*** “The point is you can’t be too greedy.” [ Donald J. Trump: “The Art of the Deal” ]

This post provides some excerpts from: “The Department of Government Efficiency Is a Lie – And It Might Destroy Us All” [ Thom Hartmann; The Progressive populist; 5/15/25 ]

1]. “America is under siege, but not by foreign armies or rogue terrorists, the threat is coming from inside the house: unelected billionaires who are quietly hijacking our democratic institutions from within.”…..
“This isn’t cheap or even ordinary corruption: †his is the sort of thing that happens in Third World countries….It’s the sort of corruption that destroys democracies from the inside out.”…..

2]. “And make no mistake: this is not some crackpot theory. Shortly after DOGE operatives created accounts inside the NLRB system, a login attempt came from a Russian IP address using one of those accounts..”…..

3] “What’s being looted here isn’t just random bureaucratic files. We’re talking about the private information of whistleblowers, union organizers, witnesses in federal cases, proprietary corporate data, and labor rights enforcement strategies. Including complaints and complainants against Elon Musk’s companies.”

*** “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.” [. Honore de Balzac ]

4] “In other words, the raw materials for dismantling organized labor in America – and for targeting, harassing, or discrediting anyone trying to stand up to corporate power, including Elon Musk’s multiple efforts to stop or break unionization attempts in his own companies.”
“This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s the naked truth, verified by a growing number of insiders and corroborated by NPR, which reports that at least 11 government officials and staffers have confirmed their fears about DOGE’s data exfiltration campaign.”

5]. “Here’s the conflict of interest that should make every American’s hair stand on end: Elon Musk’s companies – Tesla, SpaceX and X – were themselves under investigation by the NLRB for alleged labor violations. At least until musk’s underlings fired the people investigating him and his companies.”

*** “There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. the wrong comes when riches possess men.” [Billy Graham]

6]. “And if the information DOGE extracted gets used in court – or even leaked selectively – it could permanently tilt the scales of justice in favor of Musk and his corporate cronies

7]. “But it gets worse. Much worse. According to longtime employees within the Department of Labor and other agencies, the DOGE teams aren’t seasoned experts or trained cybersecurity professionals. They’re “new arrivals,” many of them with no vetting, no security clearance, and no relevant experience. Some have even worked with criminal hackers, and another reportedly runs a website based in Russia.”
“Yet they were granted sweeping access to some of the most sensitive data systems in the federal government. It’s a digital coup executed not by hackers, but by political loyalists and tech-bro mercenaries handed the keys to the kingdom by billionaire benefactors.”

*** “Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.” [ Theodore Roosevelt ]

8]. “This is how authoritarianism functions in the 21st century. It doesn’t need a dictator in a military uniform when it has billionaires in boardrooms, access to surveillance technology, and cronies embedded deep within the machinery of government. It replaces accountability with loyalty. It replaces oversight with secrecy.

9] “This isn’t just about controlling government agencies and the courts, it’s about creating a culture of fear so pervasive that no one dares to challenge power. Workers won’t organize. Regulators won’t enforce. Whistleblowers won’t come forward. Democracy withers not with a bang, but with a whimper of silence and complicity.”

***** “Social control is best managed through fear.” [ Michael Crichton ]

***** “If you want to control someone, all you have to do is make them feel afraid.” [ Paulo Coelho ]

!!!!! STOP !!!!! – Before going further – ask YOURSELF – what are the government functions that DOGE
did. NOT. investigate – Defense Department?, Going to Mars?, corporate subsidies,
subsidies to rich farmers – some living in cities!!! – versus real “Mom & Pop” farmers?,
interests that benefit Trump donors?……………

***. “Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees, and both the trust and
the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.” [ Henry Clay, 5/16/1829 ]

1] “DOGE promotes..purported savings on an “Agency Deregulation Leadersboard…But many of those regulatory reversals will actually pile more costs on to individual Americans in the form of higher bank fees, electric and water bills, and health insurance payments, according to experts and government analyses.” [NOTE: average American households saved $576 on water and gas bills due to appliance efficiency standards in 2024]

2] “But several experts, upon reviewing the DOGE website and the notices in the Federal Register that it links to, said many of DOGE’s numbers appeared to be plucked from nowhere.” [!!! – ‘plucked from nowhere” !!!!! ]

3] “An earlier Times analysis of DOGE’s related “Wall of Receipts” – which shows purported savings to federal spending through staff reductions, lease cancellations and terminated contracts – found that the math that could back up those checks is marred with accounting errors, incorrect assumptions, outdated data and other mistakes.” [NOTE: thus revealing that “our” so-called “efficiency experts” are themselves INCOMPETENT !!!!!!!!!!]

