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DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

nytimes.com

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Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#581

Post by [deleted] »

cryptoegorophy wrote: post #568
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US population is aging, which means that 36% slice is going to naturally grow. What do you think should be cut, and how? Old people [1], veterans [2], high earners and homeowners [3] turn out to vote. The only demographic we can cut benefits to are the poor. That's what's happening. (Given partisan polarisation, my guess is Democrats will take an axe to veteran benefits next cycle.) > Why shouldn't the health i…

Googles net income in 2024 was 100 billion. How much did they pay in taxes? And why %wise my company pays more. This should be DOGEd on top of what is being doged now.

[deleted]

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#582

Post by archon810 »

Neywiny wrote: post #216
christophilus wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a few weeks working at a contractor who specialized in VA contracts. I put my two week notice in after the first few weeks. There’s no way I could “work” like that. They had teams and teams of people doing the job of a single person at a normal startup. I’ve never seen such bureaucratic waste anywhere in the private sector. It made my stint at Microsoft look like a lean startup by comparison. I talked to them…

That's why I like where I am. We usually work in really lean teams. One person in each role. And usually we're making a physical product so that's one mechanical, one electrical, one sideways, etc. Has its downsides but I don't feel like we're wasteful.

Are you in the private sector or government?

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#583

Post by derangedHorse »

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…

GDP does not equate to government revenue. The expenditure to GDP is irrelevant. GDP also considers government spending and it’s easy to inflate the number when a good chunk of it is borrowed money [1].

I agree with (3) but don’t think (4) has substance. “Fair share” is subjective never used in good faith.

[1] https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/exp@FPP/USA/FRA/JPN/...

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#584

Post by cuuupid »

hnthrow90348765 wrote: post #529
leandrod wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So who and which would be? Given SpaceX, Trump could have chosen worse.

Almost all of it would be related to military contracts and spending As large as social security is, I'm sure there's some efficiencies to be gained too, but the military industrial complex is THE defacto leader in greed and wastefulness But these idiots tried to fire people related to the nuclear arsenal and had to go rehire them. You can't tell me they're competent after that big of a screw up.

If you look seriously you will find military contracts and spending usually achieves something and is in many cases very difficult to decrease.

It has become somewhat of a pattern for politicians to yell about defense spending, get elected, look under the covers and do an immediate 180 in favor of defense spending.

On the other hand you can cut around 70% of the civil government immediately with no impact on our country. Social Security would not be my first choice though!

> But these idiots tried to fire people related to the nuclear arsenal and had to go rehire them

They did not -- this is simple malicious compliance. This is a really well documented phenomenon and I am hoping this situation draws more public attention to it! Whenever faced with cuts, our govt bureaucracy reacts by cutting something visible to create a PR disaster and force back cuts -- the common saying is "firemen and teachers first" and this is often referred to as "Washington Monument Syndrome."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_syndrome

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#585

Post by pclmulqdq »

edmundsauto wrote: post #519
pclmulqdq wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The United States in an extreme outlier in terms of cost. This is separate from rationing care. This is separate from even population health (ex. higher obesity rates) Are you sure? People comparing US healthcare costs to European costs don't realize that these are two very different products. The US population is much more unhealthy, yet it has about the same life expectancy as an average European country. This wo…

If US healthcare is optimizing for outcomes, it’s doing a poor job and maybe we should optimize for something else. Our outcomes based on relative rating does not justify the additional cost.

What do you mean by that? The population of the US is incredibly unhealthy, but that has little to do with the healthcare system and a lot more to do with consumption habits.

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#586

Post by otterley »

brightball wrote: post #536
qgin wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Number 3 can’t be overstated. Healthcare costs for the exact same care are 2x-3x what they are in Europe. Global health insurance plans usually come in two flavors: 1. Global coverage 2. Global coverage excluding United States (for half the monthly premium of the first plan) The United States in an extreme outlier in terms of cost. This is separate from rationing care. This is separate from even population health (ex…

The way to attack the problem economically would have involved giving everyone in the USA an HSA that was funded to allow them to directly consume healthcare services with price exposure. It would naturally force competition on price. The ACA that we got instead cemented the separation of people from the price of their service and costs have ballooned even more than that were previously. The economic approach is the…

I think you’d be surprised how little price competition there would be if everyone paid out of pocket. It won’t change insurance premiums; it won’t change the amount of investment (training and certification) needed to become a health care provider; it won’t change the price of advanced medical equipment; and it won’t change the price of patented drugs.

