https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/musk-in-your-computers-an-interviewKrugman "Like most people paying attention, I was and remain terrified by the predictable power grab by the Musk/Trump administration. But it never occurred to me that Musk’s people would try to seize control of the computer systems that, in effect, cut all the checks the federal government sends out. In fact, very few people realized it was happening.
One person who did realize it, however, was Nathan Tankus — an independent expert on the financial “plumbing” at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. So Nathan suddenly became the man of the moment. His blog Notes on the Crises has become crucial reading — and he may have helped steer us, temporarily at least, away from the edge of the abyss."
https://www.crisesnotes.com/Tankus:
Yeah, it's truly remarkable. And I really want to emphasize how dramatic this is. I talked about how I wrote about impoundment, what I've been calling ‘part zero’ on January 31st, and talked about the huge disruption of, say, payment portals going down in all 50 states for Medicaid. ....
You know, in a constitutional crisis, this is the typical thing. You are fighting what I've called bureaucratic trench warfare, agency to agency.
And that's why they're sending all these people to physically take over the buildings, to shut off people's emails, all that stuff. And that stuff is hard. It's a pain. It's annoying to have to actually go to try to take control of the federal government. It would be a lot easier if you could just flip a switch and it doesn't matter what those people are doing.
And hey, maybe we can flip a switch and get those people to stop being paid. And with those people stop being paid, then they're going to have to quit and go somewhere else. Because they have to live. And it'll be a lot easier to take over the federal government that way. And that is what they were trying to do. You know, what I've called the payments heart of the federal government is the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. And they were trying to grab a hold of the payments heart and shut things down. And it seems like for now they are respecting court injunctions.
But, you know, for example, the federal judiciary is paid through the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Hypothetically, they could just shut down the federal judiciary from getting paid. And then what happens from there? No expert has an answer for you about what happens from there."
Comments
Well that might be one way to get them dudes and dudettes (federal judiciary) to start doing their jobs with a little more urgency, sensibility or just plain gusto (within the law of course).
coffeestench.I don't wish this on Medicaid recipients, but apparently this country needs a wakeup call.
why does anyone believe trump will be held accountable? this is year 5 of MAGA swallowing any deflected blame, and if some local gop shills take the heat, no biggie.
trump has yet to even use musk's 'oops, i'll fix it', which will buy a few extra years (see : healthcare, deficit,...)