>That's probably one of the better examples because I think that fighting STDs is an honorable cause, but $83.5 million when we're both trillions in debt and have pressing concerns at home? Yeah no, we need to help ourselves first if we can spend that kind of money on a whim.
1) It's 83m dollars over 5 years : https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_NU2GGH002369_7523
Amortized cost per year is 16.6m dollars a year. The CDC gets 10b in funding per year, so they would be spending around .2% of their budget every year on such a grant.
Again, microscopic. I don't think enough people understand the scope of how much money the government has, and even how much of that allocation to other departments is when they budget items.
2) this is a publicly visible grant on a website simply querying USAspending.gov. This was not some hidden agenda Musk was needed for in order to find. This sounds more like something a niche youtuber can make a career on than whatever is happening with DOGE.
>Am I actually correct in assuming y'all are trying to tell me I shouldn't care that my taxes are being wasted just because the sum is relatively small?
Yes. Because We the People don't set the budget. We vote represenatives (we vote on 3/535 of them each) who appropriate a budget. And even those 535 individuals can't always agree in time.
If we're being frank, and this is a bipartisan issue, if you let Americans vote on spending, it'd be no different than giving a kid 100 dollars for groceries. Lots of candy, maybe a few pieces of jerky, and no vegetables. Someone else with better knowledge needs to understand what is good for us vs. what feels good to have. Congress putting 60%+ into Healthcare and various social aid shows we haven't at least gone off the deep end... yet.
Regardless of how I feel on how congress allocates funds, I sure as hell do not trust a billionaire who only knows how to slash limbs off his company to make number go up to make a better budget. Keep in mind he he's been given billions in grants from the Feds compared to this 82m dollar allocation as well. He has extreme conflicts of interest that would make Carter's peanut farm look like a toddler's temper tantrum.
>An efficient government means filing our tax returns wouldn't be anywhere as obnoxious as they are today
They were trying to simplify tax filing for years. Blame Turbotax/H&R Block for that one. I think all of us are in agreement there except those who make their salary off confusion.
Even then we recently suceeded: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-106933
So, another thing making strides without hasty invasive "auditing". It's a large ship, it has to steer slowly and deliberately. Lest we get stuck in a canal and everyone suffers.