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White House rescinds federal aid freeze

cnn.com

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Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#21

Post by legitster »

I'm not against the idea of cutting the government's budget, but this administration is trying to perform surgery with a sledgehammer.

Besides, solving the real high level problems are going to be a disaster.

There are two ways for them to cut the budget. 1: Cut programs - 2: Increase efficiency

1. Reduce programs. The problem for them is that Red states are overwhelming subsidized by Blue states. Just cutting programs across the board is going to hurt their constituents the most. https://apnews.com/article/north-america-business-local-taxe...

2. Reduce costs. The reason government projects are so expensive is because of their insane review and oversight requirements. And the reason they have these is because of their constant exposure to lawsuits from citizens and NGOs. Cutting costs would involve eliminating review processes and recusing planners - you would effectively need to increase the power of the federal government to make it more efficient.

I expect the administration to come back with a smarter list and a more targeted set of grants to cancel. But this whole endeavor is going to be a massive lark for them.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#22

Post by johnnyanmac »

lokar wrote: post #17
lenerdenator wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's bound to be some . Is it as much as the right pretends it is? Is it the cause of the ballooning federal debt? No on both. But it does exist. And honestly, the worst thing you can do is have someone try to run the organization allocating those funds as if he's the CEO of his own personal organization.

Is it much more proportionate to over all budget then Google, Microsoft, Walmart, UPS, bank of America, etc?

Those companies can't produce money to "pay off debts", increasing the defecit. So I'd say there's a fighting chance there.

I'm no economist nor businessman though, so I won't pretend I can answer that with confidence.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#23

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

Molitor5901 wrote: post #9
imoverclocked wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hindsight is 20/20 ... foresight, not so much. The president did try to go against the constitution ... again.

Actually, I think it was Musk. If you consider the Issacson biography in which Musk (basically) said to remove enough of something until it breaks, and you have to add something back. What I call the move fast and break things mentality is a very, very bad idea for government, but it seems to be what they are doing. Pause everything, and see what is really needed; Get rid of as many employees as possible, see what st…

That plan works just as well as the equivalent "tighten the bolt until you hear the crack, then back off a quarter turn" does with fasteners. The thing tends to stay broken!

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#24

Post by init2null »

lenerdenator wrote: post #12
lokar wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How sure are you that there is in fact a ton of waste? All the sources for that position have a clear bias, and offer essentially no real evidence (at best a few anecdotes).

There's bound to be some . Is it as much as the right pretends it is? Is it the cause of the ballooning federal debt? No on both. But it does exist. And honestly, the worst thing you can do is have someone try to run the organization allocating those funds as if he's the CEO of his own personal organization.

There's inefficiency in any system. Engines, motors, fusion power, and transistors. We can calculate their efficiency, and the numbers aren't impressive if that's all you care about. Maybe it's better to ask how they compare to other methods of doing work. This is the cost of the system, and it's either worth it or it isn't.

The US medical system is a public-private partnership, and it's likely the most expensive system in the world for what the benefits it provides (see "List of countries by total health expenditure per capita" on Wikipedia). The government can only optimize here if it's willing to rein in the for-profit middlemen.

To paraphrase a quote, I'd be tempted to call an obsession with efficiency a hobgoblin of little minds. Or maybe it's just an excuse to cut programs.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#25

Post by basementcat »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #18

>Though White House aides publicly blamed the media for causing the confusion, arguing that none existed within the building, the administration had received a flood of calls from lawmakers and state officials with questions about its impact on their home states. So trump blames the media, gets a bunch of blow back from officials, a Judge comes in to block part of it... And they choose to blame the media to upkeep th…

We’re not getting this for free. PEPFAR data systems are still down and 20 million people are not getting access to life saving medication.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#26

Post by dole »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #18

>Though White House aides publicly blamed the media for causing the confusion, arguing that none existed within the building, the administration had received a flood of calls from lawmakers and state officials with questions about its impact on their home states. So trump blames the media, gets a bunch of blow back from officials, a Judge comes in to block part of it... And they choose to blame the media to upkeep th…

This was the MO the first time around; take a crap in public for the news cycle, walk it back two weeks later when it’s impossible to accomplish and everyone else has moved on.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#27

Post by lokar »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #22
lokar wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it much more proportionate to over all budget then Google, Microsoft, Walmart, UPS, bank of America, etc?

Those companies can't produce money to "pay off debts", increasing the defecit. So I'd say there's a fighting chance there. I'm no economist nor businessman though, so I won't pretend I can answer that with confidence.

Just don’t see why I should take it on faith that the US department whatever has 10X the “waste” of a big multi-national bank. Or that DOGE can improve anything.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#28

Post by drivingmenuts »

legitster wrote: post #21

I'm not against the idea of cutting the government's budget, but this administration is trying to perform surgery with a sledgehammer. Besides, solving the real high level problems are going to be a disaster. There are two ways for them to cut the budget. 1: Cut programs - 2: Increase efficiency 1. Reduce programs. The problem for them is that Red states are overwhelming subsidized by Blue states. Just cutting progra…

Instead of taking money out of the defense budget, Delta shut down everything else. Trump’s going to need the military to maintain as authoritarian presidency.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#29

Post by orwin »

legitster wrote: post #21

I'm not against the idea of cutting the government's budget, but this administration is trying to perform surgery with a sledgehammer. Besides, solving the real high level problems are going to be a disaster. There are two ways for them to cut the budget. 1: Cut programs - 2: Increase efficiency 1. Reduce programs. The problem for them is that Red states are overwhelming subsidized by Blue states. Just cutting progra…

> the reason they have these is because of their constant exposure to lawsuits from citizens and NGOs

Maybe, but in my experience, most of the overhead was there to avoid any kind of passive corruption for low-level employees. Also help avoid pressure, because high-level employees have no reasons to pressure temp worker/low-level employees (if they want to use their access to do a qui pro quo, they can, but they couldn't use a temp like me to do their bidding).

I was a temp in a bureaucracy highly susceptible to corruption though (IRS equivalent), maybe this kind of overhead can be found in bureaucracies without as easy access to money/power as mine had, but in that case, i would argue that it is more habit than external pressure.

Re: White House rescinds federal aid freeze

#30

Post by lenerdenator »

janice1999 wrote: post #15
lenerdenator wrote: post #8

There are ways to cut wasteful spending without, y'know, creating a panic.

Fear and stress is actually the desired outcome. > "When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains" Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought https://www.axios.com/2025/01/27/trump-federal-eorkers-inspe...

Treat people like villains, and they'll start to act like it.
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