Clever Girl
People underestimated how well prepared the Trump administration would be.
‘They’ve done their homework': The unexpected power of Musk’s digital assault on Washington
It was genius to make DOGE come in as the US Digital Service. It’s inspired to go after the pot of fees GSA earns from other agencies for executing procurement.
How did Musk figure everything out so quickly? Who was helping him?
‘Based on her grasp of how the government’s underlying technology works, Lewis says that by setting up DOGE within USDS, and installing close allies like Thomas Shedd in crucial tech positions — Shedd now holds her former job as director of TTS — Musk is setting himself up to expand his digital powers further through the technical machinery of the bureaucracy, rather than through higher-profile, and more accountable, top-level appointments.
‘Lewis suggests that if DOGE insinuates itself within the General Services Administration, which houses TTS, it could have access to the GSA’s tech talent and the multi-billion-dollar acquisition services fund — a pot of money earned by contract acquisition fees that it alone controls and can be used for further hiring and procurement.’
Democrats Are Falling For Trump and Musk’s Foreign Aid Trap
Who’s in charge over there, anyway?
‘But relaunching the resistance to defend one of the least popular corners of the federal budget could be a monster miscalculation — and some prominent Democrats told me they have serious strategic reservations about how their party is fighting back.
‘When I asked veteran strategist David Axelrod whether Democrats were “walking into a trap” on defending foreign aid, he literally finished my sentence.’
The biggest breach of US government data is under way
How much of this is true? How much is political exaggeration?
‘Whether a feat or a coup (which depends entirely on your point of view), a small group of mostly young, private-sector employees from Musk’s businesses and associates — many with no prior government experience — can now view and, in some cases, control the federal government’s most sensitive data held on millions of Americans and the nation’s closest allies.
‘The access by Musk’s DOGE team represents the widest-known compromise of federal government-held data by a private group of individuals — and little has gotten in their way. ‘
People don’t understand how much work the government contracts out.
‘"Nine out of ten USAID dollars spent in 2022 went to contractors, mostly in the DC area. Less than one in ten went to front line groups."’
From COBOL to chaos: Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Evil Housekeeper Problem
Are these concerns overblown? Why not make everything transparent?
‘In trying to make sense of the wrecking ball that is Elon Musk and President Trump’s DOGE, it may be helpful to think about the Evil Housekeeper Problem. It’s a principle of computer security roughly stating that once someone is in your hotel room with your laptop, all bets are off. Because the intruder has physical access, you are in much more trouble. And the person demanding to get into your computer may be standing right beside you.
‘So who is going to stop the evil housekeeper from plugging a computer in and telling IT staff to connect it to the network?’
Incrementalism is overrated.
‘If you try to cut government with a scalpel, people inside the organization divert the funds and subvert the cuts, rename projects, or wait you out. (A lot of the chaos now is malicious compliance) Sometimes the only solution is to use a sword.’
Trump-Vowed Hostile Takeover Is Here: What to Know in Washington
It’s almost like Trump’s first term and his four years in the wilderness were part of some calculated rope-a-dope.
‘The speed and efficiency of Trump’s agenda caught many off guard, a far cry from his first term when infighting and disorganization slowed down policy execution. He’s already expanded immigration enforcement, shuttered USAID and DEI programs, and temporarily froze federal spending. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. The freeze was doomed — for now — by a botched rollout, and his order ending birthright citizenship was blocked by a judge.’
Trump Cuts to Hobble Agencies If Hard-to-Replace Staff Exit
Anyone who works in the private sector (or who is a member of any kind of team) knows one simple truth.
Everyone is replaceable.
There will be cuts of muscle, not just fat. So be it.
‘The administration’s actions—including executive orders ending remote work arrangements, stripping legal protections from career staff, and terminating federal positions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion—fuel concerns for the departures of the most experienced civil servants who stay current with advances in science and technology, according to former government workers.’
Federal court puts deferred resignation program on hold
They’re likely going to end up extending the resignation deadline.
