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This is a good program that should be retained. But theres a nagging thing bothering me about the whole dynamic going on with DOGE critics. You get mad at the w

This is a good program that should be retained. But theres a nagging thing bothering me about the whole dynamic going on with DOGE critics. You get mad at the waste this represents, the unfairness. Ask your average middle class worker how they feel about the taxes taken out of their paycheck being wasted in the massive amount of waste fraud and abuse we all know happens in government. That is massively unfair. It one thing to lose a job because of a policy change. It’s quite another to have every paycheck docked at threat of state violence to fund the kind of stuff we are hearing about. Budget cuts and shutdowns are normal in business and all too rare in government. The argument that this or that program is good isn’t enough. But we see all these concerns and complaints based on basically that. This ignores the scale and gravity and historical incalcalitrant nature of the problem we actually have to deal with now. It’s not an option anymore. So can we please stop the wailing and gnashing of teeth and absolutely give feedback on what programs are good and why they deserve to be reinstated. I have a feeling they want to wait a year or two to find out what actually mattered.

rqtwteye 2y ago
I think the main criticism of DOGE is that there seems no deliberation at all. They cut whatever Musk and friends don't personally like or what they don't understand after 10 minutes looking at it. Such an effort should be a long careful process, not a hit and run job.
acdha 2y ago
The average worker doesn’t appreciate all of the different things the government does, and we’ve had decades of polls showing that people wildly misunderstand where money is spent. For example, people think we spend a lot more on foreign aid than we actually do – and also think that we should spend more than we do: https://www.usglc.org/blog/americans-vastly-overestimate-u-s-foreign-assistance/ https://www.usglc.org/blog/americans-vastly-overestimate-u-s... I mention this because there’s another side of this: taxes have been cut massively over the last half century, but a lot of people have not internalized what that means and simply assume that most of the money is going to something they don’t like. Cutting expenditures in any meaningful way means cutting the military, and the big social programs like Medicaid, SNAP, etc. People talk like we’re spending trillions on foreign and buying Reagan’s welfare queens new Cybertrucks but it’s really coming down to whether we want to spend less on the military, deal with our world-leading medical costs, or have rich people pay taxes at the same rates they paid around the turn of the century. The DOGE cuts work out to a few dollars per person total, and that’s before you factor in the significant new costs those cuts have incurred. It’s like looking at your personal budget and saying that the place to cut is your monthly movie date while ignoring rent, food, and car payments.
jordanpg 2y ago
What fraction of those tax dollars do you imagine is going to waste and fraud? Cite your source. And this isn’t an interesting thought experiment. It’s the whole ballgame. This is the focus of right wing propaganda. And also consider whether you will change your mind if the actual fraction is <<<1%.

rqtwteye 2y ago

I think the main criticism of DOGE is that there seems no deliberation at all. They cut whatever Musk and friends don't personally like or what they don't understand after 10 minutes looking at it. Such an effort should be a long careful process, not a hit and run job.

acdha 2y ago

The average worker doesn’t appreciate all of the different things the government does, and we’ve had decades of polls showing that people wildly misunderstand where money is spent. For example, people think we spend a lot more on foreign aid than we actually do – and also think that we should spend more than we do: https://www.usglc.org/blog/americans-vastly-overestimate-u-s-foreign-assistance/ https://www.usglc.org/blog/americans-vastly-overestimate-u-s... I mention this because there’s another side of this: taxes have been cut massively over the last half century, but a lot of people have not internalized what that means and simply assume that most of the money is going to something they don’t like. Cutting expenditures in any meaningful way means cutting the military, and the big social programs like Medicaid, SNAP, etc. People talk like we’re spending trillions on foreign and buying Reagan’s welfare queens new Cybertrucks but it’s really coming down to whether we want to spend less on the military, deal with our world-leading medical costs, or have rich people pay taxes at the same rates they paid around the turn of the century. The DOGE cuts work out to a few dollars per person total, and that’s before you factor in the significant new costs those cuts have incurred. It’s like looking at your personal budget and saying that the place to cut is your monthly movie date while ignoring rent, food, and car payments.

jordanpg 2y ago

What fraction of those tax dollars do you imagine is going to waste and fraud? Cite your source. And this isn’t an interesting thought experiment. It’s the whole ballgame. This is the focus of right wing propaganda. And also consider whether you will change your mind if the actual fraction is <<<1%.