Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Coincidentally, PBS News Hour aired a segment this evening regarding a lawsuit filed against DOGE. The Arizona Attorney General discusses multiple issues raised by 14 attorneys general.
The reason congress isn't doing anything in my opinion: They are the ones who are supposed to control spending and waste but they are owned by lobbyist and corporations. They love that Musk will take the heat for them. They can sit back and cry I didn't kill your pet project Musk did! They failed to do the job themselves. I sent an email to both senators saying as much. They (congress) should be ashamed of themselves. It will get pushed too far. The thing so far that bothers me the most is the NY mayor fiasco. Blatantly ignoring and side stepping the law so much so many resigned. That is scary.
The reason congress isn't doing anything in my opinion: They are the ones who are supposed to control spending and waste but they are owned by lobbyist and corporations. They love that Musk will take the heat for them. They can sit back and cry I didn't kill your pet project Musk did! They failed to do the job themselves. I sent an email to both senators saying as much. They (congress) should be ashamed of themselves. It will get pushed too far. The thing so far that bothers me the most is the NY mayor fiasco. Blatantly ignoring and side stepping the law so much so many resigned. That is scary.
While the framers established 3 separate but equal branches of government, each empowered to “check” the other two (currently not functioning as intended), there is a 4th “check” they could not fully envision - that being public opinion. For one, only white males who owned land back then could vote. Secondly, the sampling techniques prevalent today (Gallup & others) had not yet been invented. Third, reporting was print only and not widely accessible. There was not the “instant” electronic media as today.
So the role of public opinion wasn’t as powerful then as today. Last I heard Trump was at 53% positive. No modern Prez has survived long with negative numbers, Those low poll numbers were as instrumental in forcing Nixon out as was the pressure exerted by members of Congress. Congress too watches their public opinion numbers. Some of them would like to be reelected.
Ummm … History will tell how this mess eventually resolves.
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The six-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, showed 44% of respondents approved of the job Trump is doing as president, down from 45% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted January 24-26. Trump's approval rating stood at 47% in a January 20-21 poll conducted in the hours after the Republican's return to the White House.
Thanks JD - Must have been a different poll I heard a few weeks ago that had him at 53%.
I hasten to add that I’m not predicting Trump’s demise. Just suggesting that there are checks in place and the public has an important role in that process. Where I live it’s 3 to 1 Trump country. He has the substantial Ag community (think apples / cherries), the poorly educated low paid laborers (for reasons that escape me) and a lot of small business owners who want a weaker underfunded IRS because they often under-report income. I’m not passing judgment. Just saying how it is here in the northern reaches of the state.
Thanks JD - Must have been a different poll I heard a few weeks ago that had him at 53%.
I hasten to add that I’m not predicting Trump’s demise. Just suggesting that there are checks in place and the public has an important role in that process. Where I live it’s 3 to 1 Trump country. He has the substantial Ag community (think apples / cherries), the poorly educated low paid laborers (for reasons that escape me) and a lot of small business owners who want a weaker underfunded IRS because they often under-report income. I’m not passing judgment. Just saying how it is here in the northern reaches of the state.
Do you ever feel like a stranger in a strange land?
Where I live is not Trump country, but my family was infected - they parrot all of Fox News' top quotes. Still fascinates me how so many folks are duped by his act and they will not reverse course for any reason.
It is difficult to respect the blind loyalists. Ag community and small business vendors who want to pay less taxes? That I get.
Do you ever feel like a stranger in a strange land?
“Stranger in a strange land” - I realize that was a rhetorical question.
Most of us wear horse-blinders to some extent and tend to see things through a very narrow focal point. I have some sympathy for individuals who only know their own way of life. They’ve never been to a city, but harbour distrust and resentment to those who reside there. They’ve never belonged to a union or had a family member who did, but harbour resentment toward unions. They’d rather settle a small land dispute with fisticuffs than involve an attorney (whom they distrust). Some have never ventured more than 75 miles from home in their lives. The local TV channel is owned by Sinclair. So if Fox isn’t enough, they get the same right-wing garbage infused into their local news.
Personally, I feel fortunate to have worked in a progressive downstate urban setting for 30 years. The urban area offered vastly better educational opportunities, better libraries, a more diverse population racially & ethnically along with greater tolerance towards minorities, better career opportunities, better pay and more advanced cutting-edge medical care. Things many of these “hard right” folks just can’t relate to or identify with because they’ve never been there. It’s a circle-the-wagons mentality for many …
My initial comment noted 3-1 pro Trump. So while we are outnumbered, the area should not be cast as solid Trump. It isn’t.
...And this is to say nothing of foreign policy. I think Joe's was close to a disaster. But Trump has zero inkling that (for example) peace negotiations must include both parties to the conflict. He thinks he is the King, and he is acting like it. Deliberately ignoring laws, standards, procedures, limits, norms. As was said above: "let's just see how much I can get away with." Kleptocracy. Oligarchy. Kakistocracy.
