Does DOGE have what it takes to actually tackle billions in US govt IT spending? Tesla reportedly decided not to upgrade its SAP's enterprise software a decade ago, opting to build its own system instead. Now, with Elon Musk heading up the Trump-blessed US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), his cost-cutting mindset could have major implications for federal IT spending - and the big tech vendors …
I can't help feeling those big suppliers are in a rather stronger position to fight back than the bewildered bunch of career civil servants locked out of their offices. And no doubt some of them are the source of very useful campaign contributions. Perhaps Musk may even discover where the deep state actually resides.
> So... Worlds richest person sends in crack IT men to shutdown support for worlds poorest children.
I think the claim is that a ton of money is being spent and very little actual "good" is being done. Whether or not that is true, but there are plenty of anecdotes of billions being spent and little actual return for the money *actually in the US*, never mind abroad. The EU has exactly the same problem with the unbelievable amounts of money being spent on aid and subsidies and the gaping cracks down which it inevitably drains, never to be seen by the intended recipients.
There's going to be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, particularly from the incumbants. I would expect nothing less.
"I think the claim is that a ton of money is being spent and very little actual "good" is being done."
I can well imagine that there is a fare bit of wasteful spending but the Musky Trump approach is just throwing the baby out with the bathwater. By all means root out the inefficiencies and make the aid more effective - a bigger bang for your buck if you like explosive metaphors.
There is a lot of good done by these programs and the recipients of the aid are some of the most vulnerable people.
There is a lot of bleating about christian values with little evidence of any compassion.
Exactly. Feel Good Aid projects tend to be done in isolation. The result is that once done, there is no maintenance and after a year or two, it has all gone to pieces. No matter what we are talking about, everything needs maintenance to be really useful.
Trump has said that himself: "Some of that money is well spent".
They'll go through the other departments and tally all the bloat and waste and then the slashing will start.
It's like Tesla or Twitter. Both are still standing.
You have to admit that the examples they found are ridiculous to say the least.
There's always going to be waste - but efforts should be made, should have been made, to minimize it.
Another topic the previous administration failed to act on and which was a low-hanging fruit for Elon and Donald to harvest.
Now, they both have brought out the wrecking ball.
Ayup - There is so much fraud going on and the USA is so big that it adds up and becomes mind boggling. See this about the estimated $B1 per week of fraudulent payments at the Treasury, because the officials simply don’t follow the already existing procedures properly: https://www.newsmax.com/politics/elon-musk-doge-fraud/2025/02/08/id/1198368/
See this about the estimated $B1 per week of fraudulent payments at the Treasury, because the officials simply don’t follow the already existing procedures properly
Yep. I like this bit-
"- Require that all outgoing government payments have a payment categorization code, which is necessary in order to pass financial audits. This is frequently left blank, making audits almost impossible.
"- All payments must also include a rationale for the payment in the comment field, which is currently left blank. Importantly, we are not yet applying ANY judgment to this rationale, but simply requiring that SOME attempt be made to explain the payment more than NOTHING!
Seems reasonable, especially to anyone who's every run a business, or dealt with accountants and auditors. Or even followed the curious case of Trump, who landed 34 charges of false accounting for failing to put 'hush money' against each transaction. It would also make a curious case when Yellen and Adeyemo are charged with the same offences, although I pity the poor jury having to go through 133,780,085 or more counts. On count 1, how do you find? Might take a while.
But the media reaction might, in part be explained by this interesting story-
https://x.com/wikileaks/status/1888072129327083979
USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, "Internews Network" (IN), which has “worked with” 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and "training” over 9000 journalists (2023 figures). IN has also supported social media censorship initiatives.
And Internews seems to have reached for the history eraser and is currently in the process of going dark. Can't think why..
Why the thumbs down?
Don't worry about it. There's a lot of hate from the far-left. Or perhaps given the amount being spaffed on media & journalists, a lot of bitterness about losing their cash.
This is the Treasury not following its own procedures leading to billions in losses.
That's the crazy thing. It isn't just Treasury procedures, but procedures any business should be following.
" ... There's a lot of hate from the far-left. ... "
Hate? Now that's funny coming fro someone like you. Oh wait. I don't know you, or anything about you. Oh well, I just did what you did. Make an ignorant comment about someone that I know nothing about. Am I "far-left"? And if I am, just what is it that makes you think that I hate? Or are you just an ignorant, loud mouthed twit, putting YOUR hate of things on display?
"Well, by posting that rant, I think you've just self-selected as a member of the far-left..”
Tell me, just out of idle curiosity, what do you mean by ‘far left’, what do you consider ‘far left’? Because it’s vague isn’t it?
Now personally, and do feel free to argue, I think that many people would equate ‘far left’ with a Marxist philosophy for, oh, abolition of private property, no companies, everyone works for the state, a command economy, no?
Tell me has anyone be they a Democrat or Republican politician or a Tory or Labour politician or indeed anyone on here, advocated or argued for that?
Which brings me back to the original question, what do YOU believe is ‘far-left’?
Tell me, just out of idle curiosity, what do you mean by ‘far left’, what do you consider ‘far left’? Because it’s vague isn’t it?
It's obviously the opposite of 'far right', which is equally vague and often misapplied.
Now personally, and do feel free to argue, I think that many people would equate ‘far left’ with a Marxist philosophy for, oh, abolition of private property, no companies, everyone works for the state, a command economy, no?
Yep, Marxist/socialist philosophy sound about right for a start. So that 'globalist' philosphy popular in a certain section of politics. Own nothing and be happy. Eat bugs and be happy. A loss of body autonomy when the State tells you to stand 2m appart, wear a face mask and take an experimental vaccine, and be happy.. Or else. Or the abolition of ICE cars and motorsports. Or banning firearms. Or smoking. Or increasing censorship of 'social media' to ban unofficial misinformaton, and stamp out vaguely specified 'hate crimes', which might include calling people 'nazis'. Or just increasing regulation encroaching on and attempting to force businesses in a 'social' direction via DEI or 'environmental' policies. Or the imposition of 'wealth taxes' so the government can help itself to unrealised income.
Or just an increasingly bloated bureaucracy that every taxpayer has to try and keep in the style to which it has become accustomed, which leads to people 'working for the government'-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day
Where Europe is worse off than the US, with Belgians and Austrians spending more of the year working to pay for their governments than they get for themselves. And for the EU, this will only get worse because Ursula von der Liar was in the news stating that the EU needs a Pan-European Defence Organisation because it can't depend on NATO. Which the EU can't afford without making big sacrifices to social spending, and it can't afford to spend 5% on NATO either.. Even if that's an economic command coming from Trump and the right.
Or there are simpler problems. So once upon a time (ok, 1789) a bunch of wise men got together and proposed a 3-way. Thus the US Constitution was born, with an attempt to prevent tyranny by dividing powers between the Legislative, Executive and Judicial. Then fast forward to last Friday, and the injunction in NYC where NY AG Letitia James and 19 other Democrat AGs got this mess rolling-
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/lawfare_2_0_a_new_york_judge_launches_a_coup.html
After an ex parte hearing at which no one from Trump’s administration was present, Engelmayer exceeded his constitutional power with an order usurping the president’s executive authority.
In the order, Engelmayer held that President Trump’s political appointees have no access to the Treasury Department, which means that the president has no access.
