Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

[Jacuzzme]

LOL! Never really considered that, wasn’t aware Holistic existed at the time.

[1blackman1]

Medicare, unlike Medicaid is actually administered by the federal govt so would need to remain. Sending it to the states would be a disaster. It’s actually the most efficiently run govt agency. States can't effectively track a person's earnings over the decades or when they switch from state to state. There are some programs that actually need to be managed by the federal govt.

[farmstud60]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

That’s true in a lot of ways. Though eliminating personnel isn’t exactly the way to make govt more efficient. It may save a couple of dollars but won’t improve govt.

The only way to make government run better would be to take some functions from the federal govt and move it to the state entirely. Things like block grants and payment matches are an inefficient and wasteful way to implement programs that states actually run, ie Medicaid.

Govt contract procurement is also wasteful. An example would be how govt buys fatigues (battle dress uniform) for the military. Rather than porential designs being submitted by vendors and the govt choosing the one they want, they go through a paid design process separate under each branch and then choose the one they want. So vendors that lose still get paid similarly to the winning vendor. And the silliest part is that marines fatigues are slightly different that army fatigues though they are used in the same theaters. Meaning there was a wholly separate procurement process even though ultimately the purchased fatigues aren't really different.

Typical swamp answer. The bloated top heavy people don't know how to be more efficient so claim they need more money and more people.

[winn dixie]

Lolling govt efficiency

Creates more govt and has 2 people doing a job that one can do!

Bahahahahaha

Highest mark 4 snicks

[Jacuzzme]

Except neither will draw a salary or be actual government employees, so as close to 100% efficient as it gets.

[1blackman1]

Originally Posted by farmstud60

Typical swamp answer. The bloated top heavy people don't know how to be more efficient so claim they need more money and more people.

What on earth are you talking about.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

[pmdelites]

i'll believe it when i see it.
a) it wont be an actual department like justice, hhs, commerce, etc.
b) i seriously doubt they will dig deep into the workings of departments and/or agencies and recommend what to eliminate or reduce or combine
c) but they'll be able to say "we did our job. oh, the deficit tripled? no problem."

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by pmdelites

...b) i seriously doubt they will dig deep into the workings of departments and/or agencies and recommend what to eliminate or reduce or combine...

Ya may want to apply a bit more IQ to your item B:

Elon Musk hints 80-hour-a-week DOGE job for 'high-IQ revolutionaries' will be unpaid
Friday 15 November 2024

In a reply to an interested party, Elon Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free, saying that "compensation is zero".

"Super high-IQ revolutionaries" who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk's new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump's incoming US government.

The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help "dismantle government bureaucracy".

The post said: "We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.

"We don't need more part-time idea generators.

"We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.

"If that's you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants."

[Jacuzzme]

Originally Posted by pmdelites

i'll believe it when i see it.
a) it wont be an actual department like justice, hhs, commerce, etc.
b) i seriously doubt they will dig deep into the workings of departments and/or agencies and recommend what to eliminate or reduce or combine
c) but they'll be able to say "we did our job. oh, the deficit tripled? no problem."

No need to dig deep if you axe the entire department.

[Yssup Rider]

Originally Posted by Jacuzzme

No need to dig deep if you axe the entire department.

Like the military?

[Jacuzzme]

“The military” isn’t a department, it’s part of the DOD and one of the few things that the federal government is actually tasked with maintaining.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Maybe he can get the Pentagon to pass an audit after 6 failed attempts recently.

[txdot-guy]

I’ve heard that Musk slashed twitter employees by 80%. He claims he is going to slash the government budget by 2 trillion.

Well according to the Wall Street Journal federal spending on the civilian workforce is only 213 billion.

The amount spent on annual payroll for federal civilian workers was about $213 billion as of March 2024, according to an analysis of data from the Office of Personnel Management. Workers in the Education Department had a median salary of $118,000—the highest. The lowest median salary—below $60,000—was in the Treasury Department, which has many clerical jobs.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/2-3...harts-6b490ad3

Simply cutting workers won’t do it. Even cutting 100% of the federal civilian workforce (which is impossible) would not do it. Not to mention that it would simply put the burden of those agencies back on the states. Possibly reducing efficiency.

How do you think that we could balance our budget without raising taxes?

[Jacuzzme]

The excess workers are small potatoes, contractors are where the money goes. I was hosing Uncle Sam for more every month than a GS10 makes in a year, for about 15 hours work. That’s just one guy. A place like KBR with thousands of employees has contracts that are astronomical.