I doubt that Muskaswamy have ever read the Federal budget, or any of the details. Neither one has dealt with the departments and agencies they want to cut, except for the IRS. Even though your statement "Meanwhile highest ROI in government is to invest in tax collection." is absolutely true, I suspect the next Tax Law will extend and enlarge the 2017 tax cuts, and will decrease funding for the IRS and hurt it's collection efforts. Muskaswamy are arrogant, but they have no authority to affect the Federal budget. They'll have to go to Congress and they will want to control, not work with Republicans. I have no respect for almost all Congressional Republicans (and only situational respect for some of them) but I don't believe that any of them want to lose their leverage and to be told by Muskaswamy what to do. You'll then see all of them trying to be the last person to talk to Trump to push their own self-interest. I don't care what Republicans say, watch what they do, i.e., they didn't vote for Scott. There'll be an enormous amount of political sabotage, backstabbing and leaks to the press as the free-for-all begins, a political version of the Lord of the Flies. Trump is a lame duck and really, only wants to play golf, hold rallies and grift as his mental and physical health decline. He's also very susceptible to flattery and manipulation and this will go into hyperdrive. We have to resist the urge to treat Trump et al as "normal", efficient, logical and tied to a consistent ideological basis.
My two cents worth on this is purely anecdotal. I was at a dinner party in London about ten years ago when a very wealthy elder businessman laid down a global plutocrat ideological law. That is that any state that supports welfare programs creates lazy workers which in turn destroys a potentially thriving economy. I hate to believe that the political phenomenon of Muskaswamy is explained by as simple minded a social superstitious belief as this. However, if so, the US is set to suffer the same fate as the UK, societal destruction by class war.
". Just allowing the expiration of tax cuts on the highest earners generates similar savings as cutting 75% of federal employees. And, you still get to have a functional government!"
Yeah, I don't think these folks care about having a functional government.
First, it's another great analysis, direct, uncomplicated and sophisticated at the same time. Thank you. Hopefully folks will pay attention to the realities of addressing managing U.S. government spending rather than the agitprop talking points which legacy media allows.
If I didn't have some experience dealing with men -- and it's almost always men -- from the senior and executive levels of technology companies I might think that Musk and Ramaswamy were part of an organized plan to tank the government. But I've observed that a majority of tech bro executives and managers are remarkably ill-informed about anything outside of their narrow areas of knowledge and presumed expertise. They really do believe their "expertise" can save us from the threat of unbound bureaucracy.
Spoiler alert: they can't.
On the other hand, Muskawamy is a useful diversion from the more competent and determined government wreckers from the Heritage Foundation and the constellation of right- and far right advocacy organizations. Those folks do know how to cause real disruption. The appointment of Russ Vought to head OMB for a second time is, for folks in the know, more terrifying and potentially disruptive than anything that will come from the Leon and Vivek's excellent adventure. Controlling the appropriation, the executive orders, and the rulemaking makes real harm both possible and probable with control of all three branches of government.
I doubt that Muskaswamy have ever read the Federal budget, or any of the details. Neither one has dealt with the departments and agencies they want to cut, except for the IRS. Even though your statement "Meanwhile highest ROI in government is to invest in tax collection." is absolutely true, I suspect the next Tax Law will extend and enlarge the 2017 tax cuts, and will decrease funding for the IRS and hurt it's collection efforts. Muskaswamy are arrogant, but they have no authority to affect the Federal budget. They'll have to go to Congress and they will want to control, not work with Republicans. I have no respect for almost all Congressional Republicans (and only situational respect for some of them) but I don't believe that any of them want to lose their leverage and to be told by Muskaswamy what to do. You'll then see all of them trying to be the last person to talk to Trump to push their own self-interest. I don't care what Republicans say, watch what they do, i.e., they didn't vote for Scott. There'll be an enormous amount of political sabotage, backstabbing and leaks to the press as the free-for-all begins, a political version of the Lord of the Flies. Trump is a lame duck and really, only wants to play golf, hold rallies and grift as his mental and physical health decline. He's also very susceptible to flattery and manipulation and this will go into hyperdrive. We have to resist the urge to treat Trump et al as "normal", efficient, logical and tied to a consistent ideological basis.
A really interesting thing is that I have no idea if the Muskawamy committee is meant to be real, or just busywork for these two guys.
My two cents worth on this is purely anecdotal. I was at a dinner party in London about ten years ago when a very wealthy elder businessman laid down a global plutocrat ideological law. That is that any state that supports welfare programs creates lazy workers which in turn destroys a potentially thriving economy. I hate to believe that the political phenomenon of Muskaswamy is explained by as simple minded a social superstitious belief as this. However, if so, the US is set to suffer the same fate as the UK, societal destruction by class war.
". Just allowing the expiration of tax cuts on the highest earners generates similar savings as cutting 75% of federal employees. And, you still get to have a functional government!"
Yeah, I don't think these folks care about having a functional government.
Don a brilliant and well researched essay. Thank you
First, it's another great analysis, direct, uncomplicated and sophisticated at the same time. Thank you. Hopefully folks will pay attention to the realities of addressing managing U.S. government spending rather than the agitprop talking points which legacy media allows.
If I didn't have some experience dealing with men -- and it's almost always men -- from the senior and executive levels of technology companies I might think that Musk and Ramaswamy were part of an organized plan to tank the government. But I've observed that a majority of tech bro executives and managers are remarkably ill-informed about anything outside of their narrow areas of knowledge and presumed expertise. They really do believe their "expertise" can save us from the threat of unbound bureaucracy.
Spoiler alert: they can't.
On the other hand, Muskawamy is a useful diversion from the more competent and determined government wreckers from the Heritage Foundation and the constellation of right- and far right advocacy organizations. Those folks do know how to cause real disruption. The appointment of Russ Vought to head OMB for a second time is, for folks in the know, more terrifying and potentially disruptive than anything that will come from the Leon and Vivek's excellent adventure. Controlling the appropriation, the executive orders, and the rulemaking makes real harm both possible and probable with control of all three branches of government.