10 ms·

Stupid, pointless destruction. No part of this is efficient. 18F and the USDS were effective tools for modernization.

xyst 2y ago
Got to make room for the trillion dollar tax cuts. Trickle down economics, right? Can’t wait for the pitchforks to rise up against the billionaires that created this mess.
- yongjik 2y ago
  This isn't caused by some nebulous alliance of "billionaires," this is caused by one particular billionaire, Elon Musk, and his friends. These days I'm getting skeptical of these anti-billionaire quips. Sounds like a great segue to "all politicians are the same because they're in the billionaire's pocket," and now look at what that led us into.
  - hackyhacky 2y ago
    > This isn't caused by some nebulous alliance of "billionaires," this is caused by one particular billionaire, Elon Musk, and his friends. I am waiting for all the "good billionaires" to step up and do something about it.
    - retzkek 2y ago
      There’s at least one, although as a governor he may not count. > From the Department of Education, Medicaid, the CDC, and more - Trump and Elon Musk are gutting the agencies and programs that protect Americans every single day. https://bsky.app/profile/jbpritzker.bsky.social/post/3lisgh4bpzc2w https://bsky.app/profile/jbpritzker.bsky.social/post/3lisgh4...
    - EasyMark 2y ago
      they won't even say something, let alone do something. The only thing that could hurt Musk is the collapse of Tesla stock. Best thing you can do is not buy a Tesla and suggest to others not to buy on either. As the DOGE team like to say. starve the beast, where Leon is the beast.
  - micromacrofoot 2y ago
    what function do billionaires fulfill that 1000 millionaires couldn't do better?
    - yongjik 2y ago
      That's neither here nor there. Trump and Musk are dismantling the American government piece by piece, and I'm not terribly interested in discussing whether billionaires were the problem all along. That feels like a totally unnecessary diversion. By all means, after America kicks out Trump, feel free to discuss billionaires and the tyranny of capitalism and everything. Just not now.
      - micromacrofoot 2y ago
        why? it's hard to quantify the impact but musk personally spent hundreds of millions to get this outcome if he weren't a billionaire we might not be in this situation at all
        EasyMark 2y ago
        and hundreds of millions to him is like a months salary, so it cost him almost nothing
    - antonvs 2y ago
      Most millionaires are just older people who’ve earned and invested well throughout their careers. They’re not functionally a replacement for anyone who’s a billionaire because they run large businesses.
- Muromec 2y ago
  Sometimes I think it's a shame that modern democracies lost the original feature of classical Greek city-states -- exile by popular vote. Maybe this is us rediscovering the necessity for it. Exiling Musk to the Moon or Mars (at his own cost) would be amusing.
blfr 2y ago
[flagged]
- dylanhassinger 2y ago
  Thats a load of bull. more like they are just doing Putin's bidding by dismantling the US federal government
- rideontime 2y ago
  They were a well-regarded, non-partisan tech team. What was possibly "unreliable" about them?
  - hooverd 2y ago
    They're career professionals and career professionals might be loyal to the state instead of the dear leader.
  - miltonlost 2y ago
    They didn't reliably side with Trump and Putin on all matters. The goal of the Trump administration is the destruction of the US government in order to dismantle it and offer it to billionaire buddies. Government employees reliably wanted to serve the American people. Their non-partisanship is the entire problem. Please please stop being naive about Trump and thinking they or DOGE is doing anything above the board.
  - matchagaucho 2y ago
    My main recollection of 18F and the USDS is that they expanded the number of identity logins on VA.gov from one to three during their tenure. During one of these transitions, I lost access to my account and had to go through a full re-validation process. When the VA added ID.me last year as 4th identity provider, and mandated its use by March 4th 2025, it felt like an admission that private-sector providers outperform government-built identity systems. Internal VA IT resisted years of 18F and USDS-led attempts to refactor the underlying COBOL and MUMPS systems — progress is necessary, but this was not the team to deliver it.
purple_ferret 2y ago
Elon literally said they would be 'deleted' for being 'far left,' specifically for working on direct file. Yet, people still seem baffled by what's going on and refuse to accept the maliciousness behind his and Trump's actions. He came out against a public technology service! It's like Bill Gates being confused about USAID being dismantled and being willfully ignorant that the people dismantling it believe he's part of some sort of global health conspiracy along with Soros. It's easy to see why they're successful. Their 'opposition' does nothing but roll over.
- colechristensen 2y ago
  There are things that I at least understand, but who is opposed to direct tax filing and … why?
  - slater 2y ago
    Intuit and their lobbyists, because.. you guessed it! Money.
    - smallmancontrov 2y ago
      Rich people, because... you guessed it! Money. (Direct File doesn't directly affect them, but the push towards automated tax collection strikes at the heart of their games.)
      - duskwuff 2y ago
        > the push towards automated tax collection strikes at the heart of their games I don't think that's even it. The goal is to make taxes seem scary and complicated to the public, to build a consensus that taxes should be eliminated or simplified - which inevitably plays out in ways which will largely, if not entirely, benefit the wealthy. And in this light, the reason the wealthy are opposed to Direct File is obvious: having it available reduces the pain that people (and particularly the working class) will feel from having to file taxes, making it harder to drum up popular support for "reform".
outside2344 2y ago
He is not interested in efficient. He is interested in destroying anything that regulates or taxes him.
- kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
  It's an Obama legacy. You ingratiate yourself to the felon by destroying what he hates.
  - disqard 2y ago
    Yes, Occam's Razor explains it best. This is the moment a petulant man-child decided to destroy America: https://youtu.be/k8TwRmX6zs4?si=TZ1nltJJlDNKm9_9 https://youtu.be/k8TwRmX6zs4?si=TZ1nltJJlDNKm9_9
tootie 2y ago
Also they worked as a shared service taking fees from agencies that required their services and did not have any specific appropriation in the federal budget. This was pure spite and not cost saving at all.
Muromec 2y ago
It's very sensible to disband 18f simply because founding fathers of US never wrote anything about internet in the constitution.
hnburnsy 2y ago
According to a GSA forensic audit, 18F was losing money, had billing issues, and spent too much time on non-billable activities (52% versus 48% billable). https://www.gsaig.gov/sites/default/files/ipa-reports/OIG%20 https://www.gsaig.gov/sites/default/files/ipa-reports/OIG%20... The GSA conclusion was... 1. Establish a viable plan to ensure full cost recovery of ASF funds expended by 18F. 2. Ensure that internal 18F projects have appropriate supervisory review. 3. Implement controls over 18F’s reimbursable agreement process to ensure that work is not performed outside of a fully executed agreement. 4. Ensure that GSA CIO reviews and approves, in writing, all 18F IT-related work performed for GSA internal organizations. 5. Implement a comprehensive review of 18F’s past work to ensure accuracy of all billings. 6. Establish reliable internal controls to ensure that 18F’s future billings are accurate. 7. Ensure that 18F’s billing records are retained in accordance with GSA records management standards.

