Discussion on Musk's DoGE ideas, the federal deficit, and GDP

52,322 Views | 977 Replies | Last: 47 min ago by chazzed
bearister
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"There is a new staffer from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency seeking access to sensitive data at the IRS and his family has ties to a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

The Washington Post recently reported that two DOGE representatives, Gavin Kliger and Sam Corcos, have been at the IRS seeking private taxpayer information in unprecedented ways that would violate current IRS privacy law.

Corcos demanded "detailed taxpayer and vendor information" when he arrived at IRS headquarters late last week, according to the Post. IT workers at the agency initially refused, based on Corcos' lack of background and tax checks. By the end of the day, Kliger and Corcos were discussing the idea of an "omnibus" agreement that would allow agencies across the government to access taxpayer data and use it to hunt for instances of fraud.

Acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause has signaled openness to DOGE's demands, according to reports."

New DOGE Staffer Sam Corcos Has Ties to Sanctioned Russian Oligarch


https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/doge-staffer-corcos-wife-ties-russian-oligarch-1235291673/

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Haloski
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Musk really should follow through here. So much bluster.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jon-stewart-elon-musk-interview-1236154439/?ICID=ref_fark
sycasey
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Haloski said:

Musk really should follow through here. So much bluster.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jon-stewart-elon-musk-interview-1236154439/?ICID=ref_fark

Just like he chickened out of doing an MMA fight with Zuckerberg. All talk.
bear2034
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DiabloWags said:

Zippergate said:

As if your side has a plan for the reigning in entitlement spending. As if your side did anything to stop the rampant waste and fraud in the federal government that has put this country on the precipice of economic disaster. The denouement will probably not happen on your party's watch. Congrats, I'm sure that will be great consolation to you.

Not sure you're able to comprehend this or not, but when I was an undergrad at CAL in 1980 and voted for my very first U.S. President, I voted for Ronald Reagan. He promoted a concept called American exceptionalism, which seems to be a terribly foreign idea to Trump and his supporters.

I'm not sure which "side" you think that I'm on.

Donald Trump is not a Republican.
Not even close.

Ronald Reagan would have remained a Democrat too if it weren't for the Democratic Party leaving him as he put it.
bear2034
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Democratic Party political action committee, ActBlue, getting in on some Elon/Tesla protesting.
bear2034
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Haloski said:

Musk really should follow through here. So much bluster.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jon-stewart-elon-musk-interview-1236154439/?ICID=ref_fark

Do kids these days even know who John Stewart is? He stirred the pot a little on Colbert's show during the pandemic but for the most part, he's aligned with left wing propagandists.
movielover
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movielover
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bearister
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The claims of DOGE savings are as shakey as Trump's character.

DOGE's savings page fixed old mistakes and added new ones : NPR


https://www.npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-s1-5313853/doge-savings-receipts-musk-trump

"DOGE's savings page launched with a topline claim of $55 billion saved, with "receipts" that accounted for about $16.5 billion in contract cancellations. But an NPR review found the documented savings were grossly overstated, including with an apparent $8 billion typo, the misleading inclusion of procurement methods that act as lines of credit and billions of dollars in contracts that were not actually terminated. By matching DOGE's claims with federal contract data, that NPR analysis found estimated savings of only about $2 billion a fraction of what the receipts claimed or the higher, unverifiable claim of $55 billion overall."

*Trump and Musk are not honest people. Just ask any of the legions of people that have been f@ucked over by them.
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DiabloWags
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And now Trump and Musk want to change the way that GDP gets calculated.
Shocker!

Trump officials want to measure the economy's health in a way that may hide DOGE cuts
movielover
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movielover said:




I wonder when the 300K in Federal layoffs get factored in. (Biden added 170K new Federal employees his last 2 years.)
Eastern Oregon Bear
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movielover said:

movielover said:




I wonder when the 300K in Federal layoffs get factored in. (Biden added 170K new Federal employees his last 2 years.)
I'd expect the 300K in federal layoffs to get factored into the next set of unemployment numbers. That said, in our agency, like many others, the layoffs of probationary employees are being rescinded with back pay. I suspect that ultimately the final layoff numbers will be significantly lower than 300,000.
MinotStateBeav
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Hope we get to 500,000. Government makes nothing, it only takes. It should not take 3 million people to run a government. For some reason, the more technologically advanced we get, the more people we need?
bearister
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What America is losing as President Trump fires independent government watchdogs - CBS News


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fires-independent-government-watchdogs-60-minutes-transcript/


Trump's Special Assistant, Margo Martin aka Faux Melania, appears in the segment in a still photo standing behind Trump in a doorway (on Air Force One?). She goes everywhere with him and hangs out with him. Hmmm.


