DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

Post by Terr_ » Sun, Feb 23, 2025, 12:55 AM UTC

naasking wrote: post #430

sxyuan wrote: post #248

For those who want to have a substantive discussion on the federal budget and believe these cuts are justified, I have a few questions (putting aside questions of constitutionality for this thread): 1. There are claims that federal spending is out of control. How do you square that with the fact that spending as a percentage of GDP is only slightly elevated compared to the historical average going back to at least th…

> 4. Corporate tax receipts have been steadily falling as a percentage of GDP. [3] Why shouldn't corporations (that benefit from a healthy and educated workforce, a safe and secure environment, a working transportation system, etc.) be paying their fair share to keep the national debt in check? 1. Aren't shareholders already taxed? Maybe revise how they are directly taxed instead of indirectly taxing them again which…

Post by ty6853 » Sun, Feb 23, 2025, 12:59 AM UTC

jampekka wrote: post #481

ctrlp wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This framing is a bit far from the actual motivating issue underlying the federal "budget" itself. I think a better question is whether having a federal workforce of 4 million people managed by an unaccountable bureaucracy is in the best interests of any country. If you frame it as simply whether to spend money on this or that or if you're getting comparable value to other countries, then it is inevitable for the sid…

Social spending has overwhelming public support, with majority calling for more spending, and under 20% call for less spending. https://apnews.com/article/ap-poll-government-spending-socia...

Post by chgs » Sun, Feb 23, 2025, 1:00 AM UTC

School-Cotton wrote: post #219

cuuupid wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are good questions that are easy to answer once you’ve spent time in gov: - it is very hard to go thru every project and generally not worth it, it seems like they are sorting by contract vehicle size. there are 120k+ contracts spit out by the government every fiscal year alone so this is a monumental effort - the DEI programs are probably a PR thing, generally speaking though they accomplish essentially nothin…

It’s absurd to say anything is “what people voted for” in a system where only the votes of about 5 out of 50 states matter.

Post by crooked-v » Sun, Feb 23, 2025, 1:06 AM UTC

oezi wrote: post #424

sbochins wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a silly charade. To actually cut the debt, it requires congress. Not just saving a couple millions dollars and posting on twitter about it. We’ll need to cut Medicare, Medicaid, social security, the military, etc. All the popular stuff that was never easy and will never be easy to cut. We’re not spending 2 trillion per year on condoms.

What I don't understand is why they want to cut the debt or the budget. Previous terms have shown that increasing spending and racking up debts isn't leading to loss of polls. Why are Trump and Elon going on this cutting spree instead of doling out tax cuts and increasing pork to their constituents on borrowed money?

Post by jampekka » Sun, Feb 23, 2025, 1:07 AM UTC

ty6853 wrote: post #494

jampekka wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social spending has overwhelming public support, with majority calling for more spending, and under 20% call for less spending. https://apnews.com/article/ap-poll-government-spending-socia...

It depends how you word it. 'Would you rather put your money in stock indexes or pay out N shares of 1/N of your contribution to old people then hope and pray the same is done for you' ( which is more or less the realistic question for the middle class ) and I bet they'd say shitcan it.