So while this order stands, the Executive can't conduct an audit, which is their right under the Constitution. Which is something that has previously been tested-
In Mississippi v. Johnson, 71 U.S. 475 (1867), the Supreme Court ruled that the judiciary may not restrain the president in the execution of the laws.
.. or duties. And yet Englemayer just has. But so far, so normal for the Democrats, and hopefully the judge and the 20 Democrat AGs will be impeached, fired and maybe jailed for blatantly violating their oaths to defend the Constitution..
You really put in much work to defend trump and his reign for one who say he lives in the UK...
Not at all, so as an example I think his Gaza plans are bonkers, and his tariff 'strategy' will backfire. But improving efficiency and saving money is something all governments should be doing.
The downvotes are for a number of reasons. A few I can think of :
1. The Treasury dispersed 5.25 TRILLION dollars in 2024. A billion dollars a week would be a fraud rate of 1% which, if true, most sensible people would tell you is remarkably low for a large, diverse organization. The Internet assures me that 5% is more typical.
2. The notion that following procedures more closely seems quite naive -- especially if it involves bureaucratic nonsense like making sure everything on every form is completed no matter how silly and irrelevant to the actual situation. Odds are that would increase costs rather than saving money.
3. There is already a well respected organization, the Office Of Management and Budget whose job is to identify fraud. They have a website paymentaccuracy.gov you might wish to peruse.
4. The notion that setting a couple of sociopaths noted for debatable judgement off on a crusade to "fix government" will lower an already (probably) low fraud rate looks to many of us like a classic "You had one problem. Now you have two (or more) problems." situation.
There are probably other reasons.
Actually, downvotes notwithstanding looking in-depth at OMB and its results wouldn't be a bad starting point for identifying wasteful spending. Most likely better than the Ready, Fire, Aim approach Trump supporters find so appealing. Might even want to beef the OMB up a bit.
"Not some halfwit rich guy who buys a tech company for more then it's worth and then looses half of it's value.”
Elon never wanted to own Twitter, alas his drug-addled brain wasn’t in any position to stop his mouth running away one night. Oh dear, what a pity, how sad!
Cough, ‘funding secured’, cough!
If you want to uncover state mis-spending, waste, and corruption, then the correct action is to spend more on OMB. You'd find a lot more revenue if you also spent more on the IRS. That's how governments work, they have bodies of civil servants doing things. They don't have chaos monkeys.
The chaos monkeys have cancelled USAID. I hear "woohoos!" from parts of the crowd - imagine all those savings. What savings? USAID spends money, and they do that by entering in to contracts with vendors. Those contracts aren't cancelled, and to cancel them will cost a bunch of money. By having chaos monkeys shut down USAID instead of OMB analyzing how to properly shut it down, you're now going to pay companies to not do things. That's not winning.
2. The notion that following procedures more closely seems quite naive -- especially if it involves bureaucratic nonsense like making sure everything on every form is completed no matter how silly and irrelevant to the actual situation. Odds are that would increase costs rather than saving money.
Indeed. Actually having to categorise spending into stuff like 'hush money' and adding comments to explain what the money is for is an utterly crazy idea that has already been tested in the NY courts. Silly accountants around the world, along with accounting standards are just wasting huge amounts by insisting organisations can actually account for their spending. Even when that is currently the law.
But such is politics. The Democrats say this is bad, therefore it must be true. And they're not just saying it because they're going to find it harder to slide taxpayers money into their favorite NGOs.
Partially, it's because we've probably all had the experience of the way this type of paperwork ends up working out. When submitting expenses, you must enter the payment code. The correct payment code for your payment is 1924[general services]/2001[travel]/2014[routine business travel]/0103[motorized travel]/2005[per distance billing fuel and vehicle maintenance]. Finding that code will take twenty minutes of searching through internal wiki articles and that file that's on someone's SharePoint/Google Drive and doesn't look authoritative, but you're going to use it because you've tried for a long time to find something better and you've failed. By the way, when you travel for a slightly different reason tomorrow, that 2014 needs to change for what looks like a similar transaction. It's not that it's not a good idea to track this information, but that most of the time spent doing it is not adding any useful information but is costing a lot more in paperwork. Not just filling out that form either, but sending someone to investigate it when someone should have selected general business travel but accidentally selected travel to customer site because they traveled to a customer site but the code is more specific than that.
In this case, the insistence on filling out the comment field demonstrates how little they understand this. Sometimes, you need the comment field to explain why something was purchased. Sometimes, you don't. If you're paying the monthly bill for a mobile phone you need for access to something, and you've already filed it as such, then there is nothing more to put in a comment box and its blankness is not a symptom of any problem.
To find fraud, you have to work a little harder than complaining about forms. To improve record keeping, you have to work harder on having procedures that can be realistically followed. But by all means complain about comment fields and payment codes; it makes it look like you know what you're talking about and doesn't require the slow and boring bits that could actually solve a problem.
Partially, it's because we've probably all had the experience of the way this type of paperwork ends up working out. When submitting expenses, you must enter the payment code. The correct payment code for your payment is 1924[general services]/2001[travel]/2014[routine business travel]/0103[motorized travel]/2005[per distance billing fuel and vehicle maintenance]. Finding that code will take twenty minutes of searching through internal wiki articles
That just shows that-
a) People are stupid and can't bookmark or print a crib sheet so they can look up the relevant code
b) Systems are stupid and there's no authoratitive HR page listing the relevant expense codes.
If you're paying the monthly bill for a mobile phone you need for access to something, and you've already filed it as such, then there is nothing more to put in a comment box and its blankness is not a symptom of any problem.
Again it shows that people are either stupid and can't add 'mobile phone' to a comment field, or the system is stupid and can't populate the field for you. But it also means that billions in expenses will end up in a suspense account because the system has no idea what the expense/payment was for. And it also means that manglement can't answer simple questions like 'how much are we spending on mobile phones, and could we save money'? Or it would prevent data being passed to other systems like the IRS to apply tax as a possible benefit in kind.
Or it's just the law, or generally a really good idea to know what you're spending money on. Again in pretty much every business I've worked for, or ran, I've had to do this. No expense code, and the claim is rejected.. Or the business may end up with a qualified set of accounts or failed audit due to poor financial controls and having no idea where its money is going.
The problem with this response is that you're acknowledging the problems but proposing, as a fix, nothing at all. The problem with a chaotic payment code system is to make an authoritative payment code database if you really need that, or a simpler set of payment codes if you don't. "Just enter the bloody payment code" is not a solution to any of that, since the problem is not knowing what the code is and the results thereof including plenty of wasted time for several different people. Most systems I've used already don't accept a report without a payment code, meaning that inaccurate codes are a much bigger problem than missing ones, but inaccurate ones are harder to quantify with a lazy database query. As for the comment box, you do realize that entering "mobile phone" in the comment box of a charge already using the payment code identifying it as a payment for a mobile phone does not actually give you any information, right? On that basis, we should just enter "payment" in every comment field. It gives you no information, but there's no empty strings in the database, so surely that's an improvement. Empty comments boxes are not sufficient evidence of a problem, because sometimes, you don't need them. They are marked as optional for a reason.
