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mstateglfr

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So Trump was sworn into office 4 weeks ago yesterday. The estimates today is DOGE has slashed around $110billion in wasteful spending. It’s tough to believe when it’s all over we won’t be in the trillions.
Wait, are we talking fraud or wasteful spending?
You said fraud earlier, but are now saying wasteful spending.

As I posted in the post you quoted, those are fundamentally different. Are you changing what you are calling it and no longer claiming trillions in government fraud as been uncovered?
 

jethreauxdawg

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Wait, are we talking fraud or wasteful spending?
You said fraud earlier, but are now saying wasteful spending.

As I posted in the post you quoted, those are fundamentally different. Are you changing what you are calling it and no longer claiming trillions in government fraud as been uncovered?
If someone is wasting my tax dollars for their own gain, it’s fraud
 

ckDOG

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So Trump was sworn into office 4 weeks ago yesterday. The estimates today is DOGE has slashed around $110billion in wasteful spending. It’s tough to believe when it’s all over we won’t be in the trillions.
Not a smartass response. Link the list so we can see it. Preferably from a reasonable source and with explanation of if it's waste or if it's a temporary disputation with firings of services that are really deemed essential and that Congress wants and intends to fund.
 

mstateglfr

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This might be my favorite press conference of his. I think it’s refreshing to hear someone say they make mistakes. Like we all do.

It’s also hilarious you’re trying to discredit ELON MUSK. Arguably the most successful human being in the 21st century.
I am not trying to discredit Musk. Musk has constantly posted incorrect info and lies...he discredits himself. Heck, he literally said he pushed incorrect info in the quote I provided.

Musk discredits himself.


Once more- I am on board with reducing wasteful spending, double spending, actual fraud, etc. I expect these things to be looked into, studied, and understood before action takes place.
And I expect that process not to happen in real time on social media. That, to me, is grossly irresponsible.
 

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Wait, are we talking fraud or wasteful spending?
You said fraud earlier, but are now saying wasteful spending.

As I posted in the post you quoted, those are fundamentally different. Are you changing what you are calling it and no longer claiming trillions in government fraud as been uncovered?
I think they will uncover, at a minimum, a trillion dollars in “fraud” when DOGE wraps up.

Obviously the number will be in the trillions in “wasteful spending”.

It all will depend on cooperation. If your stance is government agencies should not cooperate with an audit then I have to ask why.
 

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If someone is wasting my tax dollars for their own gain, it’s fraud

Every tax dollar that is spent for anything other than producing a direct, tangible benefit for the people who paid those dollars should be classified as fraud.
Agreed. Not sure why glfr is acting like “wasteful spending” when it comes to hundreds of billions of dollars of American tax dollars is no big deal. It’s just TDS at it’s highest form.
 

Puppers

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The trillio
Has DOGE uncovered trillions of dollars in fraud?

I mean, the USAID stuff that some find morally objectionable isnt fraud, so that sort of stuff cant count as fraud.
How much fraud has DOGE uncovered? The US spent 6.75T in '24...but DOGE has uncovered TRILLIONS in fraud? Like multiple Trillion in fraud, when 6.75 was spent?


Fox article mentions $55billion has been saved in costs so far. And again, that isnt fraud, its just saved costs. There is a HUGE difference between fraud and reduced costs.
So 5% of a trillion? Thats awesome to see...but its not all fraud and its not multiple trillions uncovered.
The "trillions in fraud" goes back decades not just last year. A lot of the US Aid audits went back to 2003. I agree that calling it all fraud is misleading. A better way to look at it is what Musk and Co view as "wasteful."

It's unlikely that this money will be recovered but it is obvious that our spending habits as a country need to be reviewed.
 
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mstateglfr

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If someone is wasting my tax dollars for their own gain, it’s fraud
Every tax dollar that is spent for anything other than producing a direct, tangible benefit for the people who paid those dollars should be classified as fraud.

