Political Posts

[KFRCanuk]

1 minute ago, Saluki said:

All these "cuts" are performance theater, nothing more. It's red meat for the angry and ignorant. 

 

Since we are all investors here, assume you have two stocks and one is a 13% position and another is 0.01%, and you need to raise cash.  You don't touch the big one which loses money, but you cut the smaller one, which pays a huge dividend. How are you doing?   The big one is defense, 13% of spending. The second one is CFPB which had a budget of $800mm and returned $20bln to consumers since 2011.  The math isn't mathing. 

 

If you think government is wasteful because the workers "don't do anything" then how is paying them for 9 months and telling them they don't have to work going to improve that productivity issue? 

 

 

It seems that the Harper Government tried to constructively rein in spending across the Canadian Government. It does not sound like it continued.

 

Canadian DOGE? How Canada SUCCEEDED Where DOGE is FAILING

 

 

 

I would think that having strong auditor generals and continuous improvement programs would be something that a majority of Canadians would support.

 

 

 

[cubsfan]

Gotta love what Elon is doing with DOGE.....

the naysayers will piss and moan, while the public cheers. 

 

https://doge.gov/savings

 

 

 

 

[tnathan]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

 

Well - you have a direct contradiction if you listen to the video. He still thinks he can cut $1T.

 

That is an aggressive, but worthy goal. 

Just do the math...you can get to a trillion if you cut the very large line items, which are military, healthcare, social security / unemployment. You're not getting there by cutting small parts of everything else. When they start trying to cut social security let's see what happens

[cubsfan]

8 minutes ago, tnathan said:

Just do the math...you can get to a trillion if you cut the very large line items, which are military, healthcare, social security / unemployment. You're not getting there by cutting small parts of everything else. When they start trying to cut social security let's see what happens

 

I'm looking forward to exactly that. If you believe Mr Musk, there is vast amounts of waste/fraud, etc -- in addition to unneeded overhead, etc.  

 

I'm not betting on anything in terms of a "number" - I'm simply delighted the current government is committed to cutting the deficit.  I've no doubt this will be

a difficult tightrope to walk between tax cuts & budget cuts.

Edited February 26, 2025 by cubsfan

[Parsad]

4 hours ago, 73 Reds said:

Thing is, I don't care about his motivations, only his results.   As long as he is not breaking any laws, all the power to him.  Some folks (not you) get too caught up in personality types which are highly irrelevant when otherwise positive influence can be of great benefit.  As a society we're well past the point of positive role models; social media has pretty much ended that.  So what's left are accomplishments.  

 

Well, we don't know if he is breaking any laws.  Every bit of oversight has been fired, removed or works for the Trump administration.  Buffett talks about his three traits in people he hires...brains, energy and integrity...if they have the first two, but the third one is missing, don't waste your time.  Cheers!

[John Hjorth]

Somehow, I just waited for you to 'arrive' here in this topic, @Saluki! 

 

[Kind of internal joke between @Saluki and me, here.]

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

If one layoffs people with a [perhaps long] notice, while firing them, one naturally demand them to loyally do their job as if they were not laid off, within their notice period, because they are paid for doing so. Everything else is just crazy and stupid. In short, you're just a petty, shitty employer, public or private, doesen't really mattter, if you don't do your best to furnish the fired employee with the written statement, that the layoff wasen't caused of personal performance, and the handover of tasks to others was approached in an appropriate and constructive way.

 

I have seen such bad things happen to many people, especially getting layed-off in owner-controlled businesses, my favorite business then to pull some strings at another client in need of somebody with these actual qualifications, without beeing pushy, just shortly presenting an opportuninity.

 

Creating one contact - two people who come to appreciate you! - so, it's not a Win-Win, it more like a WIn-Win-Win. It's easy to do, by phone, but it has to be sincere, and honest.

[73 Reds]

1 minute ago, Parsad said:

 

Well, we don't know if he is breaking any laws.  Every bit of oversight has been fired, removed or works for the Trump administration.  Buffett talks about his three traits in people he hires...brains, energy and integrity...if they have the first two, but the third one is missing, don't waste your time.  Cheers!

But just bear in mind that Elon doesn't have to be doing anything for DOGE or the US government so it all depends on how integrity is defined.

[Parsad]

3 hours ago, cubsfan said:

 

 

I have NO idea where you are going with this. Who cares what the cabinent thinks.

It's non of their business.  Musk works at the direction and solely for the President.

 

All that matters is that Musk is in charge, he works directly for the President and will be fired 

only by the President.

 

What exactly is your point?

 

Point is you didn't believe the NY Times.  This deterioration in what we trust as news and what we qualify as news has become plainly apparent.  There is a measles outbreak in Texas, with one child dead, and the head of the government on health doesn't believe in vaccines.  Fiction has become fact!  Cheers!

[Parsad]

2 hours ago, tnathan said:

I think what a lot of the arguments miss is that the only way to make a real dent in the budget is some combination of cuts to (1) Defense (2) Social Security and (3) Healthcare. So Elon can claim to be making great progress, but nothing he cuts outside of these areas actually matters. Good luck to him cutting #2 and #3 above -- these are a lot more complex than simply saying "we are getting rid of DEI programs". If he does start to cut #2 and #3 people are going to have serious problems with him. 

 

+1!  Cheers!

[Sweet]

The government added two trillion of spending during covid and it never really reverted back to trend.  So whatever has received extra since Covid can’t it be reduced back to the 2020 base plus inflation.

