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The first 100 days

@lawpoke87 I found a new bumper sticker for your car...

president-expected-to-sign-eo-today-tuesday-directing-v0-mlt37lqedkie1.jpeg
 
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Looks like FEMA is still paying hotels in NYC to house illegals. Wish we could find some middle ground. Don’t like the scorch earth strategy I’m seeing but I also don’t like all the waste being uncovered. CBS poll gave Trump a 53% approval rating yesterday. Surprised that number is that high

How about some healthy skepticism about these claims?

Being rich does not equate to being honest. I would think we all knew this by now? And without real watchdogs such as inspectors general how shall we ever know? It is a big con I suspect.
 
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We’re running a $2T yearly deficit. Norway is running over a $200B surplus. Yet we are giving them hundreds of millions in aid for their immigrants 😂😂😂. We’re putting our kids in debt to help out rich countries. We should be outraged by a lot of this. We claim FEMA is out of money but continue to use FEMA funds to pay hotel bills in NYC for immigrants and then lie about it. It’s either corruption or malfeasance or just plain irresponsibility. Take your pick
No we are not putting our kids in debt over paying bogus financial aid for immigrants in Norway.. As I said before 150M sounds like a lot, but we are on a macro scale here. Restating: entire foreign aid budget is 1.3 hundredths of a %, of our budget, including emergency foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine. Nickle and diming us to death because you can't get over 150M when it is so minute in our budget is you being obtuse. Like I said, two point three thousandths of a percent is not going to matter in the grand scheme of things. What you are so worried about is so inconsequential it's not even funny. Yes we need to cut out that .0026, why wouldn't we. But it is inconsequential to our budget overrun.
 
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To my comment about social media, now I have a keyboard and can elaborate. I never worried before that I was at risk for retribution from the government by simply expressing disagreement and exposing logical fallacies. Never thought twice about it until a week ago as I have seen the actions of the current President and the cult of personality he has cultivated.

I now see that I could be targeted someday if things play out as I worry they might. But it is not stopping me. I had to ask myself if I could live with myself if I stayed quiet. I cannot. If that means someone comes after me down the line, loss of a job, loss of wealth, I will have to live with that as will my family. If more of our politicians would take this stance we would be a much better country.

And I use my real name on Facebook. Not that I am shielded too much here. ATUFan will be narcing on me soon and maybe even Lawpoke the way things are going.
 
No we are not putting our kids in debt over paying bogus financial aid for immigrants in Norway.. As I said before 150M sounds like a lot, but we are on a macro scale here. Restating: entire foreign aid budget is 1.3 hundredths of a %, of our budget, including emergency foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine. Nickle and diming us to death because you can't get over 150M when it is so minute in our budget is you being obtuse. Like I said, two point three thousandths of a percent is not going to matter in the grand scheme of things. What you are so worried about is so inconsequential it's not even funny. Yes we need to cut out that .0026, why wouldn't we. But it is inconsequential to our budget overrun.
The better question is why does a country with a $2T deficit pay anything much less $150M to a country with a budget surplus in the first place? In the grand scheme of things is the amount material…of course not. Is the decision to make these payments a reflection of an underlying lack of accountability on behalf of those spending our money….absolutely. That in a nutshell is the problem we have faced for decades. A problem hidden by those in charge (Dems and Pubs).
 
To my comment about social media, now I have a keyboard and can elaborate. I never worried before that I was at risk for retribution from the government by simply expressing disagreement and exposing logical fallacies. Never thought twice about it until a week ago as I have seen the actions of the current President and the cult of personality he has cultivated.

I now see that I could be targeted someday if things play out as I worry they might. But it is not stopping me. I had to ask myself if I could live with myself if I stayed quiet. I cannot. If that means someone comes after me down the line, loss of a job, loss of wealth, I will have to live with that as will my family. If more of our politicians would take this stance we would be a much better country.

And I use my real name on Facebook. Not that I am shielded too much here. ATUFan will be narcing on me soon and maybe even Lawpoke the way things are going.
I’m a libertarian at heart. It would be a cold day in hell before I would turn anyone in to the federal government for expressing dissent. Hell…I encourage dissent even if I disagree with the opinion. The right to freely dissent is one of our greatest freedoms. The Biden Admin attempted to silence criticism. If the Trump Admin attempts similar actions I would hope my friends on the right would forcefully object.