These comments are like the argument that taxes for things you dont want/support are bad.

Its apparently fraud if you view spending as wasteful or if you dont think a tangible benefit exists.
That last one about a tangible benefit needing to exist, is straight up hilarious. Are hard savings the only thing that can exist?...soft savings are a very real thing in business and life, but not tangible. So spending tax money on soft savings is fraud? Wild.
 

POTUS

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Wait, are we talking fraud or wasteful spending?
You said fraud earlier, but are now saying wasteful spending.

As I posted in the post you quoted, those are fundamentally different. Are you changing what you are calling it and no longer claiming trillions in government fraud as been uncovered?
How much did we sent to Ukraine? I'd label every cent fraud.
 

ckDOG

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I think most of you are going to be very unimpressed with how small the real savings will be or shocked at how large the waste is - depending on your political leanings.
 

onewoof

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2.4 MILLION total federal employees (excluding active military and post office employess).

Ya think it might be time to trim it down a bit? Good God.
 

mstateglfr

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Agreed. Not sure why glfr is acting like “wasteful spending” when it comes to hundreds of billions of dollars of American tax dollars is no big deal. It’s just TDS at it’s highest form.
Again, I am all for reducing wasteful spending.
Everyone should acknowledge that 'wasteful spending' is a nebulous term though. Its wasteful to one person or department or agency, but its critical to another person or department or agency.

And I am all for reducing double spending or incorrect spending. Earlier in the thread you linked an AP article that documented reducing incorrect payments to dead people and I said that is great. I want payments to be accurate and only go to those who should receive payments.

My issue here is 2 fold-
- The processes to gain access and properly investigate areas of concern that are supposed to be followed have largely not been followed. This is well documented.
- The 'accuse and claim fraud first' approach is disgusting. It creates misinformation and distrust, and is irresponsible. This is largely because things are being claimed in almost real time on social media where context and full information isnt available.



For sure- reduce waste, misallocation, and actual fraud. But do it responsibly and discuss it responsibly.
 

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These comments are like the argument that taxes for things you dont want/support are bad.

Its apparently fraud if you view spending as wasteful or if you dont think a tangible benefit exists.
That last one about a tangible benefit needing to exist, is straight up hilarious. Are hard savings the only thing that can exist?...soft savings are a very real thing in business and life, but not tangible. So spending tax money on soft savings is fraud? Wild.
Do you think $10M of American tax dollars for "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision” is wasteful spending or fraud?
 

thatsbaseball

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These comments are like the argument that taxes for things you dont want/support are bad.

Its apparently fraud if you view spending as wasteful or if you dont think a tangible benefit exists.
That last one about a tangible benefit needing to exist, is straight up hilarious. Are hard savings the only thing that can exist?...soft savings are a very real thing in business and life, but not tangible. So spending tax money on soft savings is fraud? Wild.
I never knew TDS caused people to "speak in tongues" until now. I actually think sky-screaming is more effective than this gibberish. LOL
 
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mstateglfr

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The "trillions in fraud" goes back decades not just last year. A lot of the US Aid audits went back to 2003. I agree that calling it all fraud is misleading. A better way to look at it is what Musk and Co view as "wasteful."

It's unlikely that this money will be recovered but it is obvious that our spending habits as a country need to be reviewed.
...so creative accounting would have to be used to claim trillions in fraud has been recovered, and it includes things that were paid for over 2 decades ago.

Am I understanding you correctly? Thats insane, if correct.
 
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ckDOG

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2.4 MILLION total federal employees (excluding active military and post office employess).

Ya think it might be time to trim it down a bit? Good God.
Trim it where it makes sense but focusing on these for your savings is going after the small dollars. Civilian federal salaries are in the 200 million range (majority of that civilian DoD). Fed spending is like 7 trillion.
 