xyst 2y ago

Got to make room for the trillion dollar tax cuts. Trickle down economics, right? Can’t wait for the pitchforks to rise up against the billionaires that created this mess.

yongjik 2y ago
This isn't caused by some nebulous alliance of "billionaires," this is caused by one particular billionaire, Elon Musk, and his friends. These days I'm getting skeptical of these anti-billionaire quips. Sounds like a great segue to "all politicians are the same because they're in the billionaire's pocket," and now look at what that led us into.
- hackyhacky 2y ago
  > This isn't caused by some nebulous alliance of "billionaires," this is caused by one particular billionaire, Elon Musk, and his friends. I am waiting for all the "good billionaires" to step up and do something about it.
  - retzkek 2y ago
    There’s at least one, although as a governor he may not count. > From the Department of Education, Medicaid, the CDC, and more - Trump and Elon Musk are gutting the agencies and programs that protect Americans every single day. https://bsky.app/profile/jbpritzker.bsky.social/post/3lisgh4bpzc2w https://bsky.app/profile/jbpritzker.bsky.social/post/3lisgh4...
  - EasyMark 2y ago
    they won't even say something, let alone do something. The only thing that could hurt Musk is the collapse of Tesla stock. Best thing you can do is not buy a Tesla and suggest to others not to buy on either. As the DOGE team like to say. starve the beast, where Leon is the beast.
- micromacrofoot 2y ago
  what function do billionaires fulfill that 1000 millionaires couldn't do better?
  - yongjik 2y ago
    That's neither here nor there. Trump and Musk are dismantling the American government piece by piece, and I'm not terribly interested in discussing whether billionaires were the problem all along. That feels like a totally unnecessary diversion. By all means, after America kicks out Trump, feel free to discuss billionaires and the tyranny of capitalism and everything. Just not now.
    - micromacrofoot 2y ago
      why? it's hard to quantify the impact but musk personally spent hundreds of millions to get this outcome if he weren't a billionaire we might not be in this situation at all
      - EasyMark 2y ago
        and hundreds of millions to him is like a months salary, so it cost him almost nothing
  - antonvs 2y ago
    Most millionaires are just older people who’ve earned and invested well throughout their careers. They’re not functionally a replacement for anyone who’s a billionaire because they run large businesses.
Muromec 2y ago
Sometimes I think it's a shame that modern democracies lost the original feature of classical Greek city-states -- exile by popular vote. Maybe this is us rediscovering the necessity for it. Exiling Musk to the Moon or Mars (at his own cost) would be amusing.