Before you conclude that the free market can solve everything, consider too that health care isn’t a typical service that follows ia supply/demand curve. The demand curve is practically vertical, especially when your life is on the line. You’re not going to shop around when your appendix is about to burst. Plus there are still high base costs, and scarcity (artificial or otherwise) of healthcare resources. And the monopolies granted to medical device and drug makers through the patent system keep prices high so the patentees can recoup their investments.

There is no easy way to solve this problem, despite breathless claims to the contrary that have been plaguing our airwaves since the 1980s.

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#587

Post by lotsoweiners »

cryptoegorophy wrote: post #535
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…

Not from USA but please explain 28% healthcare? I thought health care is not free and people pay ton of money from their pocket?

Medicare and Medicaid are mostly paid for by taxes. They are massive programs.

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#588

Post by IAmGraydon »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #521

Right in line with Umberto Eco's item 3 in his list of common features of fascism: "3. The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.” https://www.openculture.com/2024/11/umberto-ecos-list-of-the...

Ok, but while I disagree with Musks actions, more than half of the 14 items don’t fit what’s currently happening.

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#589

Post by acomjean »

cuuupid wrote: post #533
uses wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you’re 100% correct, these aren’t the right people and these aren’t the right methods. Completely the opposite actually.

There are 5 different existing agencies within the government that all exist for essentially the same purpose -- to track and audit government spending. None of them have been successful in any capacity over the last 20 years. It's easy to just go online and say "this is wrong these people are idiots" but what is your alternative solution? We have exhausted pretty much every other method at this point, all the big co…

Bill Clinton had the "line item veto" which allowed presidents to get rid of things in bills (spending) they didn't like. Ultimately this power was rejected by the courts as unconstitutional. Congress is supposed to allocate and deal with spending.

This line item veto was supposed to stop congress people from attaching things into bills that just benefited their constituents (to get their vote).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-item_veto_in_the_United_S...

"Congress granted this power to the president by the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 to control "pork barrel spending", but in 1998 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the act to be unconstitutional in 6–3 decision in Clinton v. City of New York.

The court found that exercise of the line-item veto is tantamount to a unilateral amendment or repeal by the executive of only parts of statutes authorizing federal spending, and therefore violated the Presentment Clause of the United States Constitution. Thus a federal line-item veto, at least in this particular formulation, would only be possible through a constitutional amendment. Prior to that ruling, President Clinton applied the line-item veto to the federal budget 82 times."

Re: DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

#590

Post by jquery »

briantakita wrote: post #565
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…

The Constitution doesn't protect the many bureaucratic organizations that have sprung up since it's inception. I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any amendments that protect the agencies either. For example, the CIA has been controversial. There's nothing protecting it in the founding documents. 1. The GDP is largely raised due to costs of services, tech innovation, & inflation. Note that the measurement of…

Knocking out USAID, Health Care programs, or the IRS by executive order isn’t how our system works. The Constitution places agency creation and dissolution squarely in Congress’s hands under Article I, not the President’s. Even under a strong unitary executive theory, the President can’t just repeal statutes establishing these agencies; that power belongs to the legislature [1]. Congress also controls the purse (Appropriations Clause), so the White House can’t simply “defund” an agency on its own [2]. Furthermore, the Administrative Procedure Act demands reasoned legal processes; you can’t arbitrarily shut an agency that Congress told you to run [3]. If the President could unilaterally dissolve such agencies, he’d effectively be acting as a dictator, collapsing the separation of powers Madison emphasized in Federalist No. 47 [4].

[1] https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S8-C18-1... [2] https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-a... [3] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/706 [4] https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed47.asp

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