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Because this isn't about efficiency. The people radicalized to these actions are trying to destroy the government. They haven't been especially subtle about it
by UncleMeat 2y ago
Because this isn't about efficiency.
The people radicalized to these actions are trying to destroy the government. They haven't been especially subtle about it in their writing. The ideal outcome is not the same government outcomes but at 70% of the cost. The ideal outcome is the collapse of the federal bureaucracy so that the lords of capital can scoop things up and create their little kingdoms.
- euroderf 2y ago> The ideal outcome is the collapse of the federal bureaucracy so that the lords of capital can scoop things up and create their little kingdoms. This is, of course, the model for Russian oligarchs.
- WesolyKubeczek 2y agoIs the US going the way the aftermath of which is described in Neuromancer, or is it going to be Snow Crash, complete with visas to every city state, and the "US" part that's left deluded that they are in control?
- Joel_Mckay 2y agoThe film describes a "Despotism" (1946) cycle, and ultimate conclusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdVB-R6Duso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdVB-R6Duso Keep in mind people voted for this knowing the plan, but this book documents human behavior in general politics under a new ruler: "The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics" (Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith) https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/1610391845 https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Po... Removing political guardrails and community due-process is what is happening. A king and his fool is unsustainable, thus... people with brains and money will simply start to vote with their feet and leave while they are able. Have a great day =3
- kibwen 2y ago> people with brains and money will simply start to vote with their feet and leave while they are able That worked in 1935. It doesn't work in 2025, in a world with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. We're all stuck on this planet together now; there's no escaping from a US with a mad king at the helm.
- Joel_Mckay 2y ago"nuclear-tipped ICBMs" Not unless someone is suicidal, the ultimate glass-cannon is practically only an economic-weapon designed to bankrupt anyone foolish enough to compete in such programs. Besides, there are rumors of far worse things now like geriatric Fox media. lol =3
- slg 2y ago>Not unless someone is suicidal There are plenty of examples of rulers suddenly becoming suicidal once the walls start closing in on them.
- Joel_Mckay 2y agoNarcissists love themselves more than anyone else, and would never deny the world of their joy in collateral misery. lol =3 "Don't Be a Sucker" (1947) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23X14HS4gLk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23X14HS4gLk
- rbetts 2y agoLately, I feel like I'm living in the William Gibson "Bridge" trilogy meets Douglas Adam's Zaphod Beeblebrox timeline.
- snailmailstare 2y agoI spent a long time trying to figure out who he could have been comparing himself to every time he was in the media for decades, until I was watching the Simpsons and realized Krusty had always been there but was no longer the worlds most beloved clown.
- duskwuff 2y ago> Douglas Adam's Zaphod Beeblebrox timeline At least the galactic government had the good sense to make the President of the Galaxy a figurehead. (Or, uh, figureheads?)
- benatkin 2y agoKetamine is analogous to the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster? https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-don-lemon-small-amount-ketamine-every-other-week-2024-3?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-don-lemon-small-am...
- kevin_thibedeau 2y agoAnd yet he is allowed to have TS by the idiots running the DoD.
- Hikikomori 2y agoIt's snow crash, they're calling it network states. Tech billionaires want to be CEO kings of their own mini states, their goal is to destroy the federal government. Project 2025 is based on ideas (in particula, RAGE, retire all government employees) from Curtis Yarvin, good friend of Peter Theil and JD Vance. https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-plot-against-america?r=4lc94&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-plot-against-americ... https://youtu.be/5RpPTRcz1no https://youtu.be/5RpPTRcz1no
- Applejinx 2y agoAccurately observed, but I think they're foolish and are only being used by a particular nation-state with a grudge against the US. Their alliances are pretty obvious, but an empire trying to reclaim its empire does not keep its promises to tech barons. The Project 2025 people are probably sincere, but wildly impractical. Their impracticality has been indulged by a global adversary which simply intends to destroy the United States on every possible level. There's no reason the tech barons will be given mini states. Why would that happen?
- disqard 2y agoYeah, they all are (immensely rich (for now)) useful idiots. Their greed is being leveraged to have them dismantle their own nation -- no need for military action. What happens afterward might surprise these rich plutocrats, but I personally won't be surprised by it.