blfr 2y ago

[flagged]

dylanhassinger 2y ago
Thats a load of bull. more like they are just doing Putin's bidding by dismantling the US federal government
rideontime 2y ago
They were a well-regarded, non-partisan tech team. What was possibly "unreliable" about them?
- hooverd 2y ago
  They're career professionals and career professionals might be loyal to the state instead of the dear leader.
- miltonlost 2y ago
  They didn't reliably side with Trump and Putin on all matters. The goal of the Trump administration is the destruction of the US government in order to dismantle it and offer it to billionaire buddies. Government employees reliably wanted to serve the American people. Their non-partisanship is the entire problem. Please please stop being naive about Trump and thinking they or DOGE is doing anything above the board.
- matchagaucho 2y ago
  My main recollection of 18F and the USDS is that they expanded the number of identity logins on VA.gov from one to three during their tenure. During one of these transitions, I lost access to my account and had to go through a full re-validation process. When the VA added ID.me last year as 4th identity provider, and mandated its use by March 4th 2025, it felt like an admission that private-sector providers outperform government-built identity systems. Internal VA IT resisted years of 18F and USDS-led attempts to refactor the underlying COBOL and MUMPS systems — progress is necessary, but this was not the team to deliver it.

purple_ferret 2y ago

Elon literally said they would be 'deleted' for being 'far left,' specifically for working on direct file. Yet, people still seem baffled by what's going on and refuse to accept the maliciousness behind his and Trump's actions. He came out against a public technology service! It's like Bill Gates being confused about USAID being dismantled and being willfully ignorant that the people dismantling it believe he's part of some sort of global health conspiracy along with Soros. It's easy to see why they're successful. Their 'opposition' does nothing but roll over.

colechristensen 2y ago
There are things that I at least understand, but who is opposed to direct tax filing and … why?
- slater 2y ago
  Intuit and their lobbyists, because.. you guessed it! Money.
  - smallmancontrov 2y ago
    Rich people, because... you guessed it! Money. (Direct File doesn't directly affect them, but the push towards automated tax collection strikes at the heart of their games.)
    - duskwuff 2y ago
      > the push towards automated tax collection strikes at the heart of their games I don't think that's even it. The goal is to make taxes seem scary and complicated to the public, to build a consensus that taxes should be eliminated or simplified - which inevitably plays out in ways which will largely, if not entirely, benefit the wealthy. And in this light, the reason the wealthy are opposed to Direct File is obvious: having it available reduces the pain that people (and particularly the working class) will feel from having to file taxes, making it harder to drum up popular support for "reform".

outside2344 2y ago

He is not interested in efficient. He is interested in destroying anything that regulates or taxes him.

kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
It's an Obama legacy. You ingratiate yourself to the felon by destroying what he hates.
- disqard 2y ago
  Yes, Occam's Razor explains it best. This is the moment a petulant man-child decided to destroy America: https://youtu.be/k8TwRmX6zs4?si=TZ1nltJJlDNKm9_9 https://youtu.be/k8TwRmX6zs4?si=TZ1nltJJlDNKm9_9

tootie 2y ago

Also they worked as a shared service taking fees from agencies that required their services and did not have any specific appropriation in the federal budget. This was pure spite and not cost saving at all.

Muromec 2y ago

It's very sensible to disband 18f simply because founding fathers of US never wrote anything about internet in the constitution.

hnburnsy 2y ago

According to a GSA forensic audit, 18F was losing money, had billing issues, and spent too much time on non-billable activities (52% versus 48% billable). https://www.gsaig.gov/sites/default/files/ipa-reports/OIG%20 https://www.gsaig.gov/sites/default/files/ipa-reports/OIG%20... The GSA conclusion was... 1. Establish a viable plan to ensure full cost recovery of ASF funds expended by 18F. 2. Ensure that internal 18F projects have appropriate supervisory review. 3. Implement controls over 18F’s reimbursable agreement process to ensure that work is not performed outside of a fully executed agreement. 4. Ensure that GSA CIO reviews and approves, in writing, all 18F IT-related work performed for GSA internal organizations. 5. Implement a comprehensive review of 18F’s past work to ensure accuracy of all billings. 6. Establish reliable internal controls to ensure that 18F’s future billings are accurate. 7. Ensure that 18F’s billing records are retained in accordance with GSA records management standards.