As I said before, this is not a call to just accept any expenses without documentation and pay them all. There is probably a lot of waste. Shouting about paperwork does not fix waste, whereas performing boring, manual analysis does. The fact that paperwork has errors is also not sufficient evidence that waste exists or where it is. This is even more true when we leave the discussion of waste and enter the one about deliberate embezzlement, because while embezzlers may have many flaws, they are smart enough to figure out what payment codes they can use to steal the money by understanding what differences apply to the different budgets and which ones are easier to steal from. People conducting financial fraud tend to produce much better paperwork than people who are cluelessly trying to do their job and submit their reports with as little wasted time as possible.
The problem with this response is that you're acknowledging the problems but proposing, as a fix, nothing at all
You started it by claiming T&S codes were too hard to find. I suggested creating a crib sheet, or better an authoratitive intranet page listing all current codes. A longer term solution would maybe to change systems like tax codes to simplify systems, reduce mistakes and fraud.
Most systems I've used already don't accept a report without a payment code, meaning that inaccurate codes are a much bigger problem than missing ones, but inaccurate ones are harder to quantify with a lazy database query
Sure, but an ability to reconcile accounts and comply with SEC or IRS reporting is a legal requirement. Part of that reconciliation might identify inaccurate codes, and then the entity can attempt to fix that by sending out reminders, or firing repeat offenders. If the coding field is blank, you have no chance of reconciliation, or passing any internal or external audit and might get fined. You also have no chance of actually running your business, if all your CFO can tell you is you've got 42c in the account, and they just shrug if you ask where the money has gone.
As for the comment box, you do realize that entering "mobile phone" in the comment box of a charge already using the payment code identifying it as a payment for a mobile phone does not actually give you any information, right?
Sure it does, if you can trust it. You can sum up all those payments and get a vague idea on mobile phone expenditure. But you also picked a bad example using phones because those might have been purchased, leased, rented with different accounting requirements, then the service elements like call plan, and then usage split between business and personal. If it's blank, you have no clue, if it has something meaningful, you have some chance to reconcile PO, invoice, expense claims and balance the books. Plus again comply with any legal requirements.
As I said before, this is not a call to just accept any expenses without documentation and pay them all. There is probably a lot of waste. Shouting about paperwork does not fix waste, whereas performing boring, manual analysis does.
Funny thing about this. Theres.. IT to help. So good'ol Oracle Financials, SAP etc that can automate a lot of that stuff, and also have fraud detection elements to flag suspicious transactions. Like, oh, I don't know.. $1bn a week leaving your business, and no indication what that money was for. Which is pretty much what DOGE did, and now the Democrats are whining that accountability is just not fair.
" ... The Democrats say this is bad, therefore it must be true ... "
Or could they be saying it's bad because it actually is. And it is the truth? Of course not. Because they are Democrats, and nothing they say is true.
< shakes head > FFS!
And it is the truth? Of course not. Because they are Democrats, and nothing they say is true.
I'm glad you're starting to understand the situation, and how the LWNJ's have been subverting democracy in the US and around the world. And in only 2 weeks, Trump has been exposing the swamp, and draining it.
@Jellied Eel
"Indeed. Actually having to categorise spending into stuff like 'hush money' and adding comments to explain what the money is for is an utterly crazy idea that has already been tested in the NY courts."
I noticed you keep slapping them with this one and yet responses seem to ignore the inconvenient fact
I noticed you keep slapping them with this one and yet responses seem to ignore the inconvenient fact
Yep, the cognitive dissonance tends to be strong in the far-left. The NYC mess may also serve as setting a handy precedent for prosecuting officials who failed to follow both Treasury, and GAAP standards. I think that could still stand, even if Trump wins his appeals.
@Jellied Eel
"The NYC mess may also serve as setting a handy precedent for prosecuting officials who failed to follow both Treasury, and GAAP standards. I think that could still stand, even if Trump wins his appeals."
Trump should win the appeals as he is beyond the statute of limitations and needs a crime (which the prosecution cant define) to be a felon. But as the federal issues will continue (and probably at state level too) a lot of officials could be in a lot of bother as you say.
Then the left would squeal Trump is attacking his opponents when holding them to the same standards he is. If Trump can keep this pace up and get things done the left will do a lot of loud shrieking. I need more popcorn
" ... especially if it involves bureaucratic nonsense like making sure everything on every form is completed no matter how silly and irrelevant to the actual situation. ... "
Yep.
Example: I'm a 71 year old disabled Veteran who gets housing assistance from the VA. Every year I have to fill out forms to keep getting it. Not a problem, but .... Every year they ask me if anyone over the age of 65 lives in my home. If there is anyone that is a Veteran. If anyone is disabled. For VA Housing assistance! They ask if any of my children UNDER 18 live with me. And if any of them are in school. I'm 71 effing years old!! They ask how much money I make. Information they already know. They even know before I do what next years Social Security is going to be BEFORE I do. They ask what my rent is. They actually know if there will be a rent increase before I do. I find out that there is one, and how much it is because THEY tell me.
There are several more questions like this. But I think I've made my point. Do I actually have a problem with the silly shit they ask? Nope. Not one damn problem. I check the boxes and move on. Is it irrelevant? Maybe. But they ask and I answer. Even when they send me forms that ask me if I live at the address that they sent the forms to.
This taxes your thoughts … rather than than 50 states having their own DMV, 50 different sets of driving rules/road conventions and inconsistent insurance ??
Stop the duplicate waste of States v’s Federal
- 1 Federal Level Driving License
- 1 National set of driving rules
- Mandatory ‘at fault insurance’ Nationwide
… and yes I can pump my own gas Jersey !!!
There are several more questions like this. But I think I've made my point. Do I actually have a problem with the silly shit they ask? Nope. Not one damn problem. I check the boxes and move on. Is it irrelevant? Maybe. But they ask and I answer. Even when they send me forms that ask me if I live at the address that they sent the forms to.
Yep, you've made the point that there's a lot of bureaucracy and inefficiencies that could be improved upon. So every year there's the cost of producing forms, sending them out, and processing the responses to tell the VA things they already know. Which is crazy given the IT angle. So technology means bureaucracies collect, store and process ever increasing amounts of personal informantion. Yet for jobs like this, they can't just send you a populated form for you to check and return.
It's much the same around the world though. So in the UK, we have the dreaded tax return, which ever increasing amounts of the population will have to complete as they're pushed into the tax bands that trigger it. They're posted out with the persons name and address on the envelope, but HMRC can't print that on the tax return forms. Then the person may have to copy & write data HMRC's already sent on P11 & P60 notes, do some calculations and for PAYE employees, send HMRC back the data they already have. Which is an expensive and generally pointless exercise vs sending tax payers the data HMRC has, and asking if there's any other income (or expenses) they'd like to declare.
And the US, with it's combination of state & federal taxes is even worse.
So in the UK, we have the dreaded tax return, which ever increasing amounts of the population will have to complete as they're pushed into the tax bands that trigger it. They're posted out with the persons name and address on the envelope, but HMRC can't print that on the tax return forms. Then the person may have to copy & write data HMRC's already sent on P11 & P60 notes, do some calculations and for PAYE employees, send HMRC back the data they already have. Which is an expensive and generally pointless exercise vs sending tax payers the data HMRC has, and asking if there's any other income (or expenses) they'd like to declare.