- xnx 2y agoIt feels like they really want to make use of those expensive bunkers.
- mrguyorama 2y agoThat's actually the problem. These tech shitlords KNOW there's a chance everything is destroyed in a way that doesn't leave them gods. But they place that chance at like 30%. They're degenerate gamblers basically, betting it all on red.
- averageRoyalty 2y ago[flagged]
- gaganyaan 2y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
- skyyler 2y agoYeah, the plans have been laid out in the public for a while. We're seeing it happen in real time.
- alabastervlog 2y agoThere are also various public talks and other published pieces by members of the admin, laying out exactly what they're planning to do (and now are doing) and why. I dunno when they figured out they can just conduct conspiracies in public and nobody will call them on it, so there's little reason to bother with secrecy, but that's how they work now, and it's been weird to watch. I first noticed it with Bush II when prominent members of his administration published multiple pieces (before he was elected) calling for war with Iraq, and stating that the US should take essentially any half-decent excuse to go to war with Iraq even if that excuse itself is bad, then... did exactly that! And got away with it! Inexplicably, the media would interview them on the topic of going to war with Iraq and didn't make all the questions about that. It was barely a footnote to media coverage of the run-up to the war, which was so damn weird when anyone could just go read the text of these pieces themselves, with familiar names on them, telling us exactly how they were planning to fuck us. Didn't matter, they could just straight-up publish "here's how we're going to screw the public" and then screw the public exactly that way, and laugh all the way to the goddamn bank (literally, in many cases—they made so friggin' much money off the post-9/11 security apparatus and the wars)
- cindylmcindy 2y agoThe public WANTS to be lied to. They were basically asking for it. People in positions of power gave the public exactly what they want.
- SigmundA 2y ago>Because this isn't about efficiency. Being alive and happy is not effcient.
- AStonesThrow 2y ago[flagged]
- mcmcmc 2y agoIf it’s austerity why are they raising the debt limit by 4 trillion and awarding massive contracts to their cronies (or themselves)? They are not trying to cut costs, they are trying to reallocate wealth away from the working class and into billionaire pockets.
- ivewonyoung 2y ago> awarding massive contracts to their cronies (or themselves)? Source(s) that this is actually happening?
- packtreefly 2y agoThat's the endgame I see. Oligarchy. Kleptocracy. Morons cheering because they're deluded enough to believe that the definition of "pork" is when the government transfers money directly to lower and middle class via paychecks. Congress will authorize contractors to do these jobs instead. We get back privatized versions of the old government services at a higher price, and the money goes into the bank accounts of the rich. I'd like to read the CBO report on what this shit will actually cost over ten years.
- digitaltrees 2y agoThe government was on life support because of the same people killing it now. If you want to shrink the government, you first break it, then say it’s broken and must be reduced as a result. The alternative was followed from the 30s during FDR until arguably the 80s…make the government effective, and it was immensely successful.
- ty6853 2y agoThat was dependent upon an interpretation of the 10th amendment achieved via intimidation to pack the courts. Before that most the regulatory apparatus would not be constitutional. What many of us are welcoming is an end to most regulation of most intrastate commerce except as authorized by the constitution. It is time to undo the damage of Wickard v Filburn.
- reaperducer 2y agoBecause this isn't about efficiency. Last weekend the Washington Post published some internal DOGE memos showing this is absolutely true. What's happening has nothing to do with efficiency. It's all about ideology.
- dan_quixote 2y agoGot a link handy? I'm not finding it so far.
- throwaway491521 2y agohttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2025/doge-playbook-dei-trump/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2025/dog...
- reaperman 2y agohttps://archive.is/7FMD9 https://archive.is/7FMD9
- gruez 2y agoThe original claim was "these actions are trying to destroy the government", but the article only seemingly says they're trying to destroy DEI?
- Onawa 2y agoPhase 2 consists of placing on leave employees in non-DEI roles — who DOGE determines are somehow tied to DEI — as well as other employees working at offices whose existence is mandated by law.
