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It’s not Elon Musk’s place to make spending allocation decisions for the US government. The Constitution assigns that power to Congress. It is not hyperbolic to

by medler 2y ago

It’s not Elon Musk’s place to make spending allocation decisions for the US government. The Constitution assigns that power to Congress. It is not hyperbolic to say that if Elon/Doge can arbitrarily cut spending, then Congress has effectively been abolished, and the US Constitutional order is over. Now, if Elon wanted to review spending allocations and recommend cuts to Congress, that would be fine. I would be in favor of that, provided he accessed the data in a legal and privacy-respecting way.

stainablesteel 2y ago
if it's not Elon's place even though Trump literally ran on Elon doing this, and they not only won the electoral college but also the popular vote too, then it's not USAID's place to do so either the money they give away tends to fund extremism and terrorism, and never goes to where it's needed - Haiti: Post-2010 earthquake, $1.14 billion was spent on a port and power plant project promoted by President Bill Clinton. The project never built anything. - Cuba: A 2006 audit showed $74 million in “democracy promotion” funds vanished without oversight. - Afghanistan: Millions squandered on health scams; hospitals never built. - Nigeria: Chemonics, a major USAID contractor, was linked to a subcontractor's overbilling scandal. Hundreds of millions lost. - COVID 19 Funding: USAID sent over $40MILLION in taxpayer money to a scientist located in Wuhan to do gain of function mutations. This directly led to the creation and release of COVID-19 - $2.5 MILLION to DEI in Serbia - $70,000 onan Irish DEI musical - $47,000 on transgender operas in Colombia - $32,000 on a trans comic book in Peru - Iraq: $20M for an Iraqi version of Sesame Street to promote LGBTQ Agenda - Egypt & Tunisia: $56M for “tourism” - Jordan: $40M for “schools” - Vietnam: $11M to fight “trash burning” - Central America: $27M for deportee gift bags. - Trump Lawfare: $27M to fund left wing prosecutions of populist political opponents around the globe, including Donald Trump. Patently illegal.
- medler 2y ago
  It is contrary to the foundational document of our country. The president does not have that authority because he is a president, not a king.
  - stainablesteel 2y ago
    Nope, the president has the power over federal agencies. You might argue this wouldn't be something he could do if he didn't specifically campaign on this issue, which is usually where the line is drawn. But the fact that he DID campaign on this, and that the president DOES have the power to such a thing, means he can and has every right to.
    - medler 2y ago
      Again, Congress has the power to allocate spending. If you think the president, or Elon Musk, has absolute power over the entire federal government, then, well, there’s a word for that. You think he’s a dictator.
      - stainablesteel 2y ago
        Congress has the power to create spending, the president has the power to stop spending.
        medler 2y ago
        By law, he has no such power. Congress has made impoundment illegal.

by medler 2y ago

stainablesteel 2y ago

if it's not Elon's place even though Trump literally ran on Elon doing this, and they not only won the electoral college but also the popular vote too, then it's not USAID's place to do so either the money they give away tends to fund extremism and terrorism, and never goes to where it's needed - Haiti: Post-2010 earthquake, $1.14 billion was spent on a port and power plant project promoted by President Bill Clinton. The project never built anything. - Cuba: A 2006 audit showed $74 million in “democracy promotion” funds vanished without oversight. - Afghanistan: Millions squandered on health scams; hospitals never built. - Nigeria: Chemonics, a major USAID contractor, was linked to a subcontractor's overbilling scandal. Hundreds of millions lost. - COVID 19 Funding: USAID sent over $40MILLION in taxpayer money to a scientist located in Wuhan to do gain of function mutations. This directly led to the creation and release of COVID-19 - $2.5 MILLION to DEI in Serbia - $70,000 onan Irish DEI musical - $47,000 on transgender operas in Colombia - $32,000 on a trans comic book in Peru - Iraq: $20M for an Iraqi version of Sesame Street to promote LGBTQ Agenda - Egypt & Tunisia: $56M for “tourism” - Jordan: $40M for “schools” - Vietnam: $11M to fight “trash burning” - Central America: $27M for deportee gift bags. - Trump Lawfare: $27M to fund left wing prosecutions of populist political opponents around the globe, including Donald Trump. Patently illegal.

medler 2y ago
It is contrary to the foundational document of our country. The president does not have that authority because he is a president, not a king.
- stainablesteel 2y ago
  Nope, the president has the power over federal agencies. You might argue this wouldn't be something he could do if he didn't specifically campaign on this issue, which is usually where the line is drawn. But the fact that he DID campaign on this, and that the president DOES have the power to such a thing, means he can and has every right to.
  - medler 2y ago
    Again, Congress has the power to allocate spending. If you think the president, or Elon Musk, has absolute power over the entire federal government, then, well, there’s a word for that. You think he’s a dictator.
    - stainablesteel 2y ago
      Congress has the power to create spending, the president has the power to stop spending.
      - medler 2y ago
        By law, he has no such power. Congress has made impoundment illegal.