The only time I recall people being targeted for political beliefs was the IRS targeting conservative groups. I’m sure there have been more
 
How about some healthy skepticism about these claims?

Being rich does not equate to being honest. I would think we all knew this by now? And without real watchdogs such as inspectors general how shall we ever know? It is a big con I suspect.
Well the FEMA director has already admitted to the payment to the NYC hotels which were made. Not sure there’s any need for skepticism there. How about some healthy outrage? We are funding two major disasters. FEMA is claiming to be running out of funds. Yet they are paying “friendly” hotel owners millions and millions of dollars AND lying about it.

We’re $37T in debt. We now pay more to service that debt than the entire defense budget. The fact you guys aren’t outraged by this reckless unaccountability in government spending blows my mind. This is partially how we got here
 
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Well the FEMA director has already admitted to the payment to the NYC hotels which were made. Not sure there’s any need for skepticism there. How about some healthy outrage? We are funding two major disasters. FEMA is claiming to be running out of funds. Yet they are paying “friendly” hotel owners millions and millions of dollars AND lying about it.

We’re $37T in debt. We now pay more to service that debt than the entire defense budget. The fact you guys aren’t outraged by this reckless unaccountability in government spending blows my mind. This is partially how we got here
But this kind of thing is not new. It is the natural if distasteful way things drift in government. It should be reviewed and fixed but not by a weirdo DOGE thingy by Elon Musk with no oversight.

You are not seeing the forest for the trees IMO. I would rather have government waste than have someone run rough shod over our system and try to overrun our checks and balances. Musk is also bizarro. How can anyone trust him?
 
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But this kind of thing is not new. It is the natural if distasteful way things drift in government. It should be reviewed and fixed but not by a weirdo DOGE thingy by Elon Musk with no oversight.

You are not seeing the forest for the trees IMO. I would rather have government waste than have someone run rough shod over our system and try to overrun our checks and balances. Musk is also bizarro. How can anyone trust him?
I don’t dismiss your basic premise here. The problem lies with who can review and fix the vast unaccountability found in government bureaucracy? People involved in all aspects of government benefit from these expenditures. Which explains why they do very little to try to oversee them. Government cannot provide oversight to itself. The past decades have demonstrated as much. It’s no accident we see politicians and bureaucrats with modest yearly incomes grow extremely wealthy during their time in the beltway. They have every incentive not to change the system. They don’t care we’re $37T in debt because they are growing wealthy. It’s human nature.

Do I wish it were someone other than Musk was finally auditing the vast unaccountability found in our federal government…yes. Has anyone else taken the task despite our vast debt…no. Was it likely anyone ever would have…..see above.

Here is a story from USA Today from someone with experience with USAid. I would imagine the scenario he describes plays out daily in our federal government. Whether it giving money to Norway, paying NYC hotel owners out of FEMA, or countless other instances yet to be discovered. There are good programs we need to keep intact. Let’s hope we do.

 
Well the FEMA director has already admitted to the payment to the NYC hotels which were made. Not sure there’s any need for skepticism there. How about some healthy outrage? We are funding two major disasters. FEMA is claiming to be running out of funds. Yet they are paying “friendly” hotel owners millions and millions of dollars AND lying about it.

We’re $37T in debt. We now pay more to service that debt than the entire defense budget. The fact you guys aren’t outraged by this reckless unaccountability in government spending blows my mind. This is partially how we got here
You're complaining about the federal budget equivalent of Avacado Toast when you could be complaining about the two $1000 / month car payments.

Do something about health care or wasted defense spending then we'll talk. (and I'm not talking about weapons aide to allies unless it's determined that contractors are taking advantage of their awards)

Medicare and Medicaid, and associated healthcare reforms are by far the places where government officials could make the most impactful difference in changing our spending habits. They just refuse to because of medical and insurance lobbyists. Instead they cut popular, fiscally responsible, and socially beneficial programs so they can actually look like they're doing something.
 
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I don’t dismiss your basic premise here. The problem lies with who can review and fix the vast unaccountability found in government bureaucracy? People involved in all aspects of government benefit from these expenditures. Which explains why they do very little to try to oversee them. Government cannot provide oversight to itself. The past decades have demonstrated as much. It’s no accident we see politicians and bureaucrats with modest yearly incomes grow extremely wealthy during their time in the beltway. They have every incentive not to change the system. They don’t care we’re $37T in debt because they are growing wealthy. It’s human nature.

