Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

[Grifman]

According to the best estimates, about 5% of govt employees have taken the buyout offer, and another 10% of jobs have been eliminated due to freezes and firing of probationary employees. So we are looking at a 15% teduction within the first 30 days and they are just getting started.

[Max Peck]

Not to mention that usually rocket science just has to deal with Newton in the driver's seat. Almost all airplanes have a human pilot, and those humans are not as predictable.

Sounds like a job for Tesla self-driving AI.

[Skinypupy]

Whoopsie! DOGE incorrectly report $8 million contract as $8 BILLION.

The most expensive contract it claims to have canceled was an $8 billion agreement with D&G Support Services, LLC, a firm that was set to provide services for the Office of Diversity and Civil Rights within US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

D&G Support Services, headquartered in a Washington, D.C. suburb, describes itself as a “people-focused” organization with fewer than 200 employees. Its largest government contracts include $16 million from the Air Force for staffing support and approximately $11 million from the US Coast Guard. Since 2017, its average contract value has been around $1 million.

Looking at the latest financial records, ICE’s entire annual budget in the last decade has been around $9 billion, making the $8 billion contract cancellation highly improbable. The agency’s largest recent contracts, according to usaspending.gov, were $800 million for charter flight services and $787 million for transporting unaccompanied children and families.

Per Bloomberg, a search of the Federal Procurement Data System for the contract ID listed on DOGE’s website, 70CMSD22A00000008, shows the original contract filing from September 2022 mentions a total contract of $8 billion.

An update on January 28 revised that figure to $8 million, the same day the department listed the contract as an $8 billion saving. Moreover, two additional filings on January 29 and January 30 confirmed the contract’s partial and then full termination, both reflecting the corrected $8 million value.

I'm sure this was just an isolated, one time mistake and not a pattern of overinflating contract values in order to "prove" they are saving taxpayer dollars, right?

I do love how they did end up catching the mistake and correcting it...after they made a big public display of how they "saved money".

[Punisher]

Perhaps the overinflated numbers are purely a result of them being Wrath of Khan fans?

[Hipolito]

Tragic news.

Spoiler:

I just learned of a probationary IRS employee who was terminated, and then committed suicide.

[Grifman]

Just common sense would tell you that the number was bogus. For $8 billion you could by 4-5 Arleigh Burke destroyers. Eight billion for a largely personnel based consulting contract is obviously ludicrous.

[LawBeefaroni]

Someone posted to Twitter that there should be a "DOGE dividend", with a portion of "DOGE savings" being returned ro US citizens. Elon commented on it and Trump announced the idea publicly yesterday, with a portion also going to pay down debt.

It's a stupid idea and what DOGE is allegedly saving is a drop in an ocean of debt. Reducing tax cuts by 20% would save more than 50 years of DOGE.

What a disaster.

[YellowKing]

It's also another can of gas to throw on the inflation fire.

[LordMortis]

You do realize that back in October when it looked like a GOP sweep was coming, establishment talk was inflation is good and it's the only way to provide relief from already incurred government debt. Of course they quietly disregard that it's yet another regressive tax as capital tends to retain value and tax free debt investment gains value during inflation while cashflow and expenses are what takes the hit.

[RunningMn9]

Someone posted to Twitter that there should be a "DOGE dividend", with a portion of "DOGE savings" being returned ro US citizens. Elon commented on it and Trump announced the idea publicly yesterday, with a portion also going to pay down debt.

It's a stupid idea and what DOGE is allegedly saving is a drop in an ocean of debt. Reducing tax cuts by 20% would save more than 50 years of DOGE.

What a disaster.

Maybe, but reducing tax cuts doesn’t allow you to straight up bribe the American people.

[Zarathud]

It’s a bribe to convince the mob to let the face eating continue.

[Skinypupy]

Just common sense would tell you that the number was bogus. For $8 billion you could by 4-5 Arleigh Burke destroyers. Eight billion for a largely personnel based consulting contract is obviously ludicrous.

I had a BPA (blanket purchase agreement) contract with one agency cancelled this week. For those who don't know, BPA's don't obligate the government to spend anything. They simply do the contracting legwork so that IF they do decide to purchase, all the contracting hoops have already been jumped through and it makes the process easier.

My BPA was for five years and had a maximum value of $450,000 per year. Meaning the government could spend up to $450,000 a year, if they wanted to. In the first two years of this contract, the government had spent $15,000 in year one and $8,000 in year two. So a total of $23,000.

I can guarantee that when DOGE reports on this, they will claim that they saved taxpayers $2,250,000 ($450K/year X 5 years). When in reality, they saved taxpayers around $20K.

All the numbers you see from DOGE are overinflated or misleading bullshit.

[GreenGoo]

Tragic news.

Spoiler:

I just learned of a probationary IRS employee who was terminated, and then committed suicide.

I expect suicide numbers are going to climb over the next 4 years. Across all demographics.

[Unagi]

Tragic news.

Spoiler:

I just learned of a probationary IRS employee who was terminated, and then committed suicide.

What's with the spoiler tag?

[GreenGoo]

Tragic news.

Spoiler:

I just learned of a probationary IRS employee who was terminated, and then committed suicide.

What's with the spoiler tag?

Trigger warning.

[Unagi]

Tragic news.

Spoiler:

I just learned of a probationary IRS employee who was terminated, and then committed suicide.

What's with the spoiler tag?

Trigger warning.

But, but ... There is no warning - it's just a spoiler and one would need to click it and then see the trigger. I supposed it helps the person who just knows they don't want to read any tragic news.... but then I would ask what the heck they are doing over here in the first place.

[GreenGoo]

No argument.

[Blackhawk]

It's a stupid idea and what DOGE is allegedly saving is a drop in an ocean of debt. Reducing tax cuts by 20% would save more than 50 years of DOGE.