Such hardship. How will you ever get back those 15 minutes of your life?
Such hardship. How will you ever get back those 15 minutes of your life?
My life isn't the problem, it's how many million x 15mins it wastes for HMRC, or IRS etc. Somewhere in the bowels of government there's probably something that gives a cost to mail out blank forms and then process them. Bureaucracies may love make-work activities like this, but it's hardly efficient.
The costs of complying with the UK tax system according to the NAO.
Ah, Mr Worstall, lately of these parts-
The cost to the British economy of taxation is around, about, 100% of the tax collected. That cost being economic activity that does not happen simply because we are taxing.
Typical of the way a bureaucracy grows to consume its host. Simplify the tax system, grow the economy by removing the deadweight and remove the administrative burden. Sounds like the UK needs a DOGE. Oh, and for Casca, I wonder if Mr Worstall has pointed out to Trump that rare 'earth' isn't actually rare, but the problem is economic viability. Especially when the US has a lot, as does Canada but anti-mining lobbying and regulation adds more deadweight costs so they'll remain exploited. Or we strip mine Ukraine because out of sight, out of mind.
> So in the UK, we have the dreaded tax return, which ever increasing amounts of the population will have to complete as they're pushed into the tax bands that trigger it. They're posted out with the persons name and address on the envelope, but HMRC can't print that on the tax return forms. Then the person may have to copy & write data HMRC's already sent on P11 & P60 notes, do some calculations and for PAYE employees, send HMRC back the data they already have. Which is an expensive and generally pointless exercise vs sending tax payers the data HMRC has, and asking if there's any other income (or expenses) they'd like to declare.
You might have had a point if this was in fact the case, but I think it is for the greater part complete billhooks. Most people with a salary and no other source of income don't need to fill in a tax return at all irrespective of which tax band their salary falls into. Of the around 12 million Self Assessment tax returns that are submitted in the UK, over 11.5 million of them are filed electronically, and certainly if you use the HMRC online service it prefills the employment section with the stuff that you noted it already knows about you. I haven't received in a paper tax return for about 20 years, but your assertion that paper forms arrive from HMRC without the taxpayer's name and address preprinted doesn't fit with my recollection and seems especially odd given that the second 'question' on the first page is "Your name and address – if it is different from what is on the front of this form, please write the correct details underneath the wrong ones and put the date you changed address below"...
>Example: I'm a 71 year old disabled Veteran who gets housing assistance from the VA. Every year I have to fill out forms to keep getting it. Not a problem, but .... Every year they ask me if anyone over the age of 65 lives in my home. If there is anyone that is a Veteran. If anyone is disabled. For VA Housing assistance! They ask if any of my children UNDER 18 live with me. And if any of them are in school. I'm 71 effing years old!!
TBF, the Mango Mussolini is 7 years older than you and has a 18 year old living in his home.
" ... There is so much fraud going on ... "
Then you change the laws to fix it. And who's job would that be? CONGRESS! But as we have seen, every time some tries exactly that, the ones that are whining the loudest about it stops it from being done.
Example: Immigration and the boarder. In the last two years 2 bills that would go a long way to start fixing it were shut down by Republicans. The last one was one that they helped craft. One where they got a lot of what they wanted. And then every last fucking one of them voted against it. A bill that they wanted and helped create. WTAF?
I know you were being rhetorical at the end, but for anyone that doesn't know: Trump told the Republican sheep to vote against it because he was worried it would make the Democrats look good.
And people still think their orange god love America!
Getting a return "in the US" is not really the main point of the foreign aid programs. The main point is helping USA image abroad, and helping other countries with problems.
Any return at all seen directly in the US, is merely a side effect.
Funny that.
Where do you think most of the food aid USAID distributes to countries comes from?
To the point that some of the first people to complain about the USAID were farmers in the US Midwest
Most USAID funds are actually spent in the US.
Well, shipping 30000 tons of good Midwest grain to a disused port where it gets dumped and rots and feeds the rats because there is no distribution system, really, really, really is not a good idea, but that is exactly what happens in practice.
$2 billion of food purchasing is *holding up the price* of that Midwest grain I gather, which in turn, is ensuring those farmers keep growing grain.
[ At $350 per ton, 30000 tons means $10 million wasted. Bad, but sometimes in an emergency situation you have to get stuff into several possible access ports. ]
Nah, I think what has been going on in Haiti, barely only a few % of the money getting to where it should and over 50% doing to beltway firms, huge amount of US govt and NGO meddling etc. is highly likely going on elsewhere.
Ohh look it's the space marine!
Got any cool war stories from Games Workshop for us?
Welcome to my killfile! https://www.jamiejones.org/misc/The_Register_killfile.png
"The thumbs down come from the impotent seething and coping from Libtards who are seeing their fake worldview shatter around them like a cheap vase."
Yeah, that. I'm sure that's the reason.
Or perhaps, just maybe, it's because you are an idiot with nothing useful to add to the discussion.
" ... from the impotent seething and coping from Libtards who are seeing their fake worldview ... "
Says the "impotent seething and coping from a RWNJ MAGAnt who is seeing their fake reality fall apart. And has no clue that it is.
And it is, and you would see it if you actually looked. Cheaper eggs? Cheaper gas? Prices not going up? Reality. Pay attention.
Trump isn't interested in the image of the USA abroad. All he wants to do is swing his little political Weiner around impressing his idiotic followers and sort out his fellow billionaires.
He's a tosser, and an idiot narcissistic tosser at that. Everyone outside his base knows this, especially the rest of the world so why bother to try and cultivate any other type of image.
The best we can hope for is, he deals enough damage to the US and fucks off in 3 years and 11 months, by which times America may have learned its lesson.
" ... very little actual "good" is being done. ... "
So doing things like feeding hungry children isn't "good"?
Stealing massive amounts of US Citizens private info for some unknown reason IS "good"?
What is good about National Security? Fucking with it is a "good" thing?
FFS!! REALLY?
"There's going to be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, particularly from the incumbants."
Is that really what you meant to say? The MAGAs are the incumbents now. But you're right, of course. Just wait until "Obamacare" is wiped out and all those MAGAs relying on the Affordable Care Act for healthcare realise they are one and the same thing :-/
The US spent billions supporting the Genocide of Palestinian children who have literally nothing having had it blasted into an apocalyptical wasteland by the US Backed Zionist State Terrorist group.
They don't give a fuck for people through out the world, it's a CIA front to distribute money to their operations globally - I'm sure some of these ORGs do a little good, but many/most are far from benign.
Trump is too thick to understand the looting of the world that has been happening for a long time is more effective when done discretely; I'm so enjoying the Great Noticing.
The US occupies more of Syria than Russia does of Ukraine - does Trump make that bad yet? The people in Syria have had (HTS) Al-Qa'ida [1] forced on them, with US and UK blessing, like wtaf,
Now the US is mask off supporting the ethnic cleansing and forcible acquisition of Territory, yet it's policy toward the ICC and the Zionist State Terror group remains unchanged.
Standup and condemn the behaviour or sit down and remain silent forever more.