Edited February 26, 2025 by Sweet

[Parsad]

46 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Gotta love what Elon is doing with DOGE.....

the naysayers will piss and moan, while the public cheers. 

 

https://doge.gov/savings

 

 

 

 

 

I'm happy to see him get rid of a ton of waste...but as I said before, I think he's taking a chainsaw to it, rather than a scalpel.  There are a ton of programs that he cut on that list related to renewable energy, agricultural efficiency, numerous studies, etc.  If they have anything remotely to do with DEI, renewables, minorities, etc...they were just cut out.  Cheers!

[Parsad]

12 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

But just bear in mind that Elon doesn't have to be doing anything for DOGE or the US government so it all depends on how integrity is defined.

 

He's already getting government contracts for his projects...from Starlink to Space X.  You don't think he's going to be getting a shitload more of these contracts by working for the Trump administration?  It also frees up capital that can be spent on projects he wants to see through.  Cheers!

[73 Reds]

Just now, Parsad said:

 

He's already getting government contracts for his projects...from Starlink to Space X.  You don't think he's going to be getting a shitload more of these contracts by working for the Trump administration?  It also frees up capital that can be spent on projects he wants to see through.  Cheers!

OK, but is that necessarily a bad thing?  And don't you think that otherwise worthwhile programs that are being cut can be/will be reimplimented with better personnel and perhaps some different objectives?

[Parsad]

4 minutes ago, Sweet said:

The government added two trillion of spending during covid and it never really reverted back to trend.  So whatever has received extra since Covid can’t it be reduced back to the 2020 base plus inflation.

 

They'll also be adding trillions as they cut taxes, because it will take some time for lower taxes to generate increased revenues for the government.  Tariffs won't account for all of the lost income tax revenue.  Cheers!

[Parsad]

Just now, 73 Reds said:

OK, but is that necessarily a bad thing?  And don't you think that otherwise worthwhile programs that are being cut can be/will be reimplimented with better personnel and perhaps some different objectives?

 

When you are talking about integrity, you don't believe there should be barriers to conflicts of interest or awarding of contracts based on price and service?  Cheers!

[73 Reds]

Just now, Parsad said:

 

When you are talking about integrity, you don't believe there should be barriers to conflicts of interest or awarding of contracts based on price and service?  Cheers!

Sure, but how many "Elon Musks" exist in the world?  To describe him as exceptional would be an understatement so do you think he should be treated like everyone else when it comes to what he can potentially generate?

[DooDiligence]

To answer the question posed in the title of this thread.

 

NOT A SHRED of HUMANITY.

Strictly lizard brain.

[cubsfan]

17 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

Point is you didn't believe the NY Times.  This deterioration in what we trust as news and what we qualify as news has become plainly apparent.  There is a measles outbreak in Texas, with one child dead, and the head of the government on health doesn't believe in vaccines.  Fiction has become fact!  Cheers!

 

Yes, very true, just like I don't trust Paul Krugman, I don't trust the NYT. 

 

But I could not read beyond the paywall, so I was confused. My real issue was, hey so they are joking around about the Cabinet approving of Elon. Well,  it doesn't matter, only that the President was happy with Elon.  So the reporter's question was irrelevant.  I've worked with collegues I did not like, but if the boss was happy with them - that's what mattered.

[cubsfan]

10 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

I'm happy to see him get rid of a ton of waste...but as I said before, I think he's taking a chainsaw to it, rather than a scalpel.  There are a ton of programs that he cut on that list related to renewable energy, agricultural efficiency, numerous studies, etc.  If they have anything remotely to do with DEI, renewables, minorities, etc...they were just cut out.  Cheers!

 

Every tech company I ever worked for conducted RIF's (reductions in force) when things were not operating well.  Big cuts, deep, quick, painful for all - great for the company. Capitalism is an amazing thing - it adjusts FASTS.  Given what I've seen from the Chicago government, Illinois government - the waste is monumemtal. I'll be shocked if it's not enormous with the Feds.

 

The chainsaw is the silicon valley model - and it's about survival of the entity.

 

Government employees don't give a shit about efficiency - their only solution - TAX MORE!

[james22]

1 minute ago, Parsad said:

I think he's taking a chainsaw to it, rather than a scalpel.

 

No one is arguing that.

 

The argument is it's too late for the scalpel.

 

 

[james22]

On 2/25/2025 at 10:06 AM, james22 said:

But reformers are now no longer dependent upon the bureaucracies to provide information.

 

 

[cubsfan]

36 minutes ago, james22 said:

 

 

 

This is really an awesome clip. The relevant stuff starts at the 4:00 minute mark.

 

Takes about the DOGE process, the DOGE findings, the methods of blocking DOGE.

 

Great stuff.

[lnofeisone]

43 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

This is really an awesome clip. The relevant stuff starts at the 4:00 minute mark.

 

Takes about the DOGE process, the DOGE findings, the methods of blocking DOGE.

 

Great stuff.

This must be the result of some of these fine, fine methods.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/26/musk-doge-savings-website

Edited February 27, 2025 by lnofeisone
grammatical error

[Spekulatius]

On 2/25/2025 at 10:31 AM, james22 said:

 

Move Fast and Break Things

Works for startups but not for large organizations where there is a lot to lose when things break.

[DooDiligence]

19 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Works for startups but not for large organizations where there is a lot to lose when things break.

 

Like the world maybe.