(Can't read the article due to paywall and no working mirror on archive.is right now.)
I mean... duh? This shouldn't be news to anyone paying attention. DOGE was shock-and-awe theater, and a means to shake up agencies and gain access to sensitive information. At best, they saved a few tens of millions of dollars, which at that level isn't really worth the effort.
The GOP always cries about spending and the deficit, but when they're in charge, they spend just as much as Democrats (if not more!), and, to make things worse, cut taxes (usually for the rich more than anyone else). The largest part of the federal budget isn't the discretionary spending, anyway.
And the effects of the tariffs have been obvious to anyone not drinking the MAGA Kool-Aid.
> 1. Tariffs are bringing in real money.
> The U.S. collected $195 billion in customs duties, more than double the prior year. That doesn’t capture the full jump because tariff rates only ramped up in April, halfway through the year.
That's actually more than I expected.
> President Trump seeks to shift the government’s reliance on income taxes toward taxes on imported goods. Still, tariffs contribute a relatively small 3.7% of overall federal revenue, compared with 51% for the individual income tax.
We really need to close large ccorporate tax dodges as well. Too many smaller companies pay 35% rates while the Apples and NVIDIAs pay a fraction of that rate. There's apparently plenty enough corporation money sloshing around to spend trillions on GPUs for AI in the US.
"That is largely because the main drivers of spending kept rising: social programs, including Social Security and Medicare, and interest on the public debt, which topped $1 trillion by one measure for the first time."
The only serious attempt I've seen to address US budget issues was the Simpson-Bowles Commission under Obama in 2010. It recommended a menu of tax increases and benefit reductions. It was promptly ignored by Congress which was not surprising. As an exercise it was useful just to demonstrate what a serious proposal would have to look like and the nature of compromise that would be needed.
Of course, in the 15 years since the fiscal situation has gotten worse, so any of the recommendations it made then would need to be more severe now.
Right from the start, any impartial observer could tell that it wasn't a sincere effort grounded in truth.
First, the goal of the tariffs was to reduce US deficit spending.
Then it was reducing debt. Isolating & containing China. Dissuading them from invading Taiwan. Replacing the income tax. Retaliating against Europe, Japan, & S. Korea for unfair trade practices. Compelling other countries to buy American. Onshoring manufacturing. Forcing foreigners to pay a premium to access American markets. Forcing Canada & Mexico to get illegal immigration & narcotics trafficking under control. Punishing Brazil for persecuting Bolsonaro. Compelling third countries to accept expelled immigrants.
Then they pivoted to: Art of the Deal! He's deliberately making unrealistic demands as an intro offer.
If tariff revenue is rising, and the economy hasn’t shrunk (yet), and DOGE has returned money (recission later being authorized) then some money was clearly generated.
Alternatively, Doge could have been totally ineffectual and tariffs returning nothing, but this article seems to indicate otherwise.
This means that less money then planned was spent. Against a null hpothesis, that indicates that the situation is "better" then doing nothing at all (at which point, the rise in government lending costs, the out of control benefit costs, and all of the other stupid crap that has been festering out there since Bill Clinton won the white house for ridiculing Bush for raising taxes comes home to roost.
I'm solidly in the never-trump camp, and maybe there was an argument made after the paywall, but this feels like an ideology in search of a headline.
Inaccurate headline. DOGE did a lot at government agencies, including violating any and all possible best practices, copying entire databases of citizens, then handling the data in unknown ways.
Trust me. DOGE has done a great deal, just none of it is reasonable or sane from our perspective.
It's very important to realize that it isn't true that DOGE didn't "do much". It's just that what they did was kill hundreds of thousands to millions of people worldwide.
You really must stop taking Republicans at their word. The stated goals of Doge are obviously different from the actual goals. Try not to listen to their words, only watch their actions.
In this case, Doge's actions are to shrink government, especially any agencies that were opposing or investigating Musk in any way.
16 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 28.0 ms ] threadI mean... duh? This shouldn't be news to anyone paying attention. DOGE was shock-and-awe theater, and a means to shake up agencies and gain access to sensitive information. At best, they saved a few tens of millions of dollars, which at that level isn't really worth the effort.
The GOP always cries about spending and the deficit, but when they're in charge, they spend just as much as Democrats (if not more!), and, to make things worse, cut taxes (usually for the rich more than anyone else). The largest part of the federal budget isn't the discretionary spending, anyway.
And the effects of the tariffs have been obvious to anyone not drinking the MAGA Kool-Aid.
That's actually more than I expected.
> President Trump seeks to shift the government’s reliance on income taxes toward taxes on imported goods. Still, tariffs contribute a relatively small 3.7% of overall federal revenue, compared with 51% for the individual income tax.
We really need to close large ccorporate tax dodges as well. Too many smaller companies pay 35% rates while the Apples and NVIDIAs pay a fraction of that rate. There's apparently plenty enough corporation money sloshing around to spend trillions on GPUs for AI in the US.
"That is largely because the main drivers of spending kept rising: social programs, including Social Security and Medicare, and interest on the public debt, which topped $1 trillion by one measure for the first time."
Of course, in the 15 years since the fiscal situation has gotten worse, so any of the recommendations it made then would need to be more severe now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_on_Fiscal_...
First, the goal of the tariffs was to reduce US deficit spending.
Then it was reducing debt. Isolating & containing China. Dissuading them from invading Taiwan. Replacing the income tax. Retaliating against Europe, Japan, & S. Korea for unfair trade practices. Compelling other countries to buy American. Onshoring manufacturing. Forcing foreigners to pay a premium to access American markets. Forcing Canada & Mexico to get illegal immigration & narcotics trafficking under control. Punishing Brazil for persecuting Bolsonaro. Compelling third countries to accept expelled immigrants.
Then they pivoted to: Art of the Deal! He's deliberately making unrealistic demands as an intro offer.
Which is it again?!
If tariff revenue is rising, and the economy hasn’t shrunk (yet), and DOGE has returned money (recission later being authorized) then some money was clearly generated.
Alternatively, Doge could have been totally ineffectual and tariffs returning nothing, but this article seems to indicate otherwise.
This means that less money then planned was spent. Against a null hpothesis, that indicates that the situation is "better" then doing nothing at all (at which point, the rise in government lending costs, the out of control benefit costs, and all of the other stupid crap that has been festering out there since Bill Clinton won the white house for ridiculing Bush for raising taxes comes home to roost.
I'm solidly in the never-trump camp, and maybe there was an argument made after the paywall, but this feels like an ideology in search of a headline.
Trust me. DOGE has done a great deal, just none of it is reasonable or sane from our perspective.
In this case, Doge's actions are to shrink government, especially any agencies that were opposing or investigating Musk in any way.