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The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

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Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#261

Post by ikiris »

tehjoker wrote: post #230
xnx wrote: post #73

Are such drastic action appropriate given the current state of the US? The US probably hasn't been this economically dominant since after WWII. Feels like Chesterton fences are getting torn up left and right by people too young and incurious to possibly understand why those fences might be there.

What are you talking about? The whole reason this is happening is because US economic dominance is being eclipsed and dedollarization is occurring at a rapid pace. This is a freak out and reorganization of foreign policy and the economy to cope with that situation.

If by cope you mean ensure it happens by running our economic power into a trade war iceberg.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#262

Post by justin66 »

paulgb wrote: post #128
ian_d wrote: post #108

Elon is also now claiming to have "deleted" 18F ( https://18f.gsa.gov/ ): https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886498750052327520

This is nuts, 18F was one of the few groups in the federal government that is/was good at making software! (login.gov is a good example of craft you don't generally see in commercial enterprise software, let alone government software) According to that tweet they were apparently “far left” because they also worked on Direct File, which sought to cut out the middleman (TurboTax et al.) and let Americans file taxes dir…

> This is nuts, 18F was one of the few groups in the federal government that is/was good at making software!

Hopefully it's obvious at this point: Musk and friends not there to do anything but enrich themselves, and destroy.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#263

Post by jjallen »

xnx wrote: post #73

Are such drastic action appropriate given the current state of the US? The US probably hasn't been this economically dominant since after WWII. Feels like Chesterton fences are getting torn up left and right by people too young and incurious to possibly understand why those fences might be there.

Is economic dominance the right metric to be looking at?

Yes, the US is the biggest economy. This doesn’t mean its ability to pay liabilities is infinite. Every amount of income has a particular amount of debt and interest that it is able to pay.

Take the largest company. It would not be able to service infinite debt. Apple could not service $5 trillion in debt, just like the US could not service 300 trillion.

I get why some people are concerned about the US’s liabilities and its global police status.

Also stopping giving many other countries billions of dollars a year after might be drastic. But I see why some people may not like this. Individuals can give to charities instead if this is really such a problem for them.

Now cutting research and other things is really dumb. Glad they reversed that quickly. Also needlessly licking fights with our neighbors is also really dumb.

Now only if we can reduce our military spending as well.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#264

Post by chinathrow »

paulgb wrote: post #128
ian_d wrote: post #108

Elon is also now claiming to have "deleted" 18F ( https://18f.gsa.gov/ ): https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886498750052327520

This is nuts, 18F was one of the few groups in the federal government that is/was good at making software! (login.gov is a good example of craft you don't generally see in commercial enterprise software, let alone government software) According to that tweet they were apparently “far left” because they also worked on Direct File, which sought to cut out the middleman (TurboTax et al.) and let Americans file taxes dir…

At this point, Elon is doing only damage while he thinks he cleans up. Someone will have to cleanup after the cleanup aka damage doen though, and it won't be pretty.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#265

Post by karmakurtisaani »

littlestymaar wrote: post #118

Given how useful USAID has been for the CIA, if the “deep state” was a real thing, Elon would have at best a few more days to live.

The recent events should finally put to rest all the JFK conspiracies. Messing up with the government at this scale should indeed put you into some 3-letter agency hitlist.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#266

Post by bende511 »

tehjoker wrote: post #230
xnx wrote: post #73

Are such drastic action appropriate given the current state of the US? The US probably hasn't been this economically dominant since after WWII. Feels like Chesterton fences are getting torn up left and right by people too young and incurious to possibly understand why those fences might be there.

What are you talking about? The whole reason this is happening is because US economic dominance is being eclipsed and dedollarization is occurring at a rapid pace. This is a freak out and reorganization of foreign policy and the economy to cope with that situation.

what are you talking about? this statement of yours does not match reality in any way

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#267

Post by vkou »

fifilura wrote: post #231

Most Scandinavian countries are required to make any communication in public departments (including all coworkers emails) public on request by journalists or anyone interested. This is to make any doubts regarding e.g USAID public instead of making such drastic measures necessary. But also make work of an entity such as Doge transparent. They are after all funded by my money (as a taxpayer). https://en.wikipedia.org/…

> instead of making such drastic measures necessary.

These drastic measures are neither necessary[1] nor legal (Well, they are a necessary step in carrying out a self-coup...) But there's nobody left to prosecute or enforce the law.

First they came for the judges and made sure that the courts were stacked... And then they could do what they want, because they have the police, the army, and the courts.

[1] It's actually wild how people here are actively arguing for shredding the constitution because the country is carrying a debt. America truly is done.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#269

Post by tenpies »

billiam wrote: post #183

[flagged]

The Founding Fathers had 18, 20, 21 and 25 year olds in much more important positions.

And just like DOGE, they were working in a team with older people too, but that sort of rational framing just doesn't get clicks.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United...

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#270

Post by starspangled »

xnx wrote: post #73

Are such drastic action appropriate given the current state of the US? The US probably hasn't been this economically dominant since after WWII. Feels like Chesterton fences are getting torn up left and right by people too young and incurious to possibly understand why those fences might be there.

> Are such drastic action appropriate given the current state of the US? The US probably hasn't been this economically dominant since after WWII.

Why is USAID needed most in times when the US is very "economically dominant"?

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