[1] https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/01/will-section-12-die-of-shame/
“Crack IT team”? More like juvenile delinquent script kiddies led by Elon on crack. DOGE’s job is to smash and grab while spreading disinformation about all the “waste, fraud and abuse” they’re allegedly finding. They’re no better than a Haitian street gang. They picked on USAID first because they thought it was weak and Americans wouldn’t care. Americans don’t really understand foreign aid, they think that it’s a larger part of federal spending than it really is. Americans also don’t get that a lot of foreign aid money is spent in the USA, like on grain from all those farmers who voted for Trump.
It’s part of the class warfare by billionaire man-babies who don’t want any government telling them what to do on the rest of us.
He's harassing USAID because Starlink was under investigation by them:
It may depend on the exact contract wording. In the UK some time last century, the Police contracted IBM to run a fingerprint recognition system. Well, eventually the Police decided to can the system and 'politely' requested the fingerprint data back. IBM said "no". The data had been given to them, so it belonged to them and not the Police any more. This caused quite a stir at the time. Of course the obvious solution was to re-hire IBM.
Eventually the UK Police did get the fingerprint data back, but it took several months.
Let's hope that US Government Departments and Agencies have sensible contracts with their IT suppliers regarding terminating IT contracts and retaining data.
(OK, cards on the table - I am not a fan of Trump or Musk, but in this specific instance we all know there is a lot of excessive spend on IT in government (see hundreds of articles on the Register about government IT waste), and if they can get some more balanced contracts for US government IT then all the better.)
No, I think your knee jerk reaction is not warranted. See this article which explains the system issues at the Treasury - mostly human problems, but the computer system can be blamed too for lack of checks: https://www.newsmax.com/politics/elon-musk-doge-fraud/2025/02/08/id/1198368/
Oh no, someone downvoted Space Marine's poorly thought out post and he feels personally attacked.
Keep weeping about your imaginary internet points Space Marine.
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" ... may even discover where the deep state actually resides. ... "
< shakes head > OH NOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSS ................................... The big bad "deep state" boogieman. Just another mythical sky-faerie that does magic to scare the weak minded.
the side of a Microsoft Dynamics finance system.*"
IOW SOP for a lot of shops back in the mini-computer days of the 60's and 70's.
New century, old story.
And just a reminder USAID is one percent of the US Federal Budget.
Still every little helps when you're looking to fund those tax-cuts-for-billionaire and the Make Billionairs Rich Again agenda
*Itself bodged together by MS from Great Plains Dynamics (fargo) and the Danish "Navision" (Excellent internationalisation functionality) both bought for user base regardless of compatibility.
> Still every little helps when you're looking to fund those tax-cuts-for-billionaire and the Make Billionairs Rich Again agenda
If you think that billionaires are funding this expenditure, then I think you are deluded. Billionaires know how to avoid paying taxes, shunting it around to optimize their portfolios. The middle income Jack and Jill is paying the taxes to fund these projects and I can tell you that *many* of them would like to see less of their hard earned wonga piss*ed down the drain on foreign vanity projects.
Billionaires know that to avoid paying taxes, it's best if the tax rate applying to them remains low, or goes lower. A reduction in foreign aid to 0 would reduce most people's taxes by nothing, or at best 1/2 of 1%. My taxes never went down when Trump was in office the last time, though I suppose one could consider the Covid Relief payments a tax reduction.
The fact that some people think that foreign aid is a significant part of the US budget shows just how good the Republicans are at messaging.
There is nothing that Musk or Trump are doing in this DOGE escapade that cannot be explained by one word "ego".
Letting two egotists take charge of the apparatus of state where their unbridled desire to be centre of attention (and to punish/bully/intimidate/harass those who don't acknowledge they are the centre of the universe) can run free (apparently) remains a poor choice by the American people.
In the UK we had an inkling of this when Brexit showed that our own constitutional checks and balances work largely because people were prepared to honour them. The US seems to have found that their system of checks and balances - though written down - are in much the same position.
"constitutional checks and balances work largely because people were prepared to honour them"
1. Even at it's fastest, the law is slow.
2. You can replace the people who make legal decisions with placemen who say the law is what you want it to be. (Aside from the Supreme Court on Roe vs Wade, look at the advantage to Trump of Aileen Cannon just dragging her heels and gumming up the works.)
3. It needs people who honour those decisions and are willing to implement them. (Look at the South Korea's attempts to arrest their president.)
Ultimately the law (and a constitution) only work because we all agree to honour it. Trump and his Maga cult no longer want to honour the agreed law, and are not willing to overturn it in the agreed ways; they are just ignoring it and doing as they please. There is no check and balance that can protect against that.
It now goes about three ways:
a) Enough people are willing to honour the law that the courts do catch up and some semblance of the rule of law is returned.
b) Trump gets his way and people acquiesce - perhaps in the hope that enough respect for democracy remains that he can be neutered at the mid-terms or the next presidential election. Those elections may or may not be fairly conducted.
c) Civil war.
The 4th branch of state, and agent of last resort, is the military.
While junior officers generally like "strongmen" they have frequently rolled governments they perceive as captured by kleptocrats and unwilling to modernise. This is likely to describe this administration.
The good news is that despite appearances and joking, the US military is good at running big logistics jobs, and might well be the best organisation to take over the US government.
CNN reporting now that a judge has temporarily blocked doge from the US treasury citing "irreparable harm". It's a temporary decision, and no idea what will come of it long term. Plus, the damage has already been done tbh but, it's a start. Thought you should know the latest.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/politics/elon-musk-doge-treasury-payment-system/index.html
Something about closing the barn door.
The data is already exfiltrated to Azure. Who is auditing the proper disposal of data? And what about the fun and exciting code additions to the OPA systems, are they all carefully accounted for and able to be reverted? Are they still in the building? What is the status of the backups? Where is the mystery DOGE server currently? It is one thing writing an angry letter and another actually mopping up APTs.
Time will tell, but I am absolutely not holding my breath.
What a security clusterfuck.
Yep, destruction of anything already not faxed to the saudis, or captured by yahoo's gift of a golden pager (look that one up if you haven't).
One of those "very smart things" Biden did right before he left was appoint a whole lot of new local judges. They are fresh, and full of energy, and ready to try at least. The democrats seem to be using them for temporary restraints.
What caught my eye was the name right in the middle of it : New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Not all heros wear capes. This woman wants justice.
@John Brown (no body)
"A Govt.paralysis seems to be about least worst option at the moment."
On an article titled- 'Does DOGE have what it takes to actually tackle billions in US govt IT spending?' you reply with wanting to lock up the government so they cannot do anything. Explaining easily why government sucks at doing things and why a cleaning of house is needed.
Well done
Which is why she is near the top of the MAGA hit list for sending to Gitmo for life.
Other notaries on the list are
Joe Biden
Hunter Biden
Kamelea Harris
Jack Smith
Fanni Willis
Gavin Newscum
Barak Obama
Nancy Pelosi
Any Judge, Federal or State that has ruled against Trump or Musk in any case.
It won't matter if they have a presidential pardon, presidential immunity, there will be 'Trumped' up charges, and put in court before Judge Eileen Canon, in Fort Pierce, FLA, and off got Cuba they will go,
One of the things these wannabe dictators love to instil is the "We are invincible, none can stand in the way of our mightyness" mantra.
Bu***hit.
America has stand-your-ground laws.