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sycasey
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MinotStateBeav said:

Hope we get to 500,000. Government makes nothing, it only takes. It should not take 3 million people to run a government. For some reason, the more technologically advanced we get, the more people we need?
The number of government employees relative to population has been fairly flat since the 90s.
movielover
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Longtime aude, dating Brock Sorensen.
movielover
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Biden added over 170,000 his last two years.

Why do we need 45 4-star Generals and Admirals, let alone in peace time? We don't. Each has a staff, budgets, and pet projects.



Why not just layoffs?
Eastern Oregon Bear
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movielover said:

Biden added over 170,000 his last two years.

Why do we need 45 4-star Generals and Admirals, let alone in peace time? We don't. Each has a staff, budgets, and pet projects.
45 leaders to oversee to 2.8 million people doesn't seem excessive.
DiabloWags
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movielover said:

Longtime aude, dating Brock Sorensen.


And banging the Donald.
Or are you really this naive?

sycasey
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movielover said:

Biden added over 170,000 his last two years.


https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/01/07/what-the-data-says-about-federal-workers/
chazzed
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Where is the outrage from our MAGA clowns about this?
chazzed
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Remember: he is the richest man on the planet, his companies already get $8,000,000 a day from the U.S. government, and he's always whining about how much that government spends.
movielover
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Great, gets trying to prevent Federal bankruptcy.
movielover
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sycasey
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chazzed said:

Where is the outrage from our MAGA clowns about this?

He's the real President. Pretty obvious.
DiabloWags
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How's that stable genius playing 3-D chess working out for everyone today?

tequila4kapp
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The market is not always rational. It is a great time for individual investors to buy bargains and for the rest of us to lean into long term investment strategies and diversified portfolios.
DiabloWags
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tequila4kapp said:

The market is not always rational. It is a great time for individual investors to buy bargains and for the rest of us to lean into long term investment strategies and diversified portfolios.

What "bargains" are there given all this uncertainty in an economy that looks to be posting negative GDP growth in Q1 and Trump being adamant with tariffs?

It's not like the P/E of the S&P is trading at 15x
It was up at 22x when this decline started.

And you're assuming that the guy in the Oval Office is rational and stable.
He's not.

Last week, Trump blamed the sell-off on the globalists.

Who will he blame it on this week?
Biden?

US Credit Risk Gauge Jumps the Most in 6 Months on Growth Fears





movielover
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MDS?
DiabloWags
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movielover said:

MDS?

Cool story.

Where do you think this GDP indicator for Q1 will be when Retail Sales comes out on the 17th?

It's currently at -2.4%



DiabloWags
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movielover said:

MDS?

Thanks.
I was wondering why shares of TSLA got CRUSHED again today!

movielover
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Hater Liberal boycott and targeted PR. For decades politicians gave lip service - Obama, Clinton, Tip O'Neil - to cutting costs, waste, fraud, and someone finally is making a bona-fide attempt.
bearister
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movielover said:

Hater Liberal boycott and targeted PR. For decades politicians gave lip service - Obama, Clinton, Tip O'Neil - to cutting costs, waste, fraud, and someone finally is making a bona-fide attempt.

Too bad it is simply a diversion to take people's focus off the fact that any savings will be dwarfed by the loss of revenue:

Extending the expiring tax cuts would cost $4.2 trillion over the decade 2026-2035, and roughly half of the benefits would go to people making over roughly $320,000 (that is, people with incomes in the top 5 percent).

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/2025-budget-stakes-high-income-tax-cuts-price-hiking-tariffs-would-harm
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Big C
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DiabloWags said:

tequila4kapp said:

The market is not always rational. It is a great time for individual investors to buy bargains and for the rest of us to lean into long term investment strategies and diversified portfolios.

What "bargains" are there given all this uncertainty in an economy that looks to be posting negative GDP growth in Q1 and Trump being adamant with tariffs?

It's not like the P/E of the S&P is trading at 15x
It was up at 22x when this decline started.

And you're assuming that the guy in the Oval Office is rational and stable.
He's not.

Last week, Trump blamed the sell-off on the globalists.

Who will he blame it on this week?
Biden?


US Credit Risk Gauge Jumps the Most in 6 Months on Growth Fears







Hunter Biden, George Soros, Obama, DEI... round up the usual suspects.
bear2034
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Big C said:


Hunter Biden, George Soros, Obama, DEI... round up the usual suspects.

George Soros was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by Joe Biden who also given the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by Obama.
 
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