4 ms·

Is anyone not concerned by this? Paying the bills due is not a political issue, making payroll is not a political issue. Elected or unelected, politicians with

• affinepplan 2y ago
  A lot of people are very concerned about it. but what am I supposed to do about it? I voted, canvassed, and donated as hard as I could already. and I lost.
  • kjkjadksj 2y ago
    We wait for the order for the general strike, and then we do our part.
    • EForEndeavour 2y ago
      I'm not being facetious but genuinely curious: who would issue such an order with enough authority for you to follow it?
      • ceejayoz 2y ago
        Not OP, but someone with a significant national platform and an explicit call (dates, details, support from other prominent folks), not a generic "we should do something!" hint. I'd find calls from, say, AOC or Taylor Swift more interesting than rando red rose LARPers.
        • rsanek 2y ago
          Swift? i don't think we should be looking to entertainers for political leadership, that's just following in the footsteps of how we got Trump.
          • ceejayoz 2y ago
            You're not gonna get a general strike without people with significant national influence pushing for it, and it's not gonna be Chuck Schumer.
            • anigbrowl 2y ago
              They're not gonna push for it without grassroots organization, which means doing things at the local and online level to get the idea in wide circulation. It's not a startup. Absent this, people will get more and more frustrated which will eventually manifest as riots as it did in 2020. So if you prefer a more peaceable outcome, I think it's better to talk up the idea of a general strike rather than talk it down.
        • morkalork 2y ago
          It could get blown out like occupy wallstreet, or, if a natural leader arises to keep momentum focused, they could end up like MLK...
        • lm28469 2y ago
          If you wait for someone else to do the hard work nothing will happen, look at the French yellow vests, it started from nothing, and the causes were laughable compared to what the US is going through now https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_protests https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_protests
    • anigbrowl 2y ago
      You do not wait for an order, because there is no central authority for a general strike. That's what gives it legitimacy.. You canvass, wheatpaste, recruit or whatever sort of political organizing/agitating you find appropriate. You have to meme it into existence.
  • neutrinobro 2y ago
    [flagged]
  • mostlysimilar 2y ago
    Call your senator. Republican or Democrat or Independent or whatever. Call them, tell them you expect them to cease all routine business in the senate until accountability is restored. They do listen, it does matter.
    • deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    • residentraspber 2y ago
      As somebody who has never done this before, how do I go about this (past Googling their phone number)? I remember a while back with SOAP and PIPA there were templates you could read, do those exist for this case?
      • mostlysimilar 2y ago
        https://5calls.org https://5calls.org I know using the phone can be uncomfortable if you don't do it often and that's okay. It gets easier the more you do it, and you don't need to word everything perfectly. The important thing is that you get your point across. "My name is x, I live in county y, and I'm calling to say I expect a yes/no vote on issue z."
      • bens74 2y ago
        I just did this for the first time, I found all three of mine had websites with a form to fill in which I used to leave my message. I hope filling in the form counts as much as a phone call? I left one a phone message too, but do kind of hate calling people...
        • mostlysimilar 2y ago
          Email is NOT as good! Phone calls are the most effective means by far. I know it's uncomfortable, it is for me too, but you need to power through that feeling. It gets easier the more you do it. I called and kept calling until I got through. There were busy signals for 30 minutes before I got in. Be persistent. Keep trying!
  • atoav 2y ago
    Protest. Or how do you think your ancestors got democracy and kept it in the first place?
  • eCa 2y ago
    > what am I supposed to do about it? Watching from Europe, I think you are getting close to the point where 75 million people need to hit the streets (preferably in DC). It appears they are trying to beat the 53 days record.
    • pastureofplenty 2y ago
      If those people hit the streets they'll be hit by chemical weapons (i.e. tear gas) that are illegal for our government to use in war but perfectly legal to use on peaceful protesters. Just something to keep in mind in case anyone is wondering why Americans don't really protest.
      • torben-friis 2y ago
        I keep reading this as if it was not the case for most major protests and riots around the world.
      • BryantD 2y ago
        French police use tear gas on protestors, and in 1980, the South Korean government fired on and killed protestors. I don't think it's just the tear gas; I think it has more to do with the fact that we're way more distributed (it's very practical for most French people to descend on Paris than it is for US residents to descend on DC) and culturally not in the habit.
      • barnas2 2y ago
        Tear gas is illegal to use in war because of a fear of escalation/retaliatory strikes due to an enemy thinking you're using other more dangerous chemical/biological weapons (chlorine, sarin, mustard, phosgene, etc). It's not banned in war because it's as dangerous as chemical weapons, it's banned in war so people don't think you're using chemical weapons.
