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The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

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Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#301

Post by zzzeek »

affinepplan wrote: post #249

“Keep calm, they said on television. Everything is under control. I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, just like that. How did they get in, how did it happen? That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There…

Fortunately we have an enemy this time, Elon Musk. He's it. He's also really bad at hiding what he's doing.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#302

Post by dragonwriter »

Dig1t wrote: post #209
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.

[flagged]

> Some of America's greatest leaders were younger than these guys.

All of them were at some point in their lives, but generally not when they were “America’s greatest leaders”.

(And none of the guys in your first linked X post were in charge of the revolution, even remotely, in 1776—Hamilton, for instance, was doing some of the heroics as a young captain that got him noticed and on the fast track that ended up in top leadership positions, but that's a far cry from being a top leader.)

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#303

Post by chasely »

adamredwoods wrote: post #240

I'm concerned about my US bonds, as the way to access them is through a government website. Are these people going to block my access and steal my money? >> “We really have very little eyes on what's going on. Congress has no ability to really intervene and monitor what's happening because these aren't really accountable public officials. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the ri…

I'm trying to download my 1099 forms from TreasuryDirect and it's coming back as unavailable. Probably unrelated to everything going on now, but the fact I thought that it could be related for a second is crazy.

>>> TreasuryDirect is unavailable. >>> We apologize for the inconvenience and ask that you try again later.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#304

Post by vkou »

starspangled wrote: post #270
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"?

Because it takes decades of investment and work to build up international trust and soft power, but as it turns out, it takes all of two weeks for a fool to destroy it.

Look at how that turned out for Bismark's Germany after he was gone. His successors were high on their own supply, and in pursuit of short-term wins, destroyed the careful network of relationships and alliances that he curated.

Beijing is, no doubt, finding this entire folly amusing.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#305

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

afavour wrote: post #95
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.

Never appropriate. The actions are entirely unconstitutional. If the US decided to disband USAID it would have to be an act of congress, unelected friends of the president don’t come close to being able to make that call.

Strict constitutionalists would call many of these programs unconstitutional.

This is a problem for the left and for neo-cons; they flouted the constitution for so long, that now that someone else (Trump) is doing it to them, the left/neocons don't really have a base that responds well to cries of "Unconstitutional!".

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#306

Post by vermilingua »

iamleppert wrote: post #274

The next four years are going to be a test of the US Constitution. But when they are up -- and they will be, and people are more angry at Trump than the last time around the pendulum swings wildly back again, as it always does, what is going to happen to Musk and the rest of them?

I expect we’ll see more Italian plumbers coming out of the woodwork before 4 years is up.

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#308

Post by cookszn »

affinepplan wrote: post #249

“Keep calm, they said on television. Everything is under control. I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, just like that. How did they get in, how did it happen? That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There…

[flagged]

Re: The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE

#310

Post by czzr »

PeterStuer wrote: post #243
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.

The US is tethering on the brink of hyperinflation due to not just the last 4 but the last 40 years. Interest on the debt is insurmountable. You can argue whether the chosen approach is right, but no matter what, a drastically different course is needed as 'business as usual' is a sure way to disaster. I for one hope the US get their act together at home rather than dragging the world into WWIII.

Your model for the economy is just utterly wrong. The US is in zero danger of hyperinflation, and probably has the smallest debt issues of any country (certainly of any major country).

Now, the problem is - what to do about how badly informed you and millions of Americans are. That you cheer for the destruction of valuable and painfully built state capacity for completely spurious reasons. It’s almost funny, except for all the innocent people who get hurt along the way.

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