Do I wish it were someone other than Musk was finally auditing the vast unaccountability found in our federal government…yes. Has anyone else taken the task despite our vast debt…no. Was it likely anyone ever would have…..see above.

Here is a story from USA Today from someone with experience with USAid. I would imagine the scenario he describes plays out daily in our federal government. Whether it giving money to Norway, paying NYC hotel owners out of FEMA, or countless other instances yet to be discovered. There are good programs we need to keep intact. Let’s hope we do.

There is one personal anecdote here which I cannot argue against. The rest is pure advocacy though much of it wouldn't shock me if true.

Even if the broad assertions are 100% true, ignoring our separation of powers to cure it is not acceptable. It is a step towards destroying the fabric of our system. It is not simply distasteful.
 
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There is one personal anecdote here which I cannot argue against. The rest is pure advocacy though much of it wouldn't shock me if true.

Even if the broad assertions are 100% true, ignoring our separation of powers to cure it is not acceptable. It is a step towards destroying the fabric of our system. It is not simply distasteful.
I have some experience with government agencies. My experience is basically this:

I submit a budget of $500M for this fiscal year.

If I don’t spend the $500M any increase or even status quo in next years budget request will likely be rejected. Thus, I will have less money next year than I received this year. What if I need that extra money? What if I want to give raises or bonuses? Etc….

Thus, I find things to spend that money on even if the expenditures don’t always make sense. I know there’s very little oversight in my expenditures so spending my allotted budget isn’t difficult.

And so on and so on. There is a disincentive to save money.
 
You're complaining about the federal budget equivalent of Avacado Toast when you could be complaining about the two $1000 / month car payments.

Do something about health care or wasted defense spending then we'll talk. (and I'm not talking about weapons aide to allies unless it's determined that contractors are taking advantage of their awards)

Medicare and Medicaid, and associated healthcare reforms are by far the places where government officials could make the most impactful difference in changing our spending habits. They just refuse to because of medical and insurance lobbyists. Instead they cut popular, fiscally responsible, and socially beneficial programs so they can actually look like they're doing something.
I don’t disagree about health care. I hate our current system. Our politicians are flat out paid off. Behavior which would be illegal in almost every business structure. Yet here we are. With our leaders getting billions of dollars for their support, I have no idea how to fix the problem.

If you have any viable solutions I would love to hear them.

Musk says he will look at the health system. I will be curious to see if he’s willing to expose the true nature of our health care system.
 
I have some experience with government agencies. My experience is basically this:

I submit a budget of $500M for this fiscal year.

If I don’t spend the $500M any increase or even status quo in next years budget request will likely be rejected. Thus, I will have less money next year than I received this year. What if I need that extra money? What if I want to give raises or bonuses? Etc….

Thus, I find things to spend that money on even if the expenditures don’t always make sense. I know there’s very little oversight in my expenditures so spending my allotted budget isn’t difficult.

And so on and so on. There is a disincentive to save money.
Sure. But the answer is not Elon Musk or tearing down our system.

If you want an outside review, get a proper auditor or consultant and act on the audit recommendations. It will cost more and be slower. But it is reasonable. Auditor could even report to the President.

Auditing and related business consulting is a profession. We can have more confidence in such a process versus what we are seeing now. Disturbing and suspicious at best.

I love my country and our system. We ignore our norms and traditions at great risk. Great risk.
 
Sure. But the answer is not Elon Musk or tearing down our system.

If you want an outside review, get a proper auditor or consultant and act on the audit recommendations. It will cost more and be slower. But it is reasonable. Auditor could even report to the President.

Auditing and related business consulting is a profession. We can have more confidence in such a process versus what we are seeing now. Disturbing and suspicious at best.

I love my country and our system. We ignore our norms and traditions at great risk. Great risk.
Even if we do tear down a failed system, we will be back in the same place a decade from now simply due to the nature of government and human beings. I have my concerns as well. A comprehensive audit is needed. A change in the way we budget and spend the people’s money is also needed. I would like to see a public accounting firm hired as well. Some good things will come from this. The question is will those good things outweigh the bad things?
 
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