It’s going to be weird when people who could have taken the package elect and didn’t end up getting fired. Anyone who fought this resignation package is going to look self-interested and naïve.
‘The Trump administration’s controversial “deferred resignation” program is on hold for the time being after a federal judge in Massachusetts enjoined the Office of Personnel Management from “taking any further action to implement the so-called Fork Directive.”
‘Judge George O’Toole issued the order from the bench during a very brief hearing on Thursday afternoon, while emphasizing that he had not yet reached any conclusions about the program. Arguments on the program’s legal merits are scheduled for a separate hearing at 2 p.m. on Monday, also in Judge O’Toole’s courtroom.’
What?
‘I concur with @hamandcheese that the correct way to understand DOGE is not as a cost-cutting or staff-firing initiative, but instead as an effort to prepare the federal government for AGI. Trump describing it as a potential "Manhattan Project" is more interesting in this light.’
Betsy DeVos: Shut Down the Department of Education
The momentum behind shutting down the Department of Education is building.
The US intellectual establishment working on education may be some of the least successful people in the history of mankind, notwithstanding the simplistic appeal of their myriad white papers.
Take down the non-profits reinforcing this blistering mediocrity, while you’re at it.
‘Since its creation in 1979, the Department of Education has sent well more than $1 trillion to schools with the express purpose of closing the gaps between the highest and lowest performers. Today, those gaps are as wide as they have ever been, and by many measures, even wider.
‘Last week, the latest Nation’s Report Card came out, giving us a clear assessment of where student achievement stands. The report, published by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), tells us that in reading and math, most students were even further behind than they were in 2022. Which was worse than where they were in 2019. Which was worse than 2013.’
Someone managed to convince the government to give them money by pretending to be the gadfly website that the government was going out of its way to censor.
Now, that’s chutzpah.
‘So they not only censored us, banned us and demonetized us, but they gave money to someone else pretending to be us. LOL’
Musk’s DOGE efforts pose a ‘constitutional crisis,’ experts warn
We were always going to have to test reform in the courts.
Do you think these people would just go quietly into the night?
‘“This is a test of how much power we think the president has and whether that power goes beyond what the Constitution and the law says,” he said of the DOGE. “You have people within government — civil servants — who are now increasingly threatened for just raising basic issues of law and then being punished for that, while you have actors who are coming into government, in some cases teenagers, and engaging in dramatic abuses of federal power.”’
Dismantling the License Raj: The Long Road to India’s 1991 Trade Reforms
The early 90s were a transformational time. India ran out of other people’s money. Canada had its come-to-Jesus moment.
Radical times demand radical measures.
The US may not have hit the wall, yet. Maybe it’s just taking its medicine early.
The Indian license raj was the kind of colossal misallocation of resources that only a Fabian socialist and his dynasty could conceive and force on an entrepreneurial people.
There are lessons here.
‘In July 1991, India began to dismantle its long-standing, highly restrictive import control regime and move toward a more open economy. How were policymakers able to dislodge and replace an entrenched system with powerful vested interests behind it? Standard reasons for policy change—pressure from domestic producer interests, shifts in political power, or conditionality by international financial institutions—fail to explain why the shift in trade policy took place. Instead, reform-minded technocrats persuaded political leaders to reject what had been a standard response to balance of payments pressure (import repression to avoid a devaluation) and embrace a new approach (exchange rate adjustment and a reduction of import restrictions). This paper explores the economic and political context behind the country’s dramatic policy transformation. India’s experience highlights the crucial link between exchange rate policy and trade policy.’
Trump and Musk's dismantling of government is shaking the foundations of US democracy
Me thinks he doth protest too much.
‘“Whatever DOGE is doing, it is certainly not — not — what democracy looks like or has ever looked like in the grand history of this country,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.
‘"An unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government,” Schumer posted on Musk's social media site X.
‘Musk responded on his platform: “Hysterical reactions like this is how you know that DOGE is doing work that really matters.”’