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I never knew TDS caused people to "speak in tongues" until now. I actually think sky-screaming is more effective than this gibberish. LOL
I’ll give glfr credit, he’s saying some of the right things like “I’m against wasteful spending “. He’s not dumb, he knows what’s occurring with DOGE is essentially good. His TDS is just preventing him from getting all the way there.
 

QuaoarsKing

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Do you think $10M of American tax dollars for "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision” is wasteful spending or fraud?
Given the HIV prevalence in Southern Africa and the strong negative correlation between circumcision and HIV transmission, that's probably a good investment, saving money in the long term.

Obviously I'm speaking off the cuff here and who knows if was spent as optimally as possible, but that seems like a bad example of what you were going for.
 

horshack.sixpack

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Are (almost)all those people over 60 actually receiving SS checks regardless of if they are alive or dead?
...or is this list just a list of people who have recevied SS checks at one time and havent been purged from the system, but arent necessarily receiving checks?
...or is this a list of people who have SS#s and show as 'alive' in some database, even though they may have been dead for decades(centuries!) and it isnt even tied to SS payments?


I mean, there is a HUGE difference between the 3 scenarios above, and any of them could be accurate(or additional scenarios too) based on what little info is released thru a tweet and rumors that mask as news stories.



Like so much over the last 9 years, I struggle to tell where the truth begins and the lies take over. Its due to agendas, a lack of well reported information, social media having no accountability to truth, and a shoot first ask questions later style of discourse by many 'leaders'.



ETA- if this is a list of people actually receiving SS checks, then everyone under 60 is also receiving checks? Of course not, so it cant be a list of everyone who is receiving SS checks. Then what is it actually a list of? Is it really just a list of people who are marked 'alive'? Well ok then, lets clean that up I guess, but why is it a 'huge problem'? Looks like some people who are dead werent reported as dead. Cool- have people work on cleaning up the list...that will require staffing, to be clear.
Still not sure why it is a 'huge problem' that needs to be tweeted about and held up as some example of corruption and wasteful spending.
Hopefully someone smarter than me, so most anyone according to SPS, can explain how much wasteful spending this stops.
The people who genuinely believe that even a subject matter experts, of which musk is not, could properly evaluate any one of these agencies in the days that it took for them to start cutting crap is quite unbelievable to me. Common sense and critical thinking are as dead as these 150 year olds getting all the SS $$$.
 

mstateglfr

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Do you think $10M of American tax dollars for "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision” is wasteful spending or fraud?
He will not answer a question that specific
I posted about this last week.

- No it is not fraud. It is clearly not fraud. If you think it is fraud, then you dont have any idea what that term means.
- I dont know if it would have been wasteful spending or if it would have been smart spending. What comes from the spent money would determine that.
- In general, I think that $10MM is a lot of money and for that, we better have been able to circumcise like 40,000 men. If it was a lot fewer, then yeah I could see it being viewed as wasted funding.


This really is just a matter of perspective- whether or not a person thinks there is a net gain by helping other countries with their health and prosperity(which is why the program existed) and what that help is worth.

I also think it is a damn shame that programs like this werent discussed with any context. That goes back to what I view as an irresponsible way of overseeing and communicating this process.
 
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Given the HIV prevalence in Southern Africa and the strong negative correlation between circumcision and HIV transmission, that's probably a good investment, saving money in the long term.

Obviously I'm speaking off the cuff here and who knows if was spent as optimally as possible, but that seems like a bad example of what you were going for.

I posted about this last week.

- No it is not fraud. It is clearly not fraud. If you think it is fraud, then you dont have any idea what that term means.
- I dont know if it would have been wasteful spending or if it would have been smart spending. What comes from the spent money would determine that.
- In general, I think that $10MM is a lot of money and for that, we better have been able to circumcise like 40,000 men. If it was a lot fewer, then yeah I could see it being viewed as wasted funding.


This really is just a matter of perspective- whether or not a person thinks there is a net gain by helping other countries with their health and prosperity(which is why the program existed) and what that help is worth.

