Earlier quoted context omitted.
96 of 301 projects complete, 58 in progress • https://www.project2025.observer/
Whether you support it or not, for government, that's really some incredible efficiency. almost 1/3 complete in 100 days
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Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
301–310 of 684 posts
Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#302Kinda amusing that the general sentiment so far, in a forum filled with technology expertise, is that there is certainly waste in these budgets. But, when discussing the overall trend of cutting programs in other fields where the majority doesn't have that expertise, the conclusion is the opposite.
I don't think the majority view is so much there is no waste in the other areas. With most people I talk to, the objection is mostly with the methods employed and the lack of accountability. For me, I wouldn't have objected to Musk / DOGE going in and actually doing an audit of everything to look for waste, fraud and abuse. And if actual waste, fraud and abuse are found, where evidence and details are provided, I'd p…
Ditto. Without proof claiming that 50% of some department or other is waste, doesn't convince anyone
Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ONLY time this occurs in the private sector is when corporate raiders are trying to extract every last penny from a business they plan on killing. Unsurprisingly this follows directly with project 2025s goal of dismantling the federal government and privatizing what departments aren’t filled with party loyalists at the expense of the average US citizen.
Maybe the federal government needs a reset/dismantling/pruning/whatever you want to call it. With any "normal" president (including Kamala Harris), the federal government would likely be expanding spending and gov't programs right now even though the debt is so huge that interest payments on the debt now eclipse the defense budget, which itself exceeds the next 9 defense budgets in the world combined.
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Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#304Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of those subs linked are from direct negotations from the state, and they are in the form of tax incentives, not cash in account. How are you going to use that against a company that nevada agreed to give them X amount of tax incentives over a year if they build a giga factory there? Using that as a justification that "tesla only lives because of tax payer money" is ridiculous. Also, poking around the SpaceX dat…
I am not here to talk you out of your mental model around the cult of Elon. His companies have received almost $40B in various forms of government support, those are the facts. He is a skilled operator, able to whip teams of engineers to success and distort reality persuasively to customers and investors alike, but his ventures would not have survived without the government support he’s received.
Let's not forget he SUED to get SpaceX contracts from the big defense contractors. The GAO was the one who upheld the protest due to the vast price disperities.
"but his ventures would not have survived without the government support he’s received."
Including firm fixed price contracts the company has won from the government for providing essential services is not a good argument. SpaceX's main customer is governments... thats how rocket companies work.
Comparing Tesla’s support to other industries reveals a double standard. The fossil fuel industry has received trillions in subsidies globally over decades (e.g., IMF estimates $5.9T in 2020 alone for fossil fuel subsidies). General Motors and Chrysler received $80B in bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis.
consumer tax credits benefit buyers, not Tesla directly, though they boost demand. Subsidies for infrastructure like Gigafactories are standard for large-scale industrial projects and not unique to Tesla.
It seems i can't be the one to talk you out of your mental model of hating elon.
Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is called the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. Coined by author Michael Crichton: “Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents…
I read the news to judge what the propagandist want me to know, not to actually learn things. I find skimming NYT’s and FOX’s headlines are perfectly satisfactory. If anything peaks my interest I do independent analysis, putting weight on primary sources. I often try to listen in on experts discussing the matter among themselves.
When do you have time to work?
Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ONLY time this occurs in the private sector is when corporate raiders are trying to extract every last penny from a business they plan on killing. Unsurprisingly this follows directly with project 2025s goal of dismantling the federal government and privatizing what departments aren’t filled with party loyalists at the expense of the average US citizen.
The data on hostile takeovers by "corporate raiders" very much does not support the characterization here. The category of PE firms you're talking about buy companies that are deeply troubled. Generally due to the management's unwillingness to accept reality and make change, the company is heading towards oblivion one way or another. Perhaps surprisingly, the vast majority of takeover targets wind up as net job creat…
> One of my laments is that there is no automatic equivalent force in the government. Agencies grow and grow, projects grow and grow, all totally decoupled from whether they are achieving any progress whatsoever towards the agency's mission.
A good metaphor here is apoptosis / programmed cell death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoptosis)
Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
well we need to find a way to make these programs sustainable then. frankly, medicare is extremely friggin expensive because it encourages overutilization - which raises costs a ton for everyone. we simply cannot afford to be yeeting historically unheard of levels of money at the elderly without raising taxes significantly on the middle-class, that is the rub of our current fiscal situation.
You know nothing. Absolutely nothing. Medicare is EXTREMELY CHEAP compared to private insurance. You're comparing Medicare in a vaccuum when you should look at private insurance. > we simply cannot afford to be yeeting historically unheard of levels of money at the elderly without raising taxes significantly on the middle-class, that is the rub of our current fiscal situation Oh wow, we can't raise taxes on the rich?…
Medicare is extremely expensive from the perspective of the government/taxpayer. That it is extremely cheap and allows people to bid up the price of care on the consumer side is part of the problem, there is no triage or disincentive from overutilization because of how little cost share there is.
Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
> With any "normal" president (including Kamala Harris), the federal government would likely be expanding spending and gov't programs right now Perhaps, and in such a case, the american economy would not be cratering like it has been lately, and americans would be suffering less, and america would be stronger on the international stage. In fact, all things considered, more spending would have been better for america…
You can't just spend your troubles away forever. It might temporarily alleviate things, but long term it will collapse the entire system. At some point there need to be painful austerity measures - budget cuts, increased taxes, and the like. It's unpopular to do painful things, but it's necessary for survival.
But you also can't just cut taxes forever. The tax cuts being proposed by the current Republican budget are projected to add even more to the deficit.
Re: Pentagon to terminate $5.1B in IT contracts with Accenture, Deloitte
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the great things about arbitrarily breaking contracts is that you save money in the short term, and signal future contractors that they need to charge even more exorbitant rates in future government contracts because you can never be sure if/when you will get paid.
> arbitrarily breaking contract Arbitrarily breaking contracts usually trigger clauses where you have to pay damages/penalties for doing that, so Accenture most likely isn't loosing any money here. All government contracts tend to have clauses like these, at least where I'm form.
Yes, they do often have such clauses, which carry a lot of weight when they aren't ignored.