Americans. It is time (by all legal means of course) to stand your ground Windbags need deflating.
I note that trolls (and I think all agree that Leon is major league troll) love to dish it out but find a topic that pushes their buttons and and wait for the massive perambulator ejection event.
"Freedom of speech absolutist" eh? What a ridiculous self-regarding Ahole. He can't cope with a single persons transition.
IT Angle? Sophie Wilson of ARM and Lyn Conway of "Introduction to VLSI Logic," which lead to MOSIS and a sizeable part of Silicon Valley's development.
You can find out why that happened in the findings of the Jan 6th committee. Quite easy to turn a bunch of used car salesmen and rednecks into an issue when you refuse to authorize the national guard, innit.
Why do you suppose Trump would do that when it isn't in his favour?
17. President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on January 6th or on any other day. Nor did he instruct any Federal law enforcement agency to assist. Because the authority to deploy the National Guard had been delegated to the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense could, and ultimately did deploy the Guard. Although evidence identifies a likely miscommunication between members of the civilian leadership in the Department of Defense impacting the timing of deployment, the Committee has found no evidence that the Department of Defense intentionally delayed deployment of the National Guard. The Select Committee recognizes that some at the Department had genuine concerns, counseling caution, that President Trump might give an illegal order to use the military in support of his efforts to overturn the election.
I would hate to break it to you, but there can be 400 of you with AR15s and you'll get taken out by one grunt with a real assault rifle before you even get in range. He'll have time for a smoke break, too.
I would hate to break it to you, but according to Democrats, an AR-15 is an assault rifle. And even a humble 9mm service pistol could blow someone's lungs clean out of their body. Otherwise, you miss an important lesson that quantity has a quality all of its own, so the probability that 1 of the 400 would get off an aimed shot whilst your solitary grunt is reloading is rather high. The reason the military (and paramilitary) are more effective is they train to work as a unit, not as a disorganised mob. Plus there are small matters, like civilians may be veterans, or from their own paramilitaries, or as was seen in the onset of Ukraine's civil war, grunts might just refuse to fire on their own countrymen and change sides.
As the old saying goes, governments rule by consent. If consent is withdrawn, very bad things tend to happen.
Food for thought.
Maybe lay off those cheap crayons?
While my answer was hyperbolic because I am not the joyless soul you are, the logic is pretty straightforward and my underlying point remains, so I'll explain it simpler for you to save those tired fingers of yours:
An AR15 on a modern battlefield is absolutely useless, which is why the US Army does not issue AR15s.
It is, however extremely effective in a shopping mall or school.
The dems don't want AR15s because of the latter, and the reps let you keep your giggle guns because of the former.
See? Simples.
Now give me my crayons back I'm hungry.
What's repulsive is the slobbering reverence they give to anyone the propaganda machine puts in front of them.
Dude is bragging about sinking the CFPB because "???" and they viciously deride the organization and anyone on "their team" who questions the necessity of trashing a compromise between owners and the great unwashed.
The propaganda machine has also managed to turn opinions on the CEO shooter despite 1 in 9 having an immediate reason to hate United "Healthcare" and the same people who wanted to hang health officials for overzealous lockdowns are now lecturing on the value of human life.
I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me.
OPM data includes the security clearance of employees. This data is NOT classified confidential, particularly when it's everyone on Uncle Sam's payroll.
This data contains information which could expose very Republican leaning personnel, endangering life and limb from foreign and domestic threats.
The problem, I think, is you are still under the illusion that the Republicans are the one's running the show.
This is the problem. How do you think these people got in office in the first place? They targeted you. They fed you constant lies on news corp media groups. Then profiled you on social media. The bad guys were in on it.
When you go on social, you are not talking to real people the majority of the time. Let's go through the list of operatives operating on social for a second.
1: Advertisers
2: data collectors
3: Russians
4: chinese
5: Iranians
6: Nkoreans
7: Israelis
8: Ukrainians
9: arabs states
10: INFLUENCERS
11: Obligatory child predators
and now, you are also talking to the A.I.
Thats a lot of "people" collecting and manipulating you. How often do you think a response or conversation can be real?
You combine that with constant lies from the media, half of which is also now made and printed by A.I., and it becomes a mind melting blender. You don't know whats real or not anymore. And here's the thing, they are ALL depending on you to click, click, click... and get an emotional response. They want you upset. They need you upset, and emotionally affected.
We are getting off topic here, but maybe that helps you see the problem with having all that data. They will very much use that to target, in one way or another.
Well, for one thing, the DOGE EO does specify: "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems". So, if Musk's little mutts somehow get to access classified data and systems, it's a problem (i.e. a cyber-hacking crime, a cyberattack, a very talented neo-Nazi coup, ...).
Even without the distinction between unclassified and classified though, the idea of giving non-vetted folks who have not been formally governmentally contracted and who do not appear to be legally bound to be held responsible for their actions "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems" is utter bonkers batshit crazy town looney tunes institutionalizable lost marbles off-its-rockers insanely demented deranged lunatic madness imho.
What kind of unhinged Convict in Chief is running this GAGA asylum????
In the military, what civilians call unclassified data is classified Restricted. Also, ‘Need to know’ always applies. So if people don’t need to know, then they cannot read ‘unclassified’ Restricted data either. So that is why. Anyhoo, to get Confidential clearance (what you need for HR and payroll type work) really just means you need to sign a few forms to ensure you are aware of the applicable laws.
Spoken like a true civvie, or at best a crayon eater.
In the adult world, uncontrolled access to large amounts of separate Confidential materials requires much higher clearance proportionate to the aggregate impact.
Why you think the commentards here don't know how this works beggars belief. Stick to the single moms on instagram mate.
The whole point is: know your "enemy". Then you can destroy them more effectively.
How better to get dirt on your favourite "enemies" than to dissect the national institutions' databases. How to beat the competition at anything? Know the competition by getting private information from government databases. Etc...
And, learned from history, always keep different departments in the dark and keep them fighting each other. Then they leave you alone and you can do as you please.
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Let's not pretend that there is anything but self-interest in what Musk is doing. One of the first targets was the FAA, who SpaceX have clashed with frequently. No doubt some if it is just chaos because they can do it, and some is malice towards their enemies and detractors (Removing the T from LGBT on all Federal websites was no doubt targeted at his daughter who wants nothing to do with him), but ultimately they all want less regulation so they can make even more money.
And the second, USAID, who were actively investigating him: https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating-starlink-over-its-contracts-in-ukraine-2000559365
One problem is that neitherTrump nor Musk are interested in the details. Musk probably has it in for USAID because they helped post-apartheid South Africa, and I suspect Trump thinks it just gives US money away for nothing. In fact USAID is a significant lever for US influence - once countries are dependent it becomes much easier to insist on tweaks to their laws to benefit both the USA and US companies. Closing this down leaves such countries needing an urgent replacement with little room (or time) for them to negotiate terms.
"once countries are dependent it becomes much easier to insist on tweaks to their laws to benefit both the USA and US companies"
Or, looked through slightly more altruistic eyes, you are helping a struggling economy to grow, be friendly and, as they grow, become a good customer, partner and ally in the longer term. But Trump can't think further ahead than his next Bog Mac and I suspect Musk isn't much better ;-)
I see nothing to worry about; after all, the onsite leader of the DOGEkids is a major figure in private equity corporate buyouts in which the maximum of value is extracted as quickly as possiible, leaving employees and customers to pick amongst the remnants for any remaining value. I'm sure he knows exactly what he is doing.