I also think it is a damn shame that programs like this werent discussed with any context. That goes back to what I view as an irresponsible way of overseeing and communicating this process.
It’s apparent we are on total opposite sides of the ideological spectrum. I do not support sending millions of dollars to other countries for circumcisions or HIV prevention. Now it’s a free country, so if you do, that’s your choice.

All that being said, if these are the programs you want your tax dollars funding then these next 4 years are going to be absolute hell for you.
 

horshack.sixpack

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There have been countless people who have resigned in the last few weeks that havent been accused of doing anything wrong.
She also hasnt been accused of doing anything wrong. I mean like actually accused by someone with knowledge. Twitter accusing her or anyone else is...well its Twitter.



This is Twitter in a nutshell...and its also a ton of people on SPS.
USAID - provided 50% of Catholic Relief Services funding. They are the largest Christian aid organization in the world. 50% cut without any analysis or concern for the lives worldwide who are affected. The Trump org put out a dozen bullet points about USAID funding stuff they had found, with all the appropriate LGBTQ+ dog whistles, but as it turns out, 11 of those were not USAID funded and multiple, including the two most egregious offenses were State Department funded. Of course, I made the mistake of listening to one of Trumps speaking engagements last week were he thoroughly confused US National Debt with US trade deficits, so I'm sure we are on the right track. I mean at least he is honoring the Constitution and the law throughout the process.***
 

BigHarryBolz

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You linked an article that shows how the process can go- an issue is identified, Congress granted temporary access to view data, and corrections were made.

Surely you see how the example you cite is fundamentally different from the circus that is happening right now.
The article you linked shows that was done during the prior President and prior Congress.
Waste/abuse/fraud need to be looked into and stopped, and that is not some new concept.
This is basically the fundamental difference b/t most dems and most republicans.

WE SHOULDN'T NEED A 6 TO 10 WEEK PROCESS THAT COST THE TAX PAYER MORE MONEY.

What Doge is doing is shedding the light on all of the inefficiencies of goverment. There are tons of them.

FYI lots of waste is fraud.

To be clear i think there is both in our system. Direct fraud (some people from both sides are guilty). And waste that isn't fraud. If you are wasteful or too inept to be efficient, you should be fired.
 
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BigHarryBolz

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It's quite unlikely that he is legitimately uncovering "trillions of dollars in fraud." Obviously we do not oppose rooting out fraud as a concept, we just maintain a healthy and reasonable skepticism about his honesty and competence.
Nothing wrong with being reasonably and healthily skeptical. Anything that has happened so far that makes you more skeptical? If so be specific.
 

mstateglfr

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President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have repeatedly affirmed Musk’s leadership of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But according to a new court filing from the White House, the administrator of DOGE isn’t Elon Musk after all. Who is? No one knows. The White House won’t tell the public...
On Monday evening, Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House Office of Administration, claimed Musk wasn’t actually in charge of the so-called department he’s championed for months.
In a recent Oval Office appearance, Trump referred to DOGE as Musk’s “team.” If Musk is not serving as the administrator, his leadership appears to be unofficial, and in name only. But this would leave it unclear who the official administrator actually is—or if the office is vacant.

This isn’t a trivial matter. The executive order establishing DOGE plainly states, “There shall be a USDS Administrator established in the Executive Office of the President who shall report to the White House Chief of Staff.”
According to Fisher’s statement, Musk has nothing to do with any of this.
“The U.S. DOGE Service is a component of the Executive Office of the President. The U.S. DOGE service Temporary Organization is within the U.S. DOGE Service. Both are separate from the White House Office,” Fisher wrote in his statement. “Mr. Musk is an employee in the White House Office. He is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization. Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
Meanwhile, as USDS staffers are trying to figure out who is running their agency, dozens of them have been laid off. Around 50 people out of USDS’s approximately 200 employees were fired on Friday. Sources tell WIRED that product managers, designers, and members of the talent team were hit the hardest, along with some engineers.

