dr_analog
razorboy
No bio...
User ID: 583
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
Can't the judiciary hold members of the Treasury in contempt for not unfreezing the funds?
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
What crisis?
Isn't "constitutional crisis" a general term where the branches contradict each other and it's not clear what to do to resolve it?
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
I am 100% certain Trump would be impeached and removed if he was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.
Besides that, I'm less sure.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
The Democrats in Congress don't have the votes to impeach him though, so that indeed creates the crisis.
The Republicans in Congress may have the votes to ratify the freeze though. That resolves the issue.
Alternatively there could just be escalating contempt of court proceedings against underlings and disregard for the judiciary.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
here's an argument for shutting it down from the CFPB director during Trump's first term
https://nypost.com/2025/02/03/opinion/consumer-watchdog-hounded-us-businesses-lets-shut-it-down/
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
what's the bull case for Elon's plan to delete the CFPB?
(aside from "infuriate Elizabeth Warren" which I can sympathize with)
I consider it bad that some section of the population is too stupid not to wind up paying all of their future income to banks in the form of interest and fees and good that one agency exists to push back on them a little
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
Is there any information Trump is or has shaken the FAA up over this? At the minimum the ATCs who cheated should be identified and fired, the candidates who were denied because they failed should be awarded money damages with the option to apply again, and everyone at the FAA who was involved in this bullshit BA test should be fired and lose their pension. Surely whether or not it's actual DEI, everyone can agree it was misconduct and this is the appropriate remedy?
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
I don't really understand the procedural issue. The president is the chief executive. Among other things, can view all classified material in the nation, can he not? The treasury is part of his branch of government, isn't it?
Why is his delegate not allowed to audit the treasury? Why do the procedures that he's not following actually matter? He has to appoint several people in various places and file the proper forms to do it, instead? What's the effective difference, other to frustrate the effort?
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
x.com/DOGE is their official brag
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
I can only pitty the fools that still do preorders, can someone explain to me what consumers get out of them?
My guess is the bulk of gamers have limited means and a "better spend my money on things I like while I have it now" mentality. They might not have the money on or after release day. The option to pay for it in advance is the perk, a wise investment in future happiness.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
It's like for the first time in my lifetime people said 'no, we don't do that anymore.' And our leaders now share values sufficiently enough that they didn't ignore the sentiment or just listen and commiserate, they actually...obeyed. Pretty much instantly.
I've been thinking about this.
Are we... The Man now? Is our generation now old enough and influential enough to wield primary political power, and this is what it looks like?
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
Trump: have you guys ever considered just ethnically cleansing them?
Trump: like, duh
Maybe he really is a genius? If he actually makes the Palestinians relocate and turns Gaza into American Ibiza he'll be the most competent President of my life.
The worst part is that his wife looks clearly disturbed, sad, and afraid as he stands there looking around in a sort of combative way. It’s truly awful.
Maybe. I'm sure a hypothetical therapist would ask her, a model, "so, what are you getting out of posing nude at the Grammy's?" and her response wouldn't be "absolutely nothing, I'm just a prisoner here in my world famous musician husband's $35 million Beverly Hills mega-mansion".
Just seems like performance art to me.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
One of the unsettling things about democracy is complete randos (and their delegates) can be elected and take control of the entire country despite having built none of it, yes.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
Right, though I meant more like the general sketch of the strategy. Congress authorizes spending and revenues are raised and they don't stop being raised just because the executive stops spending it.
So, if it's politically impossible for Congress to pass a bill that cuts expenses by 20%, can it be done in reverse? The executive stops spending 20%, damage done, they own it. But then Congress can just rubber stamp the reduction after the fact? And since it's revenue neutral (negative actually) it only needs the reconciliation process to pass (simple, filibuster proof majority)?
Well, in a functional organization you would say we have $4 trillion in revenues and $6 trillion in expenses, year over year. This is obviously unsustainable. We need to cut $2 trillion in expenses or we go bankrupt.
So you ask every department head to produce plans to cut their spending by one third. It's hard but they do it and you implement the cuts and layoffs and move on.
That's not the government we have though.
In our government such a process would take years and the conclusion would be that we can't cut anything. The "experts" would not comply. They probably don't even know how to comply, because they've been shielded from "efficiency or death" forces their whole lives.
Faced with this, you can do it in reverse. Randomly shoot big holes in the agencies. Then drip money back into them. It'll be now be clear what roles were most essential and should be filled back in first.
Is this ideal? No. But what's even more not ideal is the current trajectory.
So... what's the Elon deficit reduction strategy here? Get like 5-10% of the government to resign, maybe fire another 5-10%, then go to congress and say look we can spend 10-20% less on salaries, go ahead and pass a reduced budget through reconciliation?
This actually sounds not too crazy.
Hopefully losing 10-20% of the work force doesn't cause a corresponding 10-20% reduction in government revenues but... it's kind of hard to see how it would.
EDIT: maybe something's wrong with me but I consider this topic fun and not weighty which is why I posted it here in the Friday thread. Seems like it has created a more typical CW thread discussion. My bad.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
Trump doing mass firings of federal employees, mass deportations, and dismantling DEI, just like he promised. The libs are coping and seething, but they can't do anything more than that, and the reason they can't do anything more than that is because more people pressed the "Trump" button than the "Harris" button in the voting booth
I love your enthusiasm but hold on there sparky. Just because he signed a bunch of EOs doesn't mean any of this stuff will actually happen.
Between infinite lawsuits, various federal judges blocking the orders, and deep state foot dragging, it'll be a miracle if any of these things actually happen before a 2028 or 2032 Democrat President comes by and cancels it.
Then Yarvin laughs.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
Is there anyone would disagree with this statement? The actually controversial part is how to cut the deadwood and I'm increasingly concerned the Trump admin are incapable of this.
The controversial part is considering any rank and file employees deadwood. According to Reddit (not necessarily /r/fednews, I've never read it, but I imagine they would agree) all problems with low performance in organizations are because management is incompetent and/or corrupt and the noble rank-and-file employees are all blank slates who would excel if the organization properly set them up to succeed.
The whole project of identifying bad performers and cutting them is considered evil, any answer to "how to cut" is rejected by definition.
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
This comment seems "boo outgroup" but the characterization is so novel I need to study it. I can imagine fart huffing San Franciscans but can't really imagine what you're describing here.
What's the lawsuit argument? The federal government can't do layoffs?
dr_analog
razorboy
4mo ago
I notice, as of a few hours ago, a new provider called "DeepInfra" appears with similar rates to DeepSeek. Despite the name they don't appear related to DeepSeek.
I use a high deductible Sedera plan. They're not legally allowed to be called insurance even though they're more like the textbook definition of the word.
Basically I pay out of pocket for everything but if I have a medical "event" that costs more than $5,000 they'll cover the overage. Premiums for my family of 4 are about $4800/y instead of like $22k for normalfag insurance (which also has high deductibles).
My waifu and I are in our 40s though and don't have too many events. Might be different if we had chronic illnesses.
Yes. This part has been eye opening. You can basically pay 20-40% of billed prices if you shop around.
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