Department of Government Efficiency DOGE

[joshuabgood]

Government interference, control and money waste has been resented for many years and now enough people who hated it got together and voted for someone to do something about it. That man was Trump. I don't remember seeing anything like the DOGE being tried before as a formal effort. There's been a lot of promises made by politicians over the years but the so-called reformers would sit on study committees and eventually become sucked into the machine of governmental favors being traded.

The same thing happens every few years or so. Back in the 1990s it was Al Gore's "Reinventing Government" and they did public dog and pony shows about how how many regulations, red tape, and waste they were eliminating. I remember one when they used fork lifts and pallets to show how much red tape, regulations, and government waste they were eliminating.



In any event, if you look at exit polls, you will find that very few Trump voters voted for Trump because they wanted to cut government programs that they rely on. Certainly nothing like a majority of Trump voters. The biggest single source of government waste in the entire federal government is the Medicare Advantage program. I haven't seen Trump or a single Republican advocate for eliminating that.

THough to be fair, they did, along with Newt and the House Republicans, create a balanced budget as I recall.

[Ken]

Al Gore was an insider and he spewed that as a campaign speech. Insiders have a miserable rate of failure too. BTW Gore and Lieberman lost their presidential election bid and did a lot of whining about how the election was unfairly stolen.

Exit polls? Really? I'm amazed at people who still cite exit polls when they've been shown to only reflect the bias of the poll-taker. It's not exactly a good quality measure of public opinion.

You are the one who is asserting, without any evidence, that DOGE is the reason why a majority of people voted for Trump. People voted for Trump for a whole lot of reasons. The biggest one was inflation and general dissatisfaction with the economy. Not concerns about "government interference and money waste" No one actually WANTS to see the government waste money. Not Democrats or Republicans.

Wrong Ken. Read my post again. BTW sincere question: when do you ever find the time to teach if you're posting on MN?

I quit full time teaching during the pandemic when schools went remote in order to homeschool my kids and run a learning pod at our house with a few of their friends. Since then I have been mostly doing long-term subbing for science teachers who are on long-term leave in two different districts (10 high schools in total). Most of the past 2 years I was on a very extended assignment for a teacher out on very extended cancer leave doing biology and AP biology. Right now I'm between long-term assignments and so doing short-term subbing which is mostly just babysitting classes while students do the online work that their teacher left them. Next semester I'm scheduled to take over chemistry and AP chemistry classes for a teacher who is taking a semester of maternity leave. The union contracts specify that long-term subs get the same pay and benefits as if they were regular teachers under contract. Actually more money because I don't pay union fees or get retirement pension payments deducted. I get the cash instead. So it is a pretty good gig and gives me more flexibility and variety than I had as a regular classroom teacher and the opportunity to work in a lot of different schools. And also more down time like right now when I'm between assignments.

[Robert]

Soon AI and Tesla robots will take over teaching.

Let's get back to DOGE.

[Ken]

In my local paper today: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/tr ... -of-touch/

Trump’s billionaire budget-cutters are dangerously out of touch

By LZ Granderson
Syndicated columnist

A week before Halloween, during a virtual town hall event, Elon Musk told the audience “we have to reduce spending to live within our means.” He said this would involve “some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.” Less than two weeks later, the world’s 10 richest people got $64 billion richer, with Musk collecting more than 40% of that.

I’m not hating on the player, just pointing out the game.

Both he and Vivek Ramaswamy, whose net worth is estimated to be near $1 billion, will lead Donald Trump’s efforts to cut trillions from federal spending. I’m all for getting our spending under control, and I’m also for tax cuts. I just wonder if the top 0.01% have any idea what “temporary hardship” translates to for the 78% of Americans already living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Take, for instance, the picture of Musk joining members of Trump’s inner circle for some McDonald’s. For most of them, fast food is a change of pace. But for a lot of poor people, it’s what they can afford.

From the perspective of a business owner, if many Americans can’t afford a healthy meal, that’s a “you problem.” However, in government, there are no “you problems” — only “our.” And we’ve got a lot of them.