What a disaster.

It's not like DOGE is out to save money - that's just the cover story.

[Hipolito]

Tragic news.

Spoiler:

I just learned of a probationary IRS employee who was terminated, and then committed suicide.

What's with the spoiler tag?

Trigger warning.

But, but ... There is no warning - it's just a spoiler and one would need to click it and then see the trigger. I supposed it helps the person who just knows they don't want to read any tragic news.... but then I would ask what the heck they are doing over here in the first place.

THE EMPLOYEE WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING AN ADEQUATE TRIGGER WARNING REGARDING THE EMPLOYEE WHO WAS SACKED HAS BEEN SACKED.

[Unagi]

Spoiler:

<snicker>

[GreenGoo]

It's not like DOGE is out to save money - that's just the cover story.

This. For the millionth time, this. About anything the current administration says. Icebear, I'm looking in your direction.

You can't placate the administration by dealing with their public facing concerns. They DO NOT CARE about the make believe they are spewing.

[Smoove_B]

It's not like DOGE is out to save money - that's just the cover story.

Now with research data:

[waitingtoconnect]

It’s a bribe to convince the mob to let the face eating continue.

Yeah their own faces…

[LawBeefaroni]

It's not like DOGE is out to save money - that's just the cover story.

Now with research data:

Proof that liberals are wasteful!

[Alefroth]

And fraudsters.

[Skinypupy]

Thought this was a funny/accuratet DOGE analogy.

"For the past couple of weeks, there have been reports of a man posing as a Central Maine Power employee coming to people’s homes and trying to gain entry. Today he came to ours.

I saw someone out by our electrical meter, poking around, so I opened the door and called out to him. He said he was with CMP, and at first, he genuinely seemed legit. He reminded me that the company had recently been taken over by a new CEO who mandated that all meters get checked for functionality. I asked him what he meant by functionality, and he implied that some people were stealing electricity. This took me by surprise, and I was reminded of the time that I was renting an apartment and learned halfway through the summer that the heated pool belonging to our downstairs neighbor was actually being heating and filtered on our electric bill. I wanted to make sure no one who wasn’t paying their fair share was mooching off of our meter. I explained my concerns and asked him how that would work. But his answer was vague, and so I pressed him for more details.

At this point, he stepped up on my porch and said he had to come inside to inspect the electrical system in my house. I asked to see his badge or some sort of identification. He said he didn’t have any. I said I didn’t believe inspecting interior electrical systems of private homes was the job of CMP employee, and I asked him to wait outside. I went in, locked the door behind me, and I called the main number for CMP. After several rounds of “hold,” I finally escalated to a senior official. I asked what department the guy was with, and requested a conversation with his boss. I was told that he wasn’t in any particular department, so he didn’t have a boss other than the CEO. I said that I didn’t think CMP employees were allowed to demand to come into anyone’s home. He explained that this guy didn’t actually “work for” CMP—as in, he wasn’t an employee—he was just “with” them, and I had to let him in.

Now, as a woman home alone, I was nervous. There was no way I was going to let this guy in. But then my phone rang. It was someone I personally know from the town offices, and they said that I was going to be investigated for back taxes and I could lose my home—unless I let this guy in to do his job and secure our town’s electrical system. I explained that I didn’t owe any back taxes, and I was told this didn’t matter. That I couldn’t continue to live in Windham unless I was going to get on board with securing the town’s electrical system. “It’s a safety issue,” they said, and told me that if I obstructed his entry, I was obstructing the mandate of the electrical company to provide safe and reliable service. “Why are you against safe and reliable service?” she asked, over and over again. And before I could respond, the “CMP” guy pushed past me into the house.

He immediately opened all the windows and turned up the baseboard heat. Of course, I totally freaked out because baseboard is the most expensive heat, and it was literally going out the window. As you can imagine, it was also getting colder and colder in the house. And meanwhile, he’s going through my trash, writing down my internet password, and smashing perfectly good produce on the kitchen floor. It was complete chaos, and it was all happening so fast, I barely had time to feel terrified.

I have two of my great-grandmother’s kitchen chairs and a table—the chairs and table my grandfather and his siblings grew up with in the 1930s, the table my father associates with his grandmother—a family heirloom. I’ve invested in it, sanded and repainted it. My entire kitchen is designed around it, so that I can continue to use this piece of our family history. At some point during the chaos, this guy pulled apart the two remaining chairs and snapped one of the legs. It’s broken, and can never be repaired.

What did my produce choices have to do with electricity theft??
Why did he need to go through my trash??
Why was he stealing my internet password??
Why did he break the cornerstone piece in my kitchen?? A family heirloom??

I called 911. No one answered.
I called the regular police number and was put through to voicemail.
I called 911 again, and finally a dispatcher answered and said the police believe that corporations are people and therefore this was a dispute between two individuals and should be worked out between the two of us.

WTF??!!

You guys, this person was in my house for hours. He wouldn’t let me close the windows. My bill is going to skyrocket. And the worst part? My beta fish, Fred, died because his water got too cold. I saw too late that he was floating upside down and the color had just drained out of him. And we adopted this adorable baby bunny rabbit last month. She lost three legs to frostbite, and the tip of her left ear. I’m just heartbroken.

And after all that fear and destruction? This guy shuts the windows, tells me he made a mistake smashing all that produce because he needs me to cook him dinner, then flips off the front porch light, which I’d left on because I was planning on going out and coming home after dark. “There,” he said, “I’ve fixed it.” And he handed me a bill for $4,000 for “waste.” As he drove down the street and out of the neighborhood, he announced on a bullhorn that he’d shut off my porch light and saved my street, the town, and all the taxpayers the cost of wasteful use of electricity.