        • tekknik 2y ago
          I’d also add that in basic training you’re hit with tear gas so you know what it’s like and learn to trust your equipment. They don’t do that unless there’s a chance you may encounter it.
  • lm28469 2y ago
    Wherever you are, find friends, bring family, go to the closest government building, camp in front of it. Block the main street of your city, block highways, block ports, &c. It really isn't rocket science, German hardcore ecologists put more efforts on a random Tuesday morning than Americans during a coup, it's mind boggling. They gave you an online "public square" so that you can all scream in its void, get the fuck out and protect what's yours
    • foxyv 2y ago
      Sounds like a great way to volunteer yourself and your family to assemble Herman Miller furniture for $1/hour.
      • johnnyanmac 2y ago
        What's the alternative at this rate? If you want to flee the country then you better get started now. It'll only get worse from here. I'd rather stay and fight.
        • tekknik 2y ago
          This sounds oddly familiar to the last time Trump was president, with people claiming the world is over and so on. Huge hint, the other party always thinks the world is over if they lose. This is more of that overreaction that got him elected again.
          • foxyv 2y ago
            I would say that there are concerning new developments to the Republican strategy that were not present in his original term.
            • tekknik 2y ago
              Such as? He seems to have been very clear about his agenda during the run up.
  • anigbrowl 2y ago
    A general strike is a worthwhile outlet. Electoralism is notthe only form of political activity.
  • tayo42 2y ago
    And lost with a popular vote. We can't convince the other half that wants this...
    • rcpt 2y ago
      Not sure everyone is still happy about their vote. Also DT had a minority of the popular vote after you account for 3rd party.
    • kccoder 2y ago
      I'd wager a solid 20%-30% of the people who voted for Trump were poorly informed, or deliberately misinformed, and simply wanted "change" because they weren't pleased with the current state of their life / country. Unfortunately they didn't take the time to appropriately attribute the cause of their ills and made the grave mistake of thinking Trump and his administration would do anything at all to help them and their kind, not recognizing the narcissistic sociopath in front of them, and realizing that such people are wholly incapable of caring about any other person, under any circumstance. They were conned by a lifetime expert conman. Sad!
      • CrimsonRain 2y ago
        What is the percentage of poorly informed people who voted non-trump in your opinion?
      • tekknik 2y ago
        Or maybe you’re just upset because your candidate lost and now you’re looking for a narcissistic way to justify your own beliefs to avoid your world view from crashing?
  • latentcall 2y ago
    Probably this at this point: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/ https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/ Organize into a political party. Spread pro worker information and convince the working class to join. Democratic Party is not it, in my opinion.
  • spacemanspiff01 2y ago
    I am moving my money out of the US stock market. Maybe most people don't care, but I want to live and invest in a functional democracy. If enough people do it, maybe MAGA 401ks going down will make people care.
    • tekknik 2y ago
      If a majority of people voted for this, and you are attempting to override their will, what does that make you?
• brtkdotse 2y ago
  Musk isn't a policitican.
• Hayvok 2y ago
  Ideally, trying to reform the government & its activities shouldn't require a team to burrow all the way down to the literal payments system & call individual balls and strikes. But I assume that is indicative of how unresponsive the bureaucracy has become to political direction from the president & secretaries.
  • drawkward 2y ago
    Try this assumption on for size: this team just wants to break the government and make it serve the party, not the country.
  • jenkstom 2y ago
    Bureaucracy is there to protect us from people like Trump and Elon. Congress can pass laws and the president can issue orders. This action threatens the US financial system, which threatens the economic stability of most of the world. In terms of human suffering this could have massive impact. We now have a psychopath (well, at least one) with his fingers around our throats. We're all waiting to see what comes next, but it won't be good.
    • dionian 2y ago
      Sunlight is the best disinfectant
      • anigbrowl 2y ago
        If you think you're gonna get sunlight form Musk you're a rube. There isn't any transparency going on here.
        • generalizations 2y ago
          There's been a lot so far. More than we've had in a while.
          • hypothesis 2y ago
• vkou 2y ago
  The people who can do anything about it aren't concerned. The SP500 is normal today, institutional money is fine with this.
  • archagon 2y ago
    Yeah, because Microsoft is not affected the slightest if someone arbitrarily loses their research funding or stops receiving social security checks.