There is no reason to think that this "doge" is even trying to "tackle tech spending". It's just cruelty and destruction for cruelty's and destruction's sake.
I'm overwhelmingly, destructively, hopelessly, indelibly pessimistic about the situation. I don't see there could be anything to be able to stop Musk and his henchmen using courts or other "proper" means to stop the destruction. Possibly ego clashes could prevent something but I cannot have any hope for the world as a whole.
"DOGE does not "cut" anything."
Oh no, of course not! It just makes "recommendations". All of which, so far, have supposedly been signed off on by Trump. I'm sure Trump was properly briefed on each and all actions taken by and the recommendations submitted by DOGE and he very carefully read them fully, all the way to the last page before getting distracted by something shiny.
From over here in the UK (which has its own problems in profusion mostly stemming from the housing situation) I would suggest that there will be effective opposition via the court process. As someone up thread said the law works slowly but it will start. Also I'm wondering if any of these actions require ratification by the elected houses and if there might be - er- reservations when the implications for Federal spending in some states become obvious?
I would suggest that you find some people locally who are engaged in some kind of organised action - political, trade union, cultural or just a talking shop in a coffee bar or something. This social media echo chamber thing is pernicious. Mundane reality can be reassuring.
Your point about ego clashes reminds me - how long did Steve Bannon remain in favour? Some of the coverage of Mr Musk is reminiscent of Bannon's self-presentation as the power behind the throne.
Icon: Old man. Seen riots and pestilence. Still clinging on.
far beyond anything that South African Pinheaded Nazi has ever imagined..."
About the only thing my old HS History teacher taught me that's stuck is "Beware anyone who offers very simple solutions to very complex problems"
He learned that lesson from his Father.
His Father learned it at a place called Dachau.
Musk, Trump, Johnson, Farage. All with "simple" answers to complex problems.
IRL the only thing "simple" are the people who believe those answers will work.
Has it ever occured to you that what they are doing is incredibly complex but that the presentation of it has to be simple and of core philosophy. We are living in a huge constructed lie telling people the complete truth would either not be believed and if it was cause a total mental implosion and violence. Let me give you a simple analogy just to to upset people! We are seen as cattle to be milked. The herd size is grown or shrunk according to the farmer's needs, unproductive animals are slaughtered early. Now humans are a little trickier but with appropriate psyops and propaganda can be controlled and treated similarly. Unfortunately, the rise of the Internet and social media was leading to the cattle making their own decisions and the farmer was getting nervous. He was starting to think if it continues the cattle might start refusing to provide him with the milk and want to sell it themselves. He was also thinking that maybe he didn't need such a big herd and growing crops might be easier.
One example is the gamergate person. Received $5,000,000 dollars in aid and posted ONE charity video. that was it.
And she's the tip of the iceberg. USAID wastes 10s of BILLIONS every year on weird fringe charities, both left and right wing.
It needs to be torn down, Audited, people charged with embezzlement/fraud and a new system put in place.
Firing the top-end execs so they can't shred documents is step 1.
Anyone who has looked at Tesla's quarterly accounts over the years will understand exactly why they invented their own ERP system.
'Creative' doesn't even come close to covering what they publish, hence their need for a unique 'single source of truth' from their magic ERP.
Who has a business subcontracting dozens of high priced SAP experts to Accenture for a neverending US Army SAP project. Makes over $1 million a year. And voted for Trump.
I would have to laugh if Musk swings his axe on that project and his entire income goes 'poof'. He'll be fine, he's been raking that in for over a decade, but I'm sure he won't be happy if the money spigot is turned off by the guy he voted for!
"Does DOGE have what it takes to actually tackle billions in US govt IT spending?"
NO. That's a big fat NO!
The south african nazis is purely in it to enrich himself and do favours for mates. Given the roll because he bought a president. Just look at China and the CCP with their corrupt Belt and Road bullshit. Look that up and see what fucked up things its done to countries. They claim they will use local workers then ship in Chinese workers. When they do use local workers they beat them, as they did in Africa (plenty of vids on that). They then either don't finish the project or its built in a tofu-dreg way leaving the countries in massive debt to China and still no infrastructure. So, to combat this "soft power" USAID exists. But because the south african nazis does lots of business with China (even saying Taiwan should be part of China, when the CCP have NO claim on it whatsoever), he's managed to get USAID shutdown. This removes America's "soft power" play and allows China to take over with all its bullshit Belt and Road. Much like the stupid UK government close to allowing them to build a "super embassy" in the East End which WON'T only be used as an embassy.
Guys, the circus went to meet with poots over ukraine, and then started blasting nonsense to the x zombies about how they don't have to obey the rule of law anymore, and that the judiciary needs to be eliminated. All our phones are acting up and doing crazy shit (pretty sure we are all being listened to and watched). They are beginning to dictate through fear.
In all my life I have never seen this, not even in Nixon years. This is terrifying. I do not recognize this country anymore. I went to get gas and a six pack, and the stares of death everyone was giving everybody else... It's anarchy, and chaos is starting to set in. It's going to take a small group of individuals to light a fuse, and this country is going to blow. Rule of law is breaking down.
These tech bros are destroying the world, and I know I'm on a tech site, and there very good people here with good intentions, but I doubt this is what you wanted from technology.
It's very obvious there is no one in charge in Washington, and we are being manipulated by people behind the curtain. I can only surmise it's the guy in the kremlin. People need to get the fuck of x, facebook, and all that. Start protecting yourselves. For the love of GOD young people, take this seriously. The world is literally collapsing right now.
Moderatix: There is a reference to her on the comments handling script - whilst on a comments page, disconnect your network connection, then click on the [Upvote] arrow on a post - the following message will popup...
"Oops. Alert the Moderatrix - the coders need whipping."
Be clear about USAID. The "aid" was a front for covert political and influencing operations including regime change, insurrection and money laundering.
Now all country's do the influencing and meddling part. But USAID was not acting apolitical in the interests of the American people. It was acting on its own and non-elected masters interests. When it turned on its own people as well as the corruption it needs gutting.
Be clear about USAID. The "aid" was a front for covert political and influencing operations including regime change, insurrection and money laundering.
Yep. As the old saying went, you could tell which country was next for regime change by simply tracking Samantha Power's travel itinery.
Now all country's do the influencing and meddling part. But USAID was not acting apolitical in the interests of the American people. It was acting on its own and non-elected masters interests. When it turned on its own people as well as the corruption it needs gutting.
This is something that probably needs Congress to investigate. Executive agencies are often apolitical, and Power was appointed by the Biden administration and a hard-core Democrat & neo-con. So how much of USAID's activities were authorised, and if so, by whom. It certainly had a very Democrat & far-left bias, and seemed to show that Congressional oversight was ineffective. Then per wiki-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_International_Development
The goal of this agency was to counter Soviet Union influence during the Cold War and to advance US soft power through socioeconomic development.
Is pretty broad, but was USAID acting per the enabling legislation, ie the Foreign Assistance Act, which is again pretty wide ranging-
An Act to promote the foreign policy, security, and general welfare of the United States by assisting peoples of the world in their efforts toward economic and social development and internal and external security, and for other purposes.