Your portfolio? The investing environment includes considerations about whether any given country and its government can be trusted. Can I trust that my investment will not be stolen or be vaporized? Will inflation kill the value of my profit? When an Orange Dangerous, Childish, Selfish GOON is (ostensibly) in charge, being able to trust the USA is much more difficult since Jan. 20th. The Repugnant Party majority in Congress has abdicated. The regime's chief goal is to eliminate guardrails and oversight. Shit.
Over 55 years doing editorial work, working with community workers, lawyers, planners, and the widest range of engineers, I have worked perhaps a half-dozen public sector (or public-sector-related) gigs in an odd variety of areas: Great Society after-school program; Mass. legislation anti-corruption drafting; pubs director at a combo state-fed regional-planning agency; fed (often DoD-related but much healthcare too) grants editing; and finally Darpa, ARL, NSF, NIH, ONR and other agency proposal editing, maybe totaling over 100.
In every single gig, without exception, my colleagues were not just supersmart and idealistic (which now is cheaply valued of course) but more important crazy-hardworking, frequently overqualified, and almost invariably underpaid.
With all due respect. I worked on site on Stat/Gov projects for years. I don't think you had this experience. Over a decade in several states using my IT skills for Medicaid/Medicare implementations. The IT people who work for each state were mostly incapable of doing anything, lazy, unresponsive, and not working their full hours. Then I worked at CDC which is well funded. The scientists are top-notch but the back office of maintaining data and communicating with the world was pretty bad. They have several centers. They were using different systems and multiplying their IT and back office staff, but they are very similar. You can easily combine these and lay off 80% of these people. CDC gets requests from around the world. It took them 2-3 weeks to respond. Our company came in and found out it involves 4 depts within the same center. It took each dept 2-3 days to get the info. We came in and said we could cut the process by 80%. CDC dept staff and local management put every obstacle. Instead of one year, it took 3 years while paying our company a huge amount of money to install it. The staff refused to cooperate. The top brass of CDC had to come down and stand by these people and make them operate out system. The system tracked everything. When you got the request, when you read it, when you completed it, and when it was transferred to the next dept. The process changed from 2-3 weeks to only 2 days. WAS ANYONE GOT FIRED? NO. I'm talking about thousands of people in all the centers. I was involved in another project where we eliminated hundreds of jobs because we completely automated the process. Again, no one was fired. Let me tell you more about CDC. Many who worked there for 25 years got full pensions + cheap healthcare for life for their immediate family. They didn't have to work anymore at the age of 50, so they quit. Now starts the "good" part. They came back as contractors, making 30% more than their previous salaries. CDC tailored the requirement exactly to them. That is outrage because they get paid twice. A very close relative has been working for the CDC about 10 years as one of the high-profile scientists. She has told me several times that her bosses told her to slow down at least 30-40% in the last 2-3 years because they have too many employees. Now Trump told them to come back to work, but there is not enough space. DOGE laid off 10% of CDC, they can go for another 20%.
Nothing wrong with trimming the fat and changing a toxic work culture. However, taking an ax to a chunk of employees without proper PLANNING and UNDERSTANDING of the way these entities work is foolish.
Remember Chainsaw Al Dunlap? Same idea. Didn't end well for those companies, but Wall Street applauded while he crushed their operations.
Nothing wrong with trimming the fat and changing a toxic work culture. However, taking an ax to a chunk of employees without proper PLANNING and UNDERSTANDING of the way these entities work is foolish.
Remember Chainsaw Al Dunlap? Same idea. Didn't end well for those companies, but Wall Street applauded while he crushed their operations.
The other side is nothing great with waiting DECADES. Our State/Gov are hugely too big. BTW, every company I worked for cut 10-20% pretty easily when earnings were down, not even at a loss. First they cut; later they see if the results are improved. If not, they cut more. There is nothing unique in many state/Gov jobs. Gov/State cuts should be faster and deeper than the private sector. These jobs also has years of pensions, cheap healthcare, and more. After years on several sites and states, it was so clear.
FD1000: The other side is nothing great with waiting DECADES. Our State/Gov are hugely too big. BTW, every company I worked for cut 10-20% pretty easily when earnings were down, not even at a loss. First they cut; later they see if the results are improved. If not, they cut more. There is nothing unique in many state/Gov jobs. Gov/State cuts should be faster and deeper than the private sector. These jobs also has years of pensions, cheap healthcare, and more. After years on several sites and states, it was so clear.
Your neck of the woods. Did you attend?