    • vkou 2y ago
      That's not the important risk here. The important risk is a runaway executive that feels completely unconstrained by law, with the blessing of both other branches of government. Today, it's blocking members of the legislature from entering government buildings and is unilaterally shutting down an agency that exists on a directive of Congress. Tomorrow, will it carry out any legislature that congress passes? In a year, will it comply with an impeachment?
    • jghn 2y ago
      You'd be surprised how much AWS, Azure, GCP, etc take in indirectly from research science.
  • abeppu 2y ago
    Yeah, what's up with that? Does this treasury department payment system not also cover the payments made to bondholders? Every time Congress delays raising the debt ceiling until the last minute, people get anxious and worry about a default and the full faith and credit of the US, etc. Are we now saying that the US could default even when funds are available if an un-elected guy and some junior programmers decide that would be a good idea or just mess up when dealing with a complex and arcane legacy system, and that's not scary to markets? I would think every financial model that references a "risk-free rate" now has to be revisited while people consider whether any information visible to the Treasury Department might link their account to someone who has said something disparaging about Musk on twitter.
• EasyMark 2y ago
  The blatant ignoring of laws shows that Trump thinks it's fine to be lawless as long as it serves his chaotic agenda to sew discord and distrust in the government so he and his Elon goon squad can install more autocracy into the system.
• blindriver 2y ago
  [flagged]
  • abeppu 2y ago
    > This is the first time the veil of undocumented or secret government payments has been pierced and it's going to shed a lot of light into the corruption behind government spending. ... is there somewhere that DOGE people with access are publishing the stuff they see? If this were about transparency, that could be good, but that purpose could be served with read only access. I'm not saying there isn't serious corruption in government spending, but this administration and Musk aren't in a credible position to fight it, especially not this way. The Treasury Department should refer stuff to Justice who should convene a grand jury, present some evidence, and prosecute corrupt contractors etc. We're supposed to be a country of laws.
    • blindriver 2y ago
      I disagree. They are very credible. I trust them much more than I trust a bunch of government bureaucrat fat cats. I’ve worked in government and I know first hand how useless they are so seeing them being exposed is a long time coming. The idea that these bureaucrats are unsung heros is hilarious. It’s exactly the same how taxi companies were somehow the heroes against Uber when taxi companies are the most exploitive companies ever, especially to minorities. I’m anxious to see what the results of all this effort is. But I don’t think anything nefarious is going on.
  • kccoder 2y ago
    Why in the world would you trust Elon and his cadre to do that investigation? The man has no self-control, has the temperament of a spoiled teenager, and by all accounts is a drug addict. He also has a shocking number of conflicts of interest. I wouldn't trust Elon to water my plants!
    • blindriver 2y ago
      [flagged]
• nielsbot 2y ago
  My worry is it could become a political issue. Agency you don’t like? Employee you don’t like? US state you don’t like? Just don’t pay them any more. And who would be able to do anything about it?
• TrapLord_Rhodo 2y ago
  I am so excited about this... He's hiring some of the top people in the world to work for the GOVERNMENT!!! how amazing is that? We've lost the will as Americans to send our best people to serve the interest of the people because private industry was more profitable. Elon has about 30 years of experience leading software teams at the cutting edge of development. He's conducting wide spread audits to the government, and ensuring the funds being appropriated by congress are being used effectively. I think this whole thing boils down to whether you like elon or not.
  • sidibe 2y ago
    From all that we know so far these are very far from "the top people in the world"
    • TrapLord_Rhodo 2y ago
      Elon Musk, David Sac, Vivek ramswamy, Tom Krause, Kimberly Brandt, John Brooks....? Even the youngest person working at Doge solved the vesuvius challenge... not to mention top engineers from Jump Capital, Vinay Hiremath, founder of Loom working as recruiting... the list goes on...? This is exciting, and awesome, and i can't believe trump has been able to convince such a powerhouse team to work for the benefit of the US. By auditing the government, we ensure our debt surety payments don't slowly bleed us to death. For the first time in my entire life have i felt a sense of hope.
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  • subsection1h 2y ago
    > I think this whole thing boils down to whether you like elon or not. I think this whole thing boils down to you being an anti-abortion zealot who is so anti-abortion (you've expressed opposition to abortion on Hacker News, a tech forum, not just once, but multiple times![1]) that you see no issue with Trump cutting government spending in certain areas while he is simultaneously expressing support for the US occupying Gaza, funding a goddamn Christian task force[2], etc. [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?type=comment&query=abortion+author:TrapLord_Rhodo https://hn.algolia.com/?type=comment&query=abortion+author:T... [2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/erad...