And it's debatable that 'Aid' to countries like Libya, Syria, Ukraine has improved economic & social development, or security. Or if funding NGOs to overthrow governments in Georgia, Hungary, Serbia etc is really compatible with those goals. And Ukraine being something of a special case given 'aid' has been around $300bn and included things like cluster munitions. Or Ukraine has complained that it's not seen around $100bn of the money it thinks it should have received. Or Ukraine's banned many media outlets, and the remaining ones are complaining they won't be able function as 'independent', if they're not handed US (or EU) 'aid' money. But Ukraine was very much the Democrat's 'war', and now Trump is looking to disentangle itself from that mess & ongoing liability and dump that problem on the EU.
But it's demonstrated the hypocrisy of complaining about 'foreign interference' in the US, when USAID has spent large parts of their $50bn a year doing that in other countries, including the EU.. And most of the media has been glossing over that.
According to Wikipedia, "The administrator is officially nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. A 2017 reorganization of the US National Security Council placed the USAID administrator as a permanent member on the Deputies Committee."
So, you can blame the last 4 years on a Biden appointment (assuming he made one) and the previous 4 years on Trumps appointment. Either they both made appointments or they were happy to leave things as they were. Either way, Trump is responsible for what went ion at USAID during his last term. Maybe he'd have noticed some problems if he spent more time running the country instead of playing golf?
Y'see, this is Trumps second term. Anything "fraud" or "corruption" claimed as long terms must've been happening under his nose or with his blessing when he was in power first time around. To much golf and not enough actually doing the job.
Is what mr. Musk exposed to the public by lifting tiles one by one, the vermin that lives under those tiles is now calling him names for exposing them.
Tax payer money to US media outlets generating content that is supportive to views democrats endorse and financing European media outlets to spread self destructive views on climate and immigration.
It does not only feel liberating now the fraud exploded in their faces, finally it explains why all the main stream media in Europe was singing the same tune for over a decade.
Observing how poorly European political elites deal with the interests of the citizens they are supposed to rule, it wouldn't be surprising if their efforts are rewarded by fat accounts on some offshore bank, filled by USAID. Maybe mr. Musk will be able to expose this as well.
These funding schemes are a direct attack on any functioning democracy, people should go to jail for this.
The more the left is screaming, the more they do to sabotage the good service mr. Musk is providing to the hard working US tax payer, the more they probably have to hide.
And in Europe we continue to dream about having something similar to DOGE, being liberated from a cancerous class of civil servants and politicians, taking 60%-80% of our salary using dozens of tax schemes, often worded in a manner only trained law professionals can understand.
It does not only feel liberating now the fraud exploded in their faces, finally it explains why all the main stream media in Europe was singing the same tune for over a decade.
Sadly, the song hasn't ended. So here's a pity-post from the far-left Bbc
Why more young men in Germany are turning to the far-right
Dr Rüdiger Maas, from the German think tank the Institute for Generational Research, says parties on the left often focus on themes such as feminism, equality and women's rights.
"Overall, men don't see themselves in these themes," he tells us. "That is why they have a tendency to vote further right."
Hard, populist right parties have also done well in countries such as France, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Italy.
Which.. kinda glosses over why these young men are going to vote for a woman when the Bbc tries to frame this as the tired old meme that men are anti-feminism, equality and women's rights. But then when you've slid further to the left, everything appears to be 'far-right'. Even though it's often really a conservative viewpoint. Then it scrabbles around for things to blame, like 'social media' when the far-left keeps being caught spaffing millions on their own fake 'grass roots' campaigns. Most amusingly in Romania where a 'Russian' TikTok campaign turned out to have been funded by their ruling party.
Germany's election will be interesting, but there's been a growing rejection of far-left, pseudo-liberal governments across Europe as more and more people realise just how they're being manipulated. This is, of course unthinkable to the manipulators that electorates might just want their governments to represent their people's interests.
Observing how poorly European political elites deal with the interests of the citizens they are supposed to rule, it wouldn't be surprising if their efforts are rewarded by fat accounts on some offshore bank, filled by USAID. Maybe mr. Musk will be able to expose this as well.
Or just turn off the cash spigot filling the coffers of all the NGOs. So USAID is being reigned in, next up might be looking at where the money comes from to feed inappropriately named entities like the 'National Endowment for Democratcy'. NED acts as a sister agency to USAID and has been very active in the regime change movement, plus serves as a handy parking place for slightly used politicians.
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"themes such as feminism, equality and women's rights"
This is a very poor interpretation of what is going on and is probably why the good Dr Maas has issues understanding what is going on. These three specific things have been ongoing for some 60+ years now. What has been missed off is things like intersectionality, the oppression hierarchy and equity coupled with forced acceptance and view that being proud of your local heritage makes you evil.
"Sadly, the song hasn't ended. So here's a pity-post from the far-left Bbc
Why more young men in Germany are turning to the far-right"
You don't seem to have a concept of left and right and most especially none at all of a centre. You constantly whinge on about far-left and far-right. They are a minority in most case,, albeit a noisy one. People like you are part of the echo chamber problem. Grow up!
You don't seem to have a concept of left and right and most especially none at all of a centre.
Well, they started it. I keep pointing out that the concept of left and right drifts over time. So as people move further to the left, even centrist views start appearing as 'far right'.
People like you are part of the echo chamber problem. Grow up!
You first? Perhaps people like you, or all the other useful idiots calling Trump or Musk a nazi are also part of the problem. Perhaps the media's incessant labelling anyone who disagrees with them is the problem. Most of the media's spent most of the last decade ranting about Trump and creating division. Biden promised to heal the divide, then promptly started ranting about 'extreme MAGA Republicans' being the greatest threat to Democratcy. But that backfired rather spectacularly, and the left lost biggly.. and the left still seems clueless how to respond.
"the team will run into certain powerful forces that presumably would rather keep millions of dollars in IT deals rolling in."
Such is the problem of fighting a bureaucracy. Careful weeding out of problems is not possible, only cutting their little fiefdoms and fixing the problem at the root. Every effort will be challenged and opposed by the greed and corrupt but to reign in the excesses it is necessary.
Breaking news is that king frumpy the 2nd has paused laws protecting against foreign bribery.
Let. That. Sink. In.
He has the entire treasury (stolen tax payer money), More than likely compromised any computer systems, a data base of all of America, including foreign operatives, and military secrets, and he just opened up the white house for bribery.
This also allows the geek squad to bribe other nations. No judge or legal system was involved here. This is simply a dictated EO. We are all going to burn in eternal hell fire people. Laws do not exist anymore.
It's just like poots said, "all will be russia, there will only be russia". This is full faced treason, in the open.
The BS DOGE is doing won't put a dent in spending. Congress is by law Required to pass one FY Budgett and 12 Seperate spending bills to fund the government every FY. They have not done that since Reagan. Talk about Lazy Federal employees elected or not. Instead they pass 4 to 5000 page omnibus spending bills no has time to read before passing. All that hidden pork until months later when it gets published. Then they add the continuing resolutions to keep it going. Both sides do it and untill term limits come into play or no rep get paid until they do there jobs with no back pay, it is not going to change.
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