Georgia Republican faces town hall backlash over DOGE's 'chainsaw approach' to federal cuts
"Rep. Rich McCormick faced an angry crowd Thursday during a town hall in his Georgia district, where many constituents lashed out at the Republican lawmaker over his support for massive federal layoffs and budget cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency."
Comments
The Arizona Attorney General discusses multiple issues raised by 14 attorneys general.
PBS Video
So the role of public opinion wasn’t as powerful then as today. Last I heard Trump was at 53% positive. No modern Prez has survived long with negative numbers, Those low poll numbers were as instrumental in forcing Nixon out as was the pressure exerted by members of Congress. Congress too watches their public opinion numbers. Some of them would like to be reelected.
Ummm … History will tell how this mess eventually resolves.
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The six-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, showed 44% of respondents approved of the job Trump is doing as president, down from 45% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted January 24-26. Trump's approval rating stood at 47% in a January 20-21 poll conducted in the hours after the Republican's return to the White House.
I hasten to add that I’m not predicting Trump’s demise. Just suggesting that there are checks in place and the public has an important role in that process. Where I live it’s 3 to 1 Trump country. He has the substantial Ag community (think apples / cherries), the poorly educated low paid laborers (for reasons that escape me) and a lot of small business owners who want a weaker underfunded IRS because they often under-report income. I’m not passing judgment. Just saying how it is here in the northern reaches of the state.
Where I live is not Trump country, but my family was infected - they parrot all of Fox News' top quotes. Still fascinates me how so many folks are duped by his act and they will not reverse course for any reason.
It is difficult to respect the blind loyalists. Ag community and small business vendors who want to pay less taxes? That I get.
Your portfolio? The investing environment includes considerations about whether any given country and its government can be trusted. Can I trust that my investment will not be stolen or be vaporized? Will inflation kill the value of my profit? When an Orange Dangerous, Childish, Selfish GOON is (ostensibly) in charge, being able to trust the USA is much more difficult since Jan. 20th. The Repugnant Party majority in Congress has abdicated. The regime's chief goal is to eliminate guardrails and oversight. Shit.
Over a decade in several states using my IT skills for Medicaid/Medicare implementations. The IT people who work for each state were mostly incapable of doing anything, lazy, unresponsive, and not working their full hours.
Then I worked at CDC which is well funded. The scientists are top-notch but the back office of maintaining data and communicating with the world was pretty bad.
They have several centers. They were using different systems and multiplying their IT and back office staff, but they are very similar. You can easily combine these and lay off 80% of these people.
CDC gets requests from around the world. It took them 2-3 weeks to respond. Our company came in and found out it involves 4 depts within the same center. It took each dept 2-3 days to get the info. We came in and said we could cut the process by 80%. CDC dept staff and local management put every obstacle. Instead of one year, it took 3 years while paying our company a huge amount of money to install it. The staff refused to cooperate. The top brass of CDC had to come down and stand by these people and make them operate out system. The system tracked everything. When you got the request, when you read it, when you completed it, and when it was transferred to the next dept. The process changed from 2-3 weeks to only 2 days.
WAS ANYONE GOT FIRED? NO. I'm talking about thousands of people in all the centers.
I was involved in another project where we eliminated hundreds of jobs because we completely automated the process. Again, no one was fired.
Let me tell you more about CDC. Many who worked there for 25 years got full pensions + cheap healthcare for life for their immediate family. They didn't have to work anymore at the age of 50, so they quit. Now starts the "good" part. They came back as contractors, making 30% more than their previous salaries. CDC tailored the requirement exactly to them. That is outrage because they get paid twice.
A very close relative has been working for the CDC about 10 years as one of the high-profile scientists. She has told me several times that her bosses told her to slow down at least 30-40% in the last 2-3 years because they have too many employees. Now Trump told them to come back to work, but there is not enough space. DOGE laid off 10% of CDC, they can go for another 20%.
Remember Chainsaw Al Dunlap? Same idea. Didn't end well for those companies, but Wall Street applauded while he crushed their operations.
BTW, every company I worked for cut 10-20% pretty easily when earnings were down, not even at a loss. First they cut; later they see if the results are improved. If not, they cut more. There is nothing unique in many state/Gov jobs.
Gov/State cuts should be faster and deeper than the private sector. These jobs also has years of pensions, cheap healthcare, and more. After years on several sites and states, it was so clear.
Gov/State cuts should be faster and deeper than the private sector. These jobs also has years of pensions, cheap healthcare, and more. After years on several sites and states, it was so clear.
Your neck of the woods. Did you attend?
Georgia Republican faces town hall backlash over DOGE's 'chainsaw approach' to federal cuts
"Rep. Rich McCormick faced an angry crowd Thursday during a town hall in his Georgia district, where many constituents lashed out at the Republican lawmaker over his support for massive federal layoffs and budget cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/georgia-republican-faces-town-hall-055607543.html