4]. “The misleading claims come as the Trump administration has begun a push for mass deregulation of the American economy, with plans to rapidly undo hundreds of rules on clean air and water, food safety, labor protections, finance, health care, telecommunications and more.” [NOTE: – read this again – how will this “..promote the general Welfare..”??? – do YOU benefit from this or – do Trump’s rich business donors ?????]

5]. “Mrs. Dudley, the former regulatory chief of the George W. Bush administration, said she tasked one of her graduate students at the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center to spend days trying to decipher how DOGE came up with the $1.9 billion figure, but the student came up empty-handed.”

“I don’t understand how anyone thinking this through could account for that claim of savings…They’re not doing their homework, and they’re not showing their work.” [ items 1-5 from: Coral Davenport, Stacy Cowley: “Costs for Americans Rise Despite Claims by DOGE”; New York Times; 6/1/2025 ]

***. “Anybody who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”
[ Albert Einstein ]

6]. “About 40% of DOGE contract cuts save nothing…Government’s own data show a lot of the money has already been spent”. [ Ryan foley; Associated Press; 2/26/25 ]

7]. “Musk offers no proof for sweeping claims” [ Maggie Haberman, Theodore Schleifer, Zolan Kanno-Youngs; New York Times; 2/12/25 ]: Musk: “We are actually trying to be as transparent as possible…I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization.” “In reality, Musk’s team is operating in deep secrecy, surprising federal employees by descending upon agencies and accessing sensitive data systems.”

8]. “DOGE’s only public ledger is riddled with mistakes”. [ Aatishi Bhatia, Emily Badger, David Fahrenthold, Josh Katz; New York Times; 2/23/25 ]: “But the math that could back up these checks is marred with accounting errors, incorrect assumptions, outdated data and other mistakes…its slapdash accounting adds to a pattern of recklessness by the group…” [NOTE: in one case, DOGE claimed $232 million in savings, actual savings were $560,000 !!!!! ]

9]. DOGE Savings Could Be Offset By Firing Costs”. [ Elizabeth Williamson; New York Times; 4/27/25 ]: The Partnership for Public Service said: “..firings, re-hirings, lost productivity, and paid leave of thousands of workers will cost over $135 billion in 2025.” Then there is the cost of defending 200 lawsuits and appeals related to Trump’s agenda. “Not only is Musk vastly over inflating the money he has saved, he is not accounting for the exponentially larger waste that he is creating..”

10]. “DOGE can’t find Social Security fraud… In recent years, less than 1% of payments deemed improper”. [ Todd Frankel, Hannah Natanson; Washington Post; 3/25/25 ]: Musk claimed 20 million Americans over age 100 receive Social Security checks – the agency found 1,294 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11] !!!!! Read “DOGE falls far short of budget goal”. [ David Fahrenthold, Jeremy Singer-Vine; New York Times; 4/14/25 ] – for. LAUGHTER !!!!!!!!!!!!! at the unbelievable. INCOMPETENCE. of DOGE – claiming savings for a contract canceled when Biden was president; claiming saved $1.75 billion for. $0 savings; claiming savings for a “contract that did not exist.” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And more !

*** “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most do.” [ Dale Carnegie ]

[ NOTE: no laughing matter – the cost of all this craziness, damage, chaos, error, incompetence – Americans like YOU will suffer, and many will die. We will soon post here what the Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP is doing to cripple and dismantle American health care – in the name of “saving money.”

Keep in mind one simple thing: all this is being done to save money for billionaires and others in the top 1-3%. Defunding the IRS gives the game away – because an underfunded IRS can’t enforce tax laws – as the IRS has ALREADY testified. – it can’t get the $1 trillion a year in evaded taxes. – most of which will be by the top 1-3% and the corporations they own or control. Speak up or YOU will continue to get hurt.

