DOGE: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead

Cool I'm good.

 

Vivek; “Hey, Elon. You odd or even?”
Musk: “Odd of course”
Vivek: “Damit, I’m even. I’m out”

 

Knowing Trump, I assumed it was the Department of Getting Even.

 

I predict that Elon Musk and Donald Trump will get even wealthier from the government "efficiency".

 

DOGE will end up like all of the other special commissions intended to end waste and improve efficiency in the government. Almost all of them fail because the largest governmental expenditures are nondiscretionary and/or they are for programs that are "sacred cows" and can never be cut for political reasons.
The disappointing history of government efficiency commissions like DOGE
Fiscal Commissions: Promises and Disappointments

 

Nah,
You’re just unable to comprehend what we’ve been telling you.
We don’t like Trump. But we abhor many liberal progressive ideas.
Maybe try a little harder.

 

One of the very few government expenditures that actually has a positive return on investment is IRS enforcement with the return estimated at 6 dollars for every dollar spent. A sure bet is that Trump and the Republican Congress will almost certainly significantly cut enforcement considering that they their real constituency isn't the voters responsible for electing them but the contributors to their campaigns.
Turns out IRS audits of wealthy offer terrific return on investment for taxpayers — Harvard Gazette
For every extra dollar invested in the IRS, the government could be getting $6 back

 

I would line to see us get rid of the IRS and go with the FairTax

 

He is up for impeachment starting January 21. All he has to do is commit some more felonies. And he might want to be nice to both the other party (who will be handling the impeachment proceedings) and the people, who will be holding the pitchforks demanding he spend the rest of his life in prison for his felonies if he screws them out of Social Security or any other program them deem important.

I say sentence Trump to prison now (for the felonies he's already been convicted of), and have him sworn in from his cell, and bring the Resolute Desk in to his presidential cell. There is nothing in the Constitution that says a prisoner can't be president, is there? It would be hilarious, I think.

 

good luck with that

 

Maybe Musk and Ramaswamy will suggest that. It would personally save them a great deal of money.

 

Plus, as a tax cheat, Trump has every reason to want to weaken the IRS.

 

The IRS would still be needed to collect that tax although it would be far smaller than it current size administering the income tax. That being said the FAIR tax is really fair only to the wealthy. Middle income and working class taxpayers would be screwed under the Fair tax, which is nothing more than an across the board sales tax and like all sales taxes would be retrogressive.
The ‘Fair Tax’ Act Would Radically Restructure the Nation’s Tax System in Favor of the Wealthy

 

Congratulations. Please enjoy my cut.

 

LOL, I love how the left just shits on literally everything the other side does. I mean since no one could do it before the thought is let’s not try again. That sounds like the American Spirit!

 

Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. There have been commissions intended to cut government waste for decades and none of them have really had a major impact for two reasons. First, the amount of waste in relation to the total size of the federal budget is very small and secondly it's impossible to make major cuts in the federal budget because most of the spending is for mandatory programs and/or it's politically impossible to make the cuts. The largest federal expenditures for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and defense. Extremely difficult to make cuts and in the case of defense members of Congress are very reluctant (naturally) to support cuts for programs that benefit their constituents and they also have an implicit agreement among themselves to support programs in each other's district. One prime example that comes immediately to mind is the C130. Even though the Air Force didn't request or need more C130s Congress appropriated funds for the planes because the Lockheed factory that produced was in Newt Gingrich's district and they provided jobs for his constituents.
While the linked articles below are from 1997 and 1998 the culture of Congress is unchanged.
Defense force-fed a high-pork diet Lockheed

Lockheed Counts On Backing From Congress to Sell Its C-130

 

Correct.
“Creating a commission to trim wasteful federal spending is not a new idea; both former presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton established similar task forces. Looking back, those past task forces resulted in mixed effects and reveal possible shortcomings and issues with Trump and Musk’s proposal.”


Trump and Musk want to create a government efficiency commission. It’s not a new idea

 

It's called a "prebate" and it would offset the fair/sales tax for lower income Americans at least to some extent. Middle income taxpayers wouldn't be eligible for the prebate and would really be screwed.
This is from an analysis of the proposal:

First, this would be a large detriment to equality among the American people. Many analysts already predict this would overwhelmingly benefit wealthy individuals and corporations at a cost to lower and middle-class taxpayers. Our current tax system employs a progressive income tax rate, which follows the vertical equity principle – people with more income pay more in taxes than people with less income. By imposing a flat rate on purchases, lower and middle-class individuals will bear a far greater burden of taxation than under the current system. While the bill has “rebates” for lower-income taxpayers, it is unlikely to make up the difference in tax burdens, especially for those who are just outside the range of the rebates.​

The Pros and Cons of the Proposed Fair Tax Act of 2023