- ThePowerOfDirge 2y agoBut DEI is what made JD Vance who he is today. To quote an article: "The truth is, if it was not for the Yellow Ribbon Program I would not be going to law school." https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/feb/19/ask-politifact-did-jd-vance-benefit-from-dei-initi/ https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/feb/19/ask-politifac... Why are they trying to destroy it? Are they saying that they do not want more DEI, JD Vance-type people, that one is enough?
- andsoitis 2y ago> The people radicalized to these actions are trying to destroy the government. The federal government, right? They are in favor of state and local government, but object to federal, which they assert reduces the ability for states to have different rules and regulations that can drive competition amongst different legal frameworks.
- imbusy111 2y agoI thought this was already settled during the American Civil War, yet we're back at it again.
- andsoitis 2y agoApparently not! An opposite question is interesting: why not abolish state governments and only have the federal government? I haven’t thought about it deeply so don’t have a strong sense that it would be better than the status quo, though I suspect it might.
- fallingknife 2y agoCentralization and size comes with inefficiency and slow decision making. It also comes with economies of scale. For something like the Medicare, the economy of scale dominates and it makes much more sense to be federal. When it comes to running schools, there really isn't much economy of scale so it makes much more sense to run it locally.
- gottorf 2y agoEconomies (and diseconomies) of scale exist, of course, but aren't central to what is the responsibility of the federal government and what is the responsibility of the state governments. That, of course, is laid out rather plainly in the founding legal document of the country.
- int_19h 2y agoThe more people are ruled by a single government that is ostensibly a representative democracy, the less representative said democracy actually is. This should be rather evident - you can't grow parliament size indefinitely if you want it to continue functioning as a deliberative chamber, which in turn means that every parliamentarian represents more and more people, which in practice means that they don't represent them well.
- mindcrime 2y ago> The people radicalized to these actions are trying to destroy the government. It's worse than that. They're also incompetent. Look, I'm a radical anarcho-capitalist / libertarian / voluntaryist myself. I'm fine with the idea of "destroying the government" in general. BUT, even I would say that there's a right way to go about it, and that that involves dismantling things slowly and incrementally, identifying replacements (where available) for government services that are being wound down BEFORE winding them down, minimizing the harm done, taking "collateral damage" into consideration etc. These people are doing the equivalent of "destroying the government" by just randomly lobbing hand grenades all over the place, with no knowledge, consideration, or concern, for the outcomes.
- scarab92 2y ago[flagged]
- CasualSuperman 2y agoIf the only thing on the planet you care about is efficiency, sure. How about the human lives impacted by all of it?
- the_snooze 2y ago"Efficiency" is such a dumb thing to optimize for singlemindedly. Overly efficient systems are brittle and can't adapt to shocks. Look what happened to the efficient global supply chain when that ship blocked the Suez Canal. Imagine if we demanded "efficiency" from fire departments; they'd only hire as many firefighters as they need to respond to the average number of emergencies per day, then totally flop when there's a mass casualty event.
- throwawayq3423 2y agoHaving a fast moving and inefficient government is what attracts people to the US! To live and invest there. Fast moving governments can destroy things, make them unpredictable and unstable based on the whims of a few. In this case an unelected billionaire with conflicts of interest and a pardon for all his crimes waiting for him in Dec of 2028. People hate that.
- outside1234 2y agoThe ideal outcome is that government fails, then they can point at the failing government and ask, why do we want to pay for something that is failing.
- zdw 2y agoThis - it's basically meme of the guy shooting the person behind him in the chair and then being incredulous.
- nozzlegear 2y agoWhat's their plan after that though? Privatization, I guess?
- saulpw 2y agoEver read Snowcrash?
- danielodievich 2y agoYeah, their vision is us living in burbclaves of New South Africa, Mr Lee's Hong Kong and Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates and the bankrupt US Government with trillion dollar notes not to be used as toilet paper because it is illegal and clogs the plumbing.
- marviel 2y agoso glad someone else sees this.
- nozzlegear 2y agoI haven't, not yet anyway. I did read Termination Shock by the same author, though. I loved it, and promptly added Snowcrash to my TBR list.
- hooverd 2y ago[flagged]