*** Billionaire Leona Helmsley: “We don’t pay taxes, only the little people pay taxes.”

1] “Trump’s taxes illustrate how the game is rigged” [ Jared Berstein; Washington Post; 10/4/2016 ]

2] “Top 1% of wealthy held more assets than entire middle class.” [Alex Tanzi, Mike Dorning; Bloomberg News; 10/11/21]

***. “Corruption comes by degrees.” [ Juvenal ]

3]. Some details – Corrupt Republican 2025 Tax Bill:
– “GOP tax bill mainly benefits wealthy, analyses find” [ Tony Romm; New York Times; 5/18/25 ]
– “Tax bill adds $2.4 T to the national debt..To offset the cost, the measure would slash spending on social safety net programs by more than $1 trillion..” [Jacob Gage, Marianna Sotomayor, Matthew Choi; Washington Post; 5/23/25]
– “All kinds of perverse incentives in this tax bill” – “..even seven moths into fiscal year 2025..[the 119th Congress}.. will grab the prize as most fiscally irresponsible Congress ever.” [ Edward Lotterman; St.Paul Pioneer Press; 5/18/25 ]

4] Some other details about Trump-Musk economic INCOMPETENCE:
– “Sliding U.S. dollar is a fiscal headache” [Allegra Catelli, Michael Msika; Bloomberg News; 5/15/25]
– “Growth becoming harder to achieve” [ Evan Ramstad; Minnesota Star Tribune; 4/27/25 ]
– “U.S. Credit Rating Is Downgraded by Moody’s” [ Tony Romm, Andrew Duehren, Joe Rennison; New York Times; 5/18/25]

[ NOTE: Let’s be honest: virtually ALL of the Trump-Musk economic actions have been motivated by one thing: CUT TAXES ON THE RICH. PERIOD. The 2025 tax bill does that. Musk’s crazy government-slashing DOGE does that. Eviscerating the I.R.S. does that. Gutting environmental protections does that. Crippling consumer-friendly investigating agencies does that. Ending subsidies for EV vehicles does that. And, MUCH more………….]

5] Perspective: Mother Jones, March-April, 2011, page 25: “It’s The Inequality, Stupid”
– “A huge share of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundreth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. the average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.”
– Most Americans have a VERY inaccurate view of how wealth is distributed in the U.S. – vastly under estimating how extremely unequal and unfair it really is. Essentially refusing to believe had badly they’re being treated.

6]. SOLUTIONS – are easy, well known – CORRUPTION. prevents them being enacted:
– SOCIAL SECURITY – it’s been known for 40 years that the solution which ENDS any Social Security “crisis” is very simple: eliminate the earnings cap with no changes to benefits. In 2010, this would have solved any shortfall by 116%- yes, more than enough. [ Timothy Taylor; St.Paul Pioneer Press; 11/21/2010 ]
– “a living wage for all is attainable” [Nir Kaissar; Bloomberg Opinion; 7/8/21]: “the most pressing problem for the U.S. remains little acknowledged and unaddressed: Tens of millions of people work full time and can’t afford food, clothes, housing, health care and a proper education for their children” [ the problem: GREED – a simple refusal by large corporations to share their profits with workers.]
– “French Lessons on How to Grow the Middle Class” [Steven Pressman; The Washington Spectator; August 1, 2018]: France reduces financial burdens on families: by paid parental leave, affordable child care, how families with children are taxed. [American governments refuse to do these things sufficiently]

*** “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, if which the greater part of ther members are poor and miserable.”
[ Adam Smith – “Wealth of Nations” ]

7]. “Worker pay stagnates as it soars for CEOs” {Patrick Kennedy; Minneapolis Star Tribune; 9/19/19]: “CEO pay has risen 940.3% over the last four decades…Average worker pay rose just 12 percent since 1978..” [Note: “940.3% is NOT a typo]

8]. “Thousands of military families struggle with food insecurity” [Ashraf Khalil; Assoc. Press; 11/15/21]

9]. “Small Farms Struggle To Survive”. [ Alyssa Schukar; New York Times; 12/12/21 ]

10] Rich and Corporate Tax Cheats – some of many hundreds – details:
– “Tax cheats cost U.S. $1 T a year” [ Alan Rappeport; New York Times; 4/14/21 ]: “the agency lacks the resources to catch tax cheats.” [Note: virtually all of those are complicated returns – of the rich & corporations]
– “At least 55 firms paid no taxes in 2020” [ Patricia Cohen; New York Times; 4/4/21 ]
– “Firms move HQ oversea then exploit tax loophole” [ Steven D. Solomon; New York Times; 2/15/16 ]

11] BUT WE KNEW MOST OF THIS ALREADY !!!!! – Reagan, Bush II, Trump 2017 tax cut failures KNOWN:
– “A tax bill only millionaires could love” [ Bill Press; 1/1/2018 ]
– “Experts: Trump stands to save millions under tax measure” [ Drew Harwell; Washington Post; 12/24/17]
– “Art Of The Steal” [ Mother Jones; March-April, 2018]
– “Reaganomics Redux, but Worse” [Jeff madrick; Washington Spectator; February l, 2018} – “…fraud..”