There are an estimated 82 million Americans with preexisting conditions who have employer-based health insurance. You might think of cancer survivors or people living with a chronic disease such as diabetes or HIV. What if I told you obesity is a protected preexisting condition under the Affordable Care Act? What if I told you that by 2050 as many as 260 million Americans are projected to be overweight or obese? What if I told you that before that 2010 healthcare law, insurance companies could charge more to obese or overweight people? Or deny coverage altogether?

It was a real problem. And it would be again, immediately, if the Affordable Care Act were dismantled as Republicans hope. As of 2021, the U.S. already had 172 million adults who are obese or overweight.

The phrase “temporary hardships” hits different when that may include losing protections for preexisting conditions, doesn’t it? And remember: The people making the cuts aren’t living paycheck to paycheck or worried about losing their health insurance.

So yeah, it’s cool that Trump and Musk eat McDonald’s like regular Americans. However, they are far from being regular Americans.

It’s no coincidence that many of the 10 fattest states in the country are also among the poorest. Six states — West Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee — currently have around a 40% obesity rate and high childhood poverty rates. When those trillions in cuts come, will Trump remember that many of his voters need the federal government to help with healthcare because their states are too poor to do it on their own?

What will “temporary hardship” look like then?

One of the ways the country clawed out of the Great Depression was through the introduction of the U.S. Savings Bond program. By encouraging investing in America, the programs stemming from the New Deal not only had a source of revenue, but also stakeholders.

That was 1935.

Fast-forward 90 years, and we have the incoming Trump administration’s “Project 2025,” which promises a different relationship between the federal government and hurting Americans.

Musk and Ramaswamy are right that cuts are needed. They should be found by closing up tax loopholes and ending other corporate welfare, not by cutting the help given to the poor and the middle class.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt understood this, which is why he encouraged Americans to invest in each other — and those safety nets have kept us whole for nearly a century. We don’t look so whole anymore: Today the poorest and unhealthiest states all voted for Trump. The richest and healthiest states did not.

Guess which group will suffer most when safety nets are slashed.

Sure, Musk knows how to make himself rich. But does he know what “temporary hardship” would mean for most Americans? To the ones who eat fast food not for a photo op, but because that’s all they can afford?

[JohnH]

"What if I told you that by 2050 as many as 260 million Americans are projected to be overweight or obese?"

Maybe we should try to work on that problem... figure out WHY so many are becoming obese...

[Ken]

"What if I told you that by 2050 as many as 260 million Americans are projected to be overweight or obese?"

Maybe we should try to work on that problem... figure out WHY so many are becoming obese...

We know why.

Sedentary car-centric lifestyle combined with poor diet.

[JohnH]

"What if I told you that by 2050 as many as 260 million Americans are projected to be overweight or obese?"

Maybe we should try to work on that problem... figure out WHY so many are becoming obese...

We know why.

Sedentary car-centric lifestyle combined with poor diet.

No we don't. That is just your opinion

[Ken]

"What if I told you that by 2050 as many as 260 million Americans are projected to be overweight or obese?"

Maybe we should try to work on that problem... figure out WHY so many are becoming obese...

We know why.

Sedentary car-centric lifestyle combined with poor diet.

No we don't. That is just your opinion

No?

Find me a reliable source which claims or demonstrates that the obesity epidemic is NOT related to poor diet and and lack of exercise. Or conversely, that weight loss is not related to diet and exercise.

[JohnH]

Define "poor diet"... many Americans live in cities where you don't really drive a car... obesity still reigns rampant there...

[JohnL]

Define "poor diet"... many Americans live in cities where you don't really drive a car... obesity still reigns rampant there...

Then there are the genetic factors. Some genetics predispose people to being larger even though their diet and activity is considered good.

One thing I’ve noticed is that since the late 1880s there’s ads for weight loss drugs and miracle cures for obesity. It’s psychological pressure for profit. The companies will tell you you’re never skinny enough. One fad was to swallow tapeworms.

I think it’s horrific that big pharma wants to sell another miracle med for big profit when there are reports of stomach paralysis cases and hospitalizations caused by this miracle drug.