Send in the Clowns
Even at the top, lawmakers are going with the DODGE, the Department of Deceiving the public about Government Efficiency. Its fantasy goal is to make sure the brightwork is polished and the chow is hot
Wednesday, December 18th, 2024
Bill Bonner, writing today from Baltimore, Maryland
Another day.
Another dope trying to make sure the DOGE is neutered.
Fox News:
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said federal employees will help with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts by sharing their ideas for changes within the government. “We are reaching out to federal employees. They see it firsthand. Many of these employees are frustrated, as well. They are taxpayers, as well. They want to see it be more efficient. We are asking them to also share their ideas with us so we can actually get this thing fixed,” Lankford said on Fox News.
The DOGE has its work cut out for it. It aims to cut $2 trillion in spending. Every dollar goes to someone, so that represents as many as 20 million $100,000 paychecks. Musk and Ramaswamy are going to need all the help they can get.
But really? Get the feds to prune off the branches where they rest their own plump derrieres? How likely is that?
If they were seriously interested in cutting costs, senators could simply vote against unfunded, reckless appropriations bills. There’s one in front of them right now. The Western Journal:
History appears to be repeating itself this week as Congress has brokered an agreement on a massive year-end catch-all spending bill — something it has often done in recent years just before leaving Washington for Christmas break.
But these clowns rubber stamp every jackass piece of legislation that comes down the pike; that’s why we have a $36 trillion national debt. Now they bow their heads and cross their fingers, claiming to be dead set on ‘efficiency.’
Donald Trump reportedly said he wanted the ‘kind of generals that Hitler had.’ We presume he was impressed by their ability to get things done.
Maybe he was thinking of the way they put down the Warsaw uprising... maybe not the Battle for Stalingrad or WWII itself.
Whatever was going through his head, Mr. Trump is in a better position than anyone to batten down the hatches and tighten up the ship. But he’s way off course. Here’s Barrons:
Donald Trump’s tax-and-tariff economic policies and the U.S.’s mounting deficit could drive yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes to their highest level since 2000, T. Rowe Price has warned. The investment manager’s CIO for fixed income Arif Husain said in a report that the yield could top 5% early next year, then rise even higher.
In other words, Cap’n Trump is set to increase deficits, not shave them. A shame, because all he would have to do is what Javier Milei did, tell his generals, lieutenants, and housekeepers that that he will not tolerate any more debt.
But even at the top, lawmakers are going with the DODGE... the Department of Deceiving the public about Government Efficiency. Its fantasy goal is to make sure the brightwork is polished... the chow is hot... and the uniforms are pressed.
Just don’t turn the ship around!
Keeping the lounge tidy didn’t keep the Titanic from sinking. Nevertheless, tidiness is the new objective... and it is so important that even the Democrats are coming up the gangplank. Fox continues:
Some Democrats have jumped on board, as well: Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) have said they will join the DOGE Caucus.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) took aim at the U.S. defense budget for potential cuts doled out by DOGE in an op-ed published last week.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) earlier this month said Musk was “right” about defense spending, because the Pentagon has “lost track of billions.”
Hey, anybody can lose a few bucks here and there. But it takes talent and skill to misplace billions. That’s the kind of expertise we need on the DODGE team, right? Here’s the latest from Duffel Blog (believed to be tongue-in-cheek):
New Department of Gov. Efficiency seeks majors and staff NCOs as military liaisons
The new agency is seeking military-grade efficiency.
According to sources in the White House who spoke on the condition of possible future book deals, Musk and Ramaswamy are seeking highly capable military personnel to support the new agency’s mission and bring military-grade efficiency to the often slow and bogged-down federal government.
[Theo] Redding, a Virginia-based defense contractor, was one of the early hires for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He hit the ground running by publishing a 732-slide PowerPoint presentation outlining critical elements of new efficiency methodologies.
The next steps are obvious. Convene a series of meetings with other agencies involved with the efficiency drive. Dig into the details. Study the ‘ideas’ put forward by the feds themselves. Put out the call for bids to develop a new, AI-enhanced multi-million-dollar cost-buster program. Compare the bids... perhaps putting a few procurement specialists on the case to help analyze them. Then, await the report.
After all the obvious inputs, through-puts, and put options have been put into it, the AI report can be put to the DODGE and to a special committee of Congress... which can then draw its own conclusions, make its own recommendations, and put it in the trash.
This whole process will, of course, take time. When it is complete... that is to say, after Hell freezes over... the budget cutting can begin.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
Research Note, by Dan Denning
Congress aims to avoid a government shutdown on Friday by passing a more than 1,500 page spending bill later today. You can read a draft of the bill (if you dare) by going here. What’s in it? Only the lobbyists who wrote it know! In the meantime, two charts below as markets wait for the Fed’s decision on interest rates. First, 10-year US Treasury yields are stair-stepping their way up to 5%. Second, the Dow Jones closing lower nine days in a row, something it hasn’t done since 1978 (although only down 3%, so not The Big Loss we expect and await). Stay tuned…
When I was a Petty Officer 2nd. Class Machinist's Mate in the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power program, every member of the Nuclear Power program had to read every incident report about mistakes made by Nuclear Power program sailors and initial each report.
Every lawmaker in Congress should have to initial each page of every law they vote on to show they read it.
As the saying goes: "If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." For the Insider Bailout Crowd, this is exactly what they wish and intend: the scam continues. Best always. PM