{NOTE; The U.S. national debt for 1789-1980 America was just under $1 trillion. Reagan tripled it. Bush II doubled that [ and bills forhis immoral Iraq war, his2008 recession still being paid]. Trump’s 2017 tax cut is 25% of current U.S. national debt. Multiple Congresses have failed to pass legislation reducing debt [legal bribery!]. BUT – BOTTOM LINE: the rich refuse to pay taxes – have given legal bribes to Congress so they don’t fix it. The debt will now be used as a club to cut services for ordinary people like YOU – which is graphically done in Trump’s 2025 bill!!!!! Rome fell from corruption – will America???]

12]. Breaking News!!! – 5/24/25 New York Times: “GOP harnessing tax code to punish Trump’s nemeses” [Andrew Duehren]. YOU TELL ME – does this cross “the red line” into. DICTATORSHIP???? – in addition to other authoritarian uses of the tax code to punish ANYONE who dares cross him? YOU. TELL ME……………….

*** “In public affairs, stupidity is more dangerous than knavery.” [Woodrow Wilson]

1]. “Economists: Trump science policies pose long-term risk” {Ben Csselman; New York Times; 4/1/25]
“..ask economists which of the administration’s policies they are most concerned
about, and many point to cuts in federal support for scientific research.”

[NOTE & REMEMBER: the driving force behind the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY is cutting taxes for billionaires!!!
“We” are slitting our throats so billionaires don’t have to pay [any] taxes.]

“To economists, the policies threaten to undermine U.S. competitiveness in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, and leave Americans, as a whole, poorer, less healthy, and less productive in the decades ahead.”

*** “Any man is liable to err, but only a fool persists in error.” [Cicero]

“Universities are tremendously important engines of innovation…”This is really killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”

*** “Fools are more dangerous than rogues.” [ George Bernard Shaw ]

“Scientists have warned that the United States risks losing its status as a leader in cutting-edge research and its reputation as a magnet for top scientific minds from around the world.”

*** “What most people don’t seem to realize is that there is just as much money to be made out of the wreckage of a civilization as from the upbuilding of one.” [Margaret Mitchell: “gone With the Wind”]

“Economists across a broad ideological spectrum argue that investments in scientific research..are among the most efficient uses of taxpayer dollars. Research has found that every dollar invested in research and development returns about $5 in economic gains, a figure that probably understates the true return because it doesn’t account for benefits that aren’t captured in measures of gross domestic product, such as longer lives and increased leisure time.”
***!!!***!!! READ THIS AGAIN – for irony! The Musk-Trump DOGE claims to be eliminating “government waste” and promoting government efficiency!!! YOU tell me – how many tax deductions for billionaires “..promote the general Welfare..” on a $1 spent with $5 return!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOGE STUPIDITY personified!!!!!

“Virtually all of modern medicine relies, to some degree, on research that was supported by federal dollars. So does much of commercial agriculture. Those discoveries, collectively, helped propel the United States rapid economic growth and rising standard of living in the 20th century.”

*** “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy, that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” [ John Kenneth Galbraith ]

2] Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY policies are – YOU tell me….Are they deliberate sabotage???…..Are they treason [note: dictionary definitions: ‘adhering to its enemies and giving them aid and comfort…the betrayal of trust or confidence; breach of faith….impair the well-being of a state…”

The economists quoted are saying that Trump-Musk policies ARE ‘impair[ing] the well-being of {America]”. When Trump was elected, did or did not Americans bestow upon him a “trust or confidence” that he would “Make America Great Again”?????????
The economists quoted ARE saying Musk-Trump policies ARE sabotaging America’s future, using historic NUMBERS – NOT opinions; FACTS – NOT “beliefs” or “gut instincts.”
Just asking………YOU tell me………………

*** ‘..there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the “money touch,” but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers.” [ Theodore Roosevelt ]

*** “We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentration in the hands of a few. But we can’t have both.” [ Justice Louis Brandeis ]