My thoughts on Elon Musk

[meaner gene]

When faced with the task of improving Government efficiency, Musk put together a team of 20 year old computer geeks that had no experience in the purpose of government agencies or efficiency itself.

They attacked the problem by just firing people without regard to what they do or the mission of the organization.

DOGE became a tool for decimating programs conservatives don’t like in the name of “efficiency”

And even decimating programs conservatives DO like.

Like the energy department that keeps our nuclear arsenal ready for action.

 

[kyzr]

Musk promised $2 trillion in savings.
Musk delivered $150 billion

It's more complex than that. I'd credit DOGE with at least (375+20+2+42+170) or $612b, at least.
Sometimes DOGE found "theft" but it was almost legal, so congress needs to rescind those stolen democrat "slush funds" and CLAW THEM BACK.

Exclusive | $375B EPA slush fund handled by John Podesta gave billions to charities founded only months earlier

The EPA gave out $20 billion to environmental justice and green credit groups that had barely registered with the IRS.

nypost.com

Administrator Zeldin Terminates Biden-Harris $20B 'Gold Bar' Grants | US EPA

EPA News Release: Administrator Zeldin Terminates Biden-Harris $20B 'Gold Bar' Grants

www.epa.gov

Feds investigating Stacey Abrams-linked group’s ‘insane’ $2B EPA grant, Zeldin says

The massive grant was awarded to Power Forward Communities in April 2024 from environmental spending in former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

nypost.com

The $42 billion internet program that has connected 0 people

The federal BEAD program makes little sense with the rate of private markets providing internet access.

www.washingtonpolicy.org

 

[meaner gene]

Its more complex than that.
Sometimes DOGE found "theft" but it was almost legal, so congress needs to rescind those stolen democrat "slush funds" and CLAW THEM BACK.

Exclusive | $375B EPA slush fund handled by John Podesta gave billions to charities founded only months earlier

The EPA gave out $20 billion to environmental justice and green credit groups that had barely registered with the IRS.

nypost.com

Administrator Zeldin Terminates Biden-Harris $20B 'Gold Bar' Grants | US EPA

EPA News Release: Administrator Zeldin Terminates Biden-Harris $20B 'Gold Bar' Grants

www.epa.gov

Feds investigating Stacey Abrams-linked group’s ‘insane’ $2B EPA grant, Zeldin says

The massive grant was awarded to Power Forward Communities in April 2024 from environmental spending in former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

nypost.com

The $42 billion internet program that has connected 0 people

The federal BEAD program makes little sense with the rate of private markets providing internet access.

www.washingtonpolicy.org

As I said. Musk originally promised $2 trillion in savings.
And only found $150 billion in savings.
We were sold a bill of goods.

 

[BULLDOG]

He wasn't hired to publicize, he was hired to identify waste. He doesn't have authority to do anything about it. The waste has been identified now it is up to the bureaucracy, which is more waste, do cut it. Were you this eager to micro-manage the governmental process under the vegetable's watch?

He fired lots of people. What authority did he have to do that?

 

[22lcidw]

As I said. Musk originally promised $2 trillion in savings.
And only found $150 billion in savings.
We were sold a bill of goods.

There is a lot of things intertwined. Using a hatchet due to time constraints and not having time to use surgical instruments is a negative in the political climate we live in. If things go not so good in the future, we will look at this lost opportunity if it goes that way as a nail on the coffin. We saw the inflation as a warning. It was quick and rapid with the Progressives legislation of paying people off from Covid with little improvements. Too much hate exists and removing the money or reducing it will cause nasty potential skirmishes of different groups in our nation.

 

[Foxfyre]

If your hair is anything like mine, the barber would have about as much luck eliminating the gray as the congress would have at eliminating waste.
LOL

It was just building on an analogy. But the point was that cutting spending does not equate with eliminating inefficient, ineffective, improper i.e. WASTEFUL spending. But you can eliminate all wasteful spending without cutting all spending.

 

[Concerned American]

He fired lots of people. What authority did he have to do that?

He is the POTUS. The leader of the nation. He is due loyalty from the people who lead the depts. Seems Harry Truman fired Douglas McArthur the same way. I guess you think that was OK because Truman was a democrat, eh?

 

[meaner gene]

There is a lot of things intertwined. Using a hatchet due to time constraints and not having time to use surgical instruments is a negative in the political climate we live in.

It's a negative in any political climate.
DOGE cut into the FAA, including air traffic controllers, and the maintenance people who keep the radars working.

