2 ms·

>These are my and our fucking tax dollars. I want every single fucking cent audited, I don't really care how big or small a portion this is of the whole budget.

>These are my and our fucking tax dollars. I want every single fucking cent audited, I don't really care how big or small a portion this is of the whole budget. if you want government debt to shrink, you need to treat it like optimization: focus on the big problems first and don't sweat the small fry. If you simply want a better auditing process... Well, whatever Musk is doing sure isn't it. Has he actually revealed any significant spending outside of "wow this thing cost X million dollars. how crazy for [partisan reasons]". His "reports" on audits sure aren't trying to take into account "every cent". >Trump and Musk's bigly sledgehammer will achieve this, screw the details because I don't care anymore. Screwing the details is how you enable corruption, by the way. Tarriffs and war mongering isn't how we save costs. Arguing about "wow the libs waste so much money" isn't how you audit anything. The last thing you want to do when you need more taxes is cutting capital tax from the richest corporations who can lose 90% of their income and still be worth more than some small countries. Follow the money. None of these steps are made with you and me in mind.

Dalewyn 2y ago
>focus on the big problems first and don't sweat the small fry. The biggest line items which are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are off the table as promised during the campaign, for better or worse. Everything else is fair game, though. That includes everything from the Pentagon (note: never passed an audit) to "foreign aid" and science grants and everything in-between. >Has he actually revealed any significant spending outside of "wow this thing cost X million dollars. how crazy for [partisan reasons]". He has revealed that literal millions and billions of our tax dollars (or loans, to make it even worse) are being wasted on questionable ventures at best. I want him and DOGE to dig even deeper so the House is forced to write a clean budget devoid of all this fucking garbage. American taxpayers deserve better. >Screwing the details is how you enable corruption, by the way. I agree, which is why it's great that Musk and DOGE are looking into the details of where the sincere fuck our money is going. All these whiners are crying that we shouldn't look at the details, it's all fine! No, fuck them. I want all this out in public view, in bite size chunks consumable by the common man paying for all this, to be scrutinized; anything worth having should be able to withstand any and all scrutiny. >None of these steps are made with you and me in mind. I agree again; these steps are made for all of us from the rich to the poor and the progressives to the conservatives. Everyone benefits from a leaner and cleaner budget and a smaller and more efficient government.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  >He has revealed that literal millions and billions of our tax dollars (or loans, to make it even worse) are being wasted on questionable ventures at best. I would like a source please. With actual figures, not just "Trust me I'm elon Musk". All I saw were him complaining about charges that are microscopic for preparing that corporate tax break. he's penny pinching while Trump wants to basically give up to 3% of the budget spending to billionaires. A similar percentage of the entire Department of Education btw. >Everyone benefits from a leaner and cleaner budget and a smaller and more efficient government. my lifetime alone (let alone the ages of reagan) have shown that trickle down evonomics does not work. None of that "efficiency" is coming to you and me (well, maybe you. I don't know your income level. I'm well compensated but not close to an elite. Not even by HN standards).
  - Dalewyn 2y ago
    >I would like a source please. Sure. Off the top of my head from a previous conversation about aid(?) to Mozambique[1], that's $83.5 million. That's probably one of the better examples because I think that fighting STDs is an honorable cause, but $83.5 million when we're both trillions in debt and have pressing concerns at home? Yeah no, we need to help ourselves first if we can spend that kind of money on a whim. >charges that are microscopic Am I actually correct in assuming y'all are trying to tell me I shouldn't care that my taxes are being wasted just because the sum is relatively small? Emphasis on relative. I really want to avoid attacking someone on that because it sounds so disingenuous, but it's increasingly hard to do so. Tax dollars are a sacred resource, provided by the sweat (and possibly blood) of American taxpayers. As a taxpayer myself, I will not tolerate seeing my and our taxes spent so flippantly. >None of that "efficiency" is coming to you and me An efficient government means filing our tax returns wouldn't be anywhere as obnoxious as they are today, or any number of government paperwork we would or could need to do in our lives. Fewer expenses from an efficient government would also mean less justification for government revenue including high taxes and tariffs. An efficient government (and I do not mean that in a "No True Scotsman" fashion) will be beneficial to everyone everywhere. >I don't know your income level. I'm squarely in the lower to middle part of the middle class, with our family business (which I work for) that is classified as a small business (it's an official legal term, for those who aren't aware) which make up the core of American businesses. [1]: https://datarepublican.com/award_search/?keywords=RZ4NKR9DQN84+INGAZA https://datarepublican.com/award_search/?keywords=RZ4NKR9DQN...