“No rhyme or reason. Literally in the middle of work,” another source said of the Friday night firings. “There are so many of us.”



So Musk and Trump said Musk is running it, but Musk isnt running it, and nobody knows who is running it, and Musk isnt an employee of the WH, and Musk is an employee of the WH, and 25% of the staff was fired.

Yep, that conflicting and confusing summary tracks with the chaos of Doge over the last month.
 

BigHarryBolz

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Feb 18, 2025
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Has DOGE uncovered trillions of dollars in fraud?

I mean, the USAID stuff that some find morally objectionable isnt fraud, so that sort of stuff cant count as fraud.
How much fraud has DOGE uncovered? The US spent 6.75T in '24...but DOGE has uncovered TRILLIONS in fraud? Like multiple Trillion in fraud, when 6.75 was spent?


Fox article mentions $55billion has been saved in costs so far. And again, that isnt fraud, its just saved costs. There is a HUGE difference between fraud and reduced costs.
So 5% of a trillion? Thats awesome to see...but its not all fraud and its not multiple trillions uncovered.
They have uncovered a ton of things that are either wasteful or fraud. Both are bad/terrible.

Nothing they have done to this point should make dems cry about what they are doing. actually it should make you think, "if theyve found this so easily, what else is out there". And that should make you want them to dig deeper. I'm not saying cut off anything. I'm saying expose everything.

Obviously i want them to cut out the waste and fraud as they find it. $54 million in condoms is wasteful. Its very likely its fraudulent too.
 

horshack.sixpack

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I’m pretty skeptical of this chart. If this represent people receiving benefits - that would be basically every child in America is getting $. That doesn’t reconcile for me.

I could see this being the raw data which is then filtered through numerous checks and confirmations before receiving funds?
Again, the idiots fellating Musk over his findings are completely ignoring the size of these organizations and the impossibility of anyone properly analyzing them in days/weeks. If I walked into any one of these poster's businesses and within days told them I'd figured out what they were doing wrong, stopped payment on all outstanding checks to their vendors and fired all the people who were no good, they would howl about the stupidity of the situation.

Never mind the fact that strong man Trump is so weak he has to get someone else to run the country. The weakest picture from the Oval office ever is Elon standing in a t-shirt with a kid on his back subjugating Trump as he sits there looking like a wimp. The US is a laughing stock for the rest of the world rn.
 

QuaoarsKing

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Now with a straight face . Was your vote for Harris more of a vote for Harris or a vote against Trump ?
It was both. I was never a huge Harris fanboy (in contrast to Biden), but she would have been an acceptable "generic Democrat" which works for me.

I never liked Trump obviously, but after January 6 (and really the 2 months of lies leading up to it) I would have voted for any plausible Democratic nominee over him.
 

horshack.sixpack

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"Wasteful spending" to Elon's piggy bank either way the money will be gone
Most interesting opinion article I read about Elon's end game was from across the pond and it said his sole goal was the colonize Mars and this was just a stepping stone. I struggled to determine how they were associating his current efforts with getting to Mars beyond gaining more power and money?
 

BigHarryBolz

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USAID - provided 50% of Catholic Relief Services funding. They are the largest Christian aid organization in the world. 50% cut without any analysis or concern for the lives worldwide who are affected. The Trump org put out a dozen bullet points about USAID funding stuff they had found, with all the appropriate LGBTQ+ dog whistles, but as it turns out, 11 of those were not USAID funded and multiple, including the two most egregious offenses were State Department funded. Of course, I made the mistake of listening to one of Trumps speaking engagements last week were he thoroughly confused US National Debt with US trade deficits, so I'm sure we are on the right track. I mean at least he is honoring the Constitution and the law throughout the process.***
Cry more.

FYI, i hope they cut all the catholic funding and church funding. If i wanna fund the church or africans or gays or whatever, i can do it myself.

We obviously have to have some sort of USAID foot print but it should be very transparent. ITS NOT.
 
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