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Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

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Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#121

Post by rdtsc »

ctrlp wrote: post #38
monero-xmr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Pretty much. Person asks "how did Americans allow this?". Someone responds and get downvoted and flagged to hell.

Funny enough, that also models the reason why people are in shock? "How could this happen, all the posts, media, and polls I saw were predicting a Harris win? Was it the Russians? The aliens?". Yet here someone responding honestly, and they get downvoted to hell and disappear. Next cycle it will be the same, "how could this happen, everything I read and everyone I asked all agreed with ... and then ..."

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#122

Post by GiorgioG »

Trasmatta wrote: post #9

> On his personal Substack, he wrote an essay titled “Why I gave up a seven-figure salary to save America,” according to press reports, and described failed U.S. attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from Congress amid allegations of sexual misconduct, as a “victim” of the deep state. The fact that nobody is stopping these people is the clearest evidence anyone needs that there's no such thing as "the dee…

> I've learned the hard way that many people in this country do NOT actually care about democracy.

Our democracy has been eroding for decades. Congress collects paychecks while gridlocking progress, even on bipartisan issues that could help ordinary citizens. Super PACs and "campaign contributions" (aka bribes) ensure the wealthy control both parties. Democrats and Republicans both spend recklessly and divide the nation. Democrats won't admit it, but their approach has driven half the country to prefer what the Republicans have become: essentially a cult.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#123

Post by haberman »

lysp wrote: post #53
monero-xmr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

All the cuts are funds already legally allocated by congress. EM or DT do not have the authority to reverse that funding decision outside the democratic / congressional process.

With DACA, Obama unilaterally decided not to enforce laws duly enacted by congress.

So what keeps Trump from unilaterally deciding not to spend money duly appropriated by congress?

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#124

Post by trescenzi »

monero-xmr wrote: post #62
throwworhtthrow wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump disavowed Project 2025 during the campaign and his voters believed him. If democracy worked, he would be held accountable for this enormous bait-and-switch. > root out corruption and waste, fraud, and abuse That is not what they are doing by most accounts.

[flagged]

Part of the difficulty of arguing about this is that the effectiveness is very clearly not there. The following is from treasury.gov[1]:

21 % Social Security 15 % National Defense 14 % Health 13 % Net Interest 13 % Medicare 9 % Income Security 6 % Veterans Benefits and Services 3 % Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services 2 % Natural Resources and Environment 2 % Transportation 2 % Other

To get the level of cuts they want they cannot legally do it without Congress.

[1]: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder...

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#125

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Trasmatta wrote: post #9

> On his personal Substack, he wrote an essay titled “Why I gave up a seven-figure salary to save America,” according to press reports, and described failed U.S. attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from Congress amid allegations of sexual misconduct, as a “victim” of the deep state. The fact that nobody is stopping these people is the clearest evidence anyone needs that there's no such thing as "the dee…

I speak from personal history, but it's really easy to take a bunch of theoretically smart, high-achieving young people, give them a singular purpose, and have them work in overdrive with a level of arrogance that fits their lack of wisdom. It's essentially exactly how Mao was able to create the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#126

Post by Jtsummers »

adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #98
kevingadd wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I've been paying for social security my whole life and you think it's a waste and you have the right to take the program away from me? Will I be getting a refund?

I doubt it, but hey welcome to the club. Like 1/4 of everything I make goes to social security. But just because I’ve been contributing my whole life doesn’t mean we should double down of a failing program.

> Like 1/4 of everything I make goes to social security.

If you want to be taken seriously, don't make false claims. It weakens your other arguments. Social Security is 6.2% (12.4% if self-employed since the employer takes care of half) on the first $176,100 of your net income (which for the median US taxpayer is on all their income). Medicare is 1.45% (2.9% if self-employed, same as Social Security).

So if you are self-employed, you pay at most 15.3% of your income below $176,100 in combined Social Security and Medicare. That's a lot, but it's not 25%. If you are not self-employed, you're paying 7.65% on income below $176,100 to both Social Security and Medicare which is very far from 25%.

If you're earning over $176,100 your effective Social Security tax rate will drop.

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#127

Post by XorNot »

avalys wrote: post #51
Trasmatta wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think this is actually about "rampant waste in our government" then you are incredibly naive.

What do you think it is? What do you think is motivating Musk?

I don't know but it sure is interesting that White House is saying Elon Musk will now be reviewing his own conflicts of interest [1] as a man heavily invested in companies with large government contracts or beneficiaries of government incentive schemes.

Or maybe it's just too avoid having to worry about sexually harassing his employees[2].

[1] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-mus...

[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-paid-250000-to-a-flig...

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#128

Post by lapcat »

wallawe wrote: post #86
chris_wot wrote: post #5

How did you Americans allow any of this?

More than half of us voted for this. And we love what is going on; that action is being taken. Don't presume everyone thinks the same way you do.

Trump got 49.8% of the vote with 63.9% turnout, which would be 31.8% of eligible voters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidentia...

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#129

Post by thrance »

That some here are still blinded to the disastrous effects this will have on their country is baffling. How could you ever believe that giving all powers to egomaniacal billionaires would benefit you or anyone you know? Can't you see their best interests are 100% antagonistic to yours? What would it take for you to admit "ok that's too far"?

Re: Elon Musk's Demolition Crew

#130

Post by Quarrelsome »

Elez, the guy who pushed the changes the devs were not allowed to review to the production payment system, is the guy that has just resigned because of hyper racist comments he made in the past that have come to light.

If in doubt, I recommend checking them out because they're incredibly awful, to the extent that it makes you wonder if the payment system he pushed to had ethnic information attached to it.

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