DOGE 'Audits': A Mask for Corruption, Not Efficiency
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- gov must stop subsidizing corporations - gov must stop subsidizing rich people
Because if gov stop spending money with people and corporations that already have enough money to not need any help gov can spend the money with people who actually needs help.
Turns out she was right, just a bit early.
DOGE's biggest targets thus far have been FEMA and USAID. These two orgs are actively monitoring Musk and his companies?
Alleged USAID Probe Into Starlink Raises Elon Musk Conflict Concerns.
https://www.newsweek.com/usaid-elon-musk-starlink-probe-ukra...
DOGE has also very specifically targeted the CFPB and, according to The Verge, the team within the organization specialized in understanding Big Tech’s entrance into financial products (Musk is supposedly about to launch X's banking services).
https://www.theverge.com/policy/612933/cfpb-tech-team-gutted...
While DOGE is not a good long-term solution, it's so far better than literally any other major effort by a US government entity to combat waste at the federal level - which is to say that it's literally the only one that I've ever heard about in my lifetime.
It's a start.
$446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal through the State Department.
$1 million to boost French-speaking LGBTQ groups in West and Central Africa through the State Department.
$14 million in cash vouchers for migrants at the southern border through the State Department.
$20,600 for a drag show in Ecuador through the State Department.
$47,020 for a transgender opera in Colombia through the State Department.
$32,000 for an LGBTQ-centered comic book in Peru through the State Department.
$55,750 for a climate change presentation warning about the impact of climate change in Argentina to be led by female and LGBT journalists through the StateDepartment.
$3,315,446 for “being LGBTQ in the Caribbean” through USAID.
$7,071.58 for a BIPOC speaker series in Canada through the State Department.
$80,000 for an LGBTQ community center in Bratislava, Slovakia through the State Department.
$3.2 million to help Tunisian migrants readjust to life in Tunisia after deportation through the State Department.
$16,500 to foster a “united and equal queer-feminist discourse in Albanian society” through the State Department.
$10,000 to pressure Lithuanian corporations to promote “DEI values” through the State Department.
$8,000 to promote DEI among LGBTQ groups in Cyprus through the State Department.
$1.5 million to promote job opportunities for LGBTQ individuals in Serbia through USAID.
$70,884 to create a U.S.-Irish musical to promote DEI in Ireland through the State Department.
$39,652 to host seminars at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on gender identity and racial equality through the State Department.
$425,622 to help Indonesian coffee companies become more climate and gender friendly through USAID.
Second, perhaps you can explain to me why it is necessary to threaten the health and safety of 20 million people instead of specific targeted cuts?
https://www.devex.com/news/scoop-usaid-kenya-partner-has-no-...
It's hard to quantify how much the US benefits from promoting (what was previously) its values in other countries.
I bet its more than the $40m (or, to put it in perspective, 12 cents per citizen) that this list adds to.
I would prefer it if they they stopped
Increasing government efficiency was a major Obama plank which he partly delivered on.
2015 4.89 trillion is 6.503 trillion, which means the budget only went up 249 billion, or 3.83% over that 10 year span.
Total expenditures $3.90 trillion (requested) $3.688 trillion (actual)[3] 20.6% of GDP[4]
If you meet an average government worker in the US, you quickly realize how little they make and how understaffed their departments tend to be. People underestimate how complex government work is and how different it is from what you do at a regular business.
(Not entirely indiscriminately — gotta get those political opponents!)
Or just screw society if you're personally fine right now.
^ That statement is doing a lot of heavy lifting in your general sentiment. And (not meaning this as a personal attack at all) it's a huge problem for our society as a whole if citizens are more in favour of large scale destruction of institutions based on a lack of understanding that has been pushed by the same economic class benefiting from the wholesale destruction of democratic institutions.
There are numerous entities that do good work in the government to combat waste. You just don't hear about them because it's not a sexy topic that the media gets clicks from. Unfortunately, those entities are being shut down by DOGE, so sadly, it's not a start of anything good.
For me that is not a start. Why not bring a person from big Pharma in to audit and reform the FDA. While at it let’s some Exxon guys evaluate the environment regulations etc etc. You can‘t let the wolf guard the sheep.
No one wants wasteful spending. The difference is that DOGE proponents are totally okay with threatening the lives of over 20 million people.
https://www.devex.com/news/scoop-usaid-kenya-partner-has-no-...
> While DOGE is not a good long-term solution, it's so far better than literally any other major effort by a US government entity to combat waste at the federal level - which is to say that it's literally the only one that I've ever heard about in my lifetime.
Perhaps you're very young. Every few years there have been "Hoover-style" commissions that have resulted in bipartisan efficiency optimizations, without the mass disruptions (that will end up costing taxpayers even more money) and threats to safety of millions of people.
This is probably a good time to do some reflection on your current world view. You thought that it seemed possible, and possibly even likely that the largest and most powerful government in the world was operating completely without any sort of accounting checks as it worked with literal trillions of dollars a year, and that none of the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of people who make up the workforce of this organization had any motive to try and responsibly carry out their duties and spend their money. They were all just irredeemably committed to flagrantly wasting your money and enriching themselves on your tax dollars, instead of taking seriously the responsibility they had.
As it turns out, this is just a completely ludicrous fantasy. There are already numerous mechanisms in place to combat fraud and waste, staffed by competent professionals who generally try their best to uphold the trust granted to them. Some of them might even be your friends or neighbors. They're people, just like you, and are generally trying to do a good job and move society forward.
In any multi-trillion dollar organization there is going to be waste and fraud. Like the battle against entropy it can never be fully won, its an ongoing battle that is fought each year. There will be scandals of misspent money, and victories of services delivered for good value on the dollar spent. Its not some sort of black and white, good vs evil struggle, and the fact you thought that literally no one had every thought to do this before should probably give you pause the next time you start to think about politics.