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I feel like the media is anticipating a new Democrat controlled congress, and so they are starting to bang on the national debt panic drum in preparation. Not t

I feel like the media is anticipating a new Democrat controlled congress, and so they are starting to bang on the national debt panic drum in preparation. Not that the debt isn't a problem, and $40T is certainly a milestone, but if the dems do somehow get back in power I'd bet $40T that we will all be treated to endless op-eds about how we have to do austerity because the debt is out of control. The military will still get it's $1.5T+ budget tho. There's always enough money for more bombs.

webninja 1mo ago
It's starting to feel hopeless. A decade of party rotations and this issue still exists. The fiscally liberal will spend and the fiscally conservative aren't being fiscally conservative. How come we no longer hear about DOGE? How long until 20% of all tax revenue goes just to interest on the debt?
- krapp 1mo ago
  >How come we no longer hear about DOGE? DOGE was an obvious farce that defunded and destroyed necessary programs on a purely ideological basis[0], intimidated government employees[1], created far more tax waste than it ever found, much less claimed[2,3] disrupted legitimate government functions by firing necessary employees who needed to be rehired[4], exfiltrated an unknown amount of private data to Palantir and who knows who else[5,6], and then after permanent damage to the government was done, was closed[7]. It's mission is complete, there's nothing more to hear about them. I'm sorry if you ever thought DOGE had anything to do with an honest, good-faith effort to reduce government waste. If so, you were lied to. Its purpose was to purge the government of ideological enemies, protect Elon Musk's business interests[8] and lay the groundwork for the transition to authoritarianism. [0]https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-cuts-based-more-political-ideology-than-real-cost-savings-so-far-2025-02-12/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-cuts-based-more-politi... [1]https://www.salon.com/2025/02/06/musks-doge-operation-sued-over-effort-to-intimidate-and-threaten-department-of-labor-employees/ https://www.salon.com/2025/02/06/musks-doge-operation-sued-o... [2]https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/07/31/2025/the-217-billion-blunder-new-psi-report-reveals-billions-in-taxpayer-dollars-squandered-by-doge https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/07/... [3]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-wall-of-receipts-elon-musk-government-accountability-office/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-wall-of-receipts-elon-musk... [4]https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-gsa-fired-employees-ce18553b281fbf5816ec2fd491d79b78 https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-gsa-fired-employe... [5]https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-data-surveil-track/ https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-data-s... [6]https://whistleblower.org/in-the-news/the-independent-whistleblower-claims-doge-compromised-social-security-data-of-hundreds-of-millions-of-americans/ https://whistleblower.org/in-the-news/the-independent-whistl... [7]https://www.nffe.org/press-release/doge-fails-and-shutters-yet-permanent-damage-to-government-institutions-and-federal-workforce-remains/ https://www.nffe.org/press-release/doge-fails-and-shutters-y... [8]https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/nx-s1-5293382/x-elon-musk-doge-cfpb https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/nx-s1-5293382/x-elon-musk-dog... I mean it was named after a 4chan shitposting meme, why did anyone take it at face value to begin with?
- bakies 1mo ago
  DOGE shut down and was a farce from the beginning. Typical Musk. He only shut down regulatory parts of the government that were investigating him and stole as much data as he could. A few publicity stunts like installing starlink near the White House.
- HDThoreaun 1mo ago
  There is no fiscal conservative option in the US at this point. The republicans are just right populists now

webninja 1mo ago

It's starting to feel hopeless. A decade of party rotations and this issue still exists. The fiscally liberal will spend and the fiscally conservative aren't being fiscally conservative. How come we no longer hear about DOGE? How long until 20% of all tax revenue goes just to interest on the debt?

krapp 1mo ago
>How come we no longer hear about DOGE? DOGE was an obvious farce that defunded and destroyed necessary programs on a purely ideological basis[0], intimidated government employees[1], created far more tax waste than it ever found, much less claimed[2,3] disrupted legitimate government functions by firing necessary employees who needed to be rehired[4], exfiltrated an unknown amount of private data to Palantir and who knows who else[5,6], and then after permanent damage to the government was done, was closed[7]. It's mission is complete, there's nothing more to hear about them. I'm sorry if you ever thought DOGE had anything to do with an honest, good-faith effort to reduce government waste. If so, you were lied to. Its purpose was to purge the government of ideological enemies, protect Elon Musk's business interests[8] and lay the groundwork for the transition to authoritarianism. [0]https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-cuts-based-more-political-ideology-than-real-cost-savings-so-far-2025-02-12/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-cuts-based-more-politi... [1]https://www.salon.com/2025/02/06/musks-doge-operation-sued-over-effort-to-intimidate-and-threaten-department-of-labor-employees/ https://www.salon.com/2025/02/06/musks-doge-operation-sued-o... [2]https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/07/31/2025/the-217-billion-blunder-new-psi-report-reveals-billions-in-taxpayer-dollars-squandered-by-doge https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/07/... [3]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-wall-of-receipts-elon-musk-government-accountability-office/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-wall-of-receipts-elon-musk... [4]https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-gsa-fired-employees-ce18553b281fbf5816ec2fd491d79b78 https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-gsa-fired-employe... [5]https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-data-surveil-track/ https://www.wired.com/story/doge-collecting-immigrant-data-s... [6]https://whistleblower.org/in-the-news/the-independent-whistleblower-claims-doge-compromised-social-security-data-of-hundreds-of-millions-of-americans/ https://whistleblower.org/in-the-news/the-independent-whistl... [7]https://www.nffe.org/press-release/doge-fails-and-shutters-yet-permanent-damage-to-government-institutions-and-federal-workforce-remains/ https://www.nffe.org/press-release/doge-fails-and-shutters-y... [8]https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/nx-s1-5293382/x-elon-musk-doge-cfpb https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/nx-s1-5293382/x-elon-musk-dog... I mean it was named after a 4chan shitposting meme, why did anyone take it at face value to begin with?
bakies 1mo ago
DOGE shut down and was a farce from the beginning. Typical Musk. He only shut down regulatory parts of the government that were investigating him and stole as much data as he could. A few publicity stunts like installing starlink near the White House.
HDThoreaun 1mo ago
There is no fiscal conservative option in the US at this point. The republicans are just right populists now