Dalewyn 2y ago

>focus on the big problems first and don't sweat the small fry. The biggest line items which are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are off the table as promised during the campaign, for better or worse. Everything else is fair game, though. That includes everything from the Pentagon (note: never passed an audit) to "foreign aid" and science grants and everything in-between. >Has he actually revealed any significant spending outside of "wow this thing cost X million dollars. how crazy for [partisan reasons]". He has revealed that literal millions and billions of our tax dollars (or loans, to make it even worse) are being wasted on questionable ventures at best. I want him and DOGE to dig even deeper so the House is forced to write a clean budget devoid of all this fucking garbage. American taxpayers deserve better. >Screwing the details is how you enable corruption, by the way. I agree, which is why it's great that Musk and DOGE are looking into the details of where the sincere fuck our money is going. All these whiners are crying that we shouldn't look at the details, it's all fine! No, fuck them. I want all this out in public view, in bite size chunks consumable by the common man paying for all this, to be scrutinized; anything worth having should be able to withstand any and all scrutiny. >None of these steps are made with you and me in mind. I agree again; these steps are made for all of us from the rich to the poor and the progressives to the conservatives. Everyone benefits from a leaner and cleaner budget and a smaller and more efficient government.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
>He has revealed that literal millions and billions of our tax dollars (or loans, to make it even worse) are being wasted on questionable ventures at best. I would like a source please. With actual figures, not just "Trust me I'm elon Musk". All I saw were him complaining about charges that are microscopic for preparing that corporate tax break. he's penny pinching while Trump wants to basically give up to 3% of the budget spending to billionaires. A similar percentage of the entire Department of Education btw. >Everyone benefits from a leaner and cleaner budget and a smaller and more efficient government. my lifetime alone (let alone the ages of reagan) have shown that trickle down evonomics does not work. None of that "efficiency" is coming to you and me (well, maybe you. I don't know your income level. I'm well compensated but not close to an elite. Not even by HN standards).
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  >I would like a source please. Sure. Off the top of my head from a previous conversation about aid(?) to Mozambique[1], that's $83.5 million. That's probably one of the better examples because I think that fighting STDs is an honorable cause, but $83.5 million when we're both trillions in debt and have pressing concerns at home? Yeah no, we need to help ourselves first if we can spend that kind of money on a whim. >charges that are microscopic Am I actually correct in assuming y'all are trying to tell me I shouldn't care that my taxes are being wasted just because the sum is relatively small? Emphasis on relative. I really want to avoid attacking someone on that because it sounds so disingenuous, but it's increasingly hard to do so. Tax dollars are a sacred resource, provided by the sweat (and possibly blood) of American taxpayers. As a taxpayer myself, I will not tolerate seeing my and our taxes spent so flippantly. >None of that "efficiency" is coming to you and me An efficient government means filing our tax returns wouldn't be anywhere as obnoxious as they are today, or any number of government paperwork we would or could need to do in our lives. Fewer expenses from an efficient government would also mean less justification for government revenue including high taxes and tariffs. An efficient government (and I do not mean that in a "No True Scotsman" fashion) will be beneficial to everyone everywhere. >I don't know your income level. I'm squarely in the lower to middle part of the middle class, with our family business (which I work for) that is classified as a small business (it's an official legal term, for those who aren't aware) which make up the core of American businesses. [1]: https://datarepublican.com/award_search/?keywords=RZ4NKR9DQN84+INGAZA https://datarepublican.com/award_search/?keywords=RZ4NKR9DQN...