and talking about results and/or status. I've never heard Trump or Musk touting a group of young hackers though.
No.
We will see, we’re not talking about Ailey employee salary and benefits. You are not a good source of information.
The media message I am getting is that they are slashing and burning - example, cutting stuff supposedly related to Covid activity that also includes stuff unrelated to Covid.
Once again the GOP is incapable of messaging accurately. They are being labeled “kings” and “dictators”
- not “savior of taxpayers through ending fraud.”
Who is providing the info about (1) Presidential authority to do what is being done, and (2) what has been/is the plan for making citizens hear/understand?
If 6 lawyers and 4 professors “get it” haven’t we lost in a nation of 335,000,000?
You specifically said government employees and I responded about government employees. So yes that’s exactly what you were talking about.
Well they’re a large part of the cuts Aloha!
I know how adverse you are to govees being let go
The conservative that you claim to be and such
I’ve advocated for smaller government since you were wearing diapers in 6th grade. I’m all for eliminating unnecessary government billets. I’m all for shrinking and right sizing government. It can be done the right way and this isn’t it.
Measure twice and cut once?
It's so hard to figure out why DOGE isn't seen as a measured, thoughtful and sober effort to find more efficiency in government.