 

[BULLDOG]

He is the POTUS. The leader of the nation. He is due loyalty from the people who lead the depts. Seems Harry Truman fired Douglas McArthur the same way. I guess you think that was OK because Truman was a democrat, eh?

Not anywhere near the same thing.

 

[Concerned American]

It was just building on an analogy. But the point was that cutting spending does not equate with eliminating inefficient, ineffective, improper i.e. WASTEFUL spending. But you can eliminate all wasteful spending without cutting all spending.

After the wasteful bureaucracy gets done studying Musk's DOGE recommendations, I am not confident that we will see much savings. The best thing about it is that it has been brought out into the open and, hoping for a miracle here, maybe congress will pass some laws that will protect the populace from further abuse.

 

[kyzr]

As I said. Musk originally promised $2 trillion in savings.
And only found $150 billion in savings.
We were sold a bill of goods.

There was no contract for DOGE to find $2T of "waste, fraud, and theft".
Their job is to make the Federal government MORE EFFICIENT.
What you need to consider is the modernization of the Federal government.....from:
1. Retirement papers hauled by mules into a PA mine
2. An unsafe and very outdated FAA traffic control system, ref Newark
3. About a million small wasteful and ridiculous contracts and studies
4. Showed that USAID was a slush fund that ignored congressional oversight, and was moved under Rubio at State.
5. Fixing the DOD procurement system
6. Fixing the Treasury payment system that had no cost controls
7. Fixing entitlements by removing the ineligible, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
8. there are many more fixes and upgrades being worked on by technical and business geniuses.


DOGE was very much like the 1982 Grace Commission hired by Reagan to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse".
Congress blew their recommendations off, to their disgrace. The waste continued.

Grace Commission - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[meaner gene]

He is the POTUS. The leader of the nation. He is due loyalty from the people who lead the depts. Seems Harry Truman fired Douglas McArthur the same way. I guess you think that was OK because Truman was a democrat, eh?

General Douglas MacArthur was fired by President Harry Truman on April 11, 1951, for publicly criticizing the president's policies and advocating for a more aggressive strategy in the Korean War. MacArthur's public statements, particularly a letter to House Republican Leader Joseph Martin, called for a second front in the Korean War by invading the Chinese mainland, which contradicted Truman's policy of limiting the war.

 

[Concerned American]

Not anywhere near the same thing.

It is exactly the same thing. Those people work at the pleasure of the POTUS, they don't just walk in and fill a chair with no oversight.

 

[BULLDOG]

After the wasteful bureaucracy gets done studying Musk's DOGE recommendations, I am not confident that we will see much savings. The best thing about it is that it has been brought out into the open and, hoping for a miracle here, maybe congress will pass some laws that will protect the populace from further abuse.

I agree. A law banning an unelected billionaire being given the ability to interfere with our government agencies is well called for.

 

[meaner gene]

DOGE was very much like the 1982 Grace Commission hired by Reagan to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse".
Congress blew their recommendations off, to their disgrace. The waste continued.

Grace Commission - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Grace Commission didn't fired the energy department workers who keep our nuclear weapons working.

 

[konradv]

Why can't you answer my simple question.
Do you have any proof that Musk took government funds and used it in his own projects.

Did you think they were someone else’s projects?! I used to wonder what world MAGA lives in, until I realized these are the same people that thought thousandaire Hunter Biden was a global tycoon!

 

[Concerned American]

I agree. A law banning an unelected billionaire being given the ability to interfere with our government agencies is well called for.

Clean your stomach window. Unelected people have been contracted to perfom tasks for the government longer than you've been alive. This is no different. Your TDS is clouding you judgement if you ever had any to begin with.

 

[BULLDOG]

It is exactly the same thing. Those people work at the pleasure of the POTUS, they don't just walk in and fill a chair with no oversight.

That's OK. You're a MAGA. Nobody expects you to understand simple facts.

 

[meaner gene]

Why can't you answer my simple question.
Do you have any proof that Musk took government funds and used it in his own projects.

AI Overview

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team is primarily funded by the U.S. government, with funds coming from various sources and mechanisms:

Executive Order and Budget Allocations: DOGE was established by executive order, and the Trump administration began allocating funds to it shortly after its creation.
Agency Budgets: Funds are drawn from existing agency budgets, often earmarked for purposes like IT upgrades or other services, and then redirected to DOGE.
Economy Act: The Trump administration utilized the Economy Act, which allows federal agencies to transfer funds between them for services rendered, to direct funds to DOGE.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Patience grasshopper.

So there is none. Not surprised.