Cui Bono
Follow the money.
Dems fighting Trump’s cuts represent states receiving $231 billion in federal funds
They will not go quietly into the night.
‘According to USASpending.gov, each lawmaker’s state receives tens of billions of dollars in federal spending, with New York getting nearly $90 billion, Colorado receiving over $20 billion, Connecticut getting over $33 billion, Virginia receiving over $58 billion and Maryland hauling in more than $30 billion.
‘Additionally, according to the Congressional Research Service, the same states employ tens of thousands of federal employees, with Virginia employing more than 341,000 federal employees.’
Monopoly Round-Up: Will Antitrust Survive DOGE?
Disruption of the civil service may impede Trump appointees’ instincts to continue the enforcement agenda of Lina Khan’s FTC.
‘And now let’s get to the second event, which is antitrust chief nominee Gail Slater, a former J.D. Vance staffer, having her nomination hearing in the Senate on Wednesday. It’s unusual for the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division to be appointed so quickly, which means that this area is something Trump cares about. And indeed, while the right is trying to shake up government, the one part of the Biden agenda they haven’t rejected is antitrust. For instance, the Trump Antitrust Division recently challenged a big tech merger, which shocked Wall Street. Then, a few weeks ago, DOJ lawyers argued in a Google case the way they would have were Biden still in charge. Finally, last week, the FTC and DOJ oversaw a regulation on merger notifications go into effect, eschewing the broader pause on updating rules.
‘There’s a reason for this aggressive activity. Trump, whose first term saw the initial cases against Google and Facebook, sees antitrust against big tech as something he initiated. Moreover, this area of law is an attempt to reform and restructure big business, which many conservatives see as equivalent to big government. And that is in fact what Slater said to the Senate. “As some have humorously pointed out,” she said, citing the popular internet meme authored by conservative writer Sohrab Ahmari, “while nobody wants tyranny.gov, tyranny.com isn’t much better.”’
DOGE as a Control Mechanism of the Trump-Musk Co-Presidency
This isn’t a theory. Musk has said that the objective here is to bend the will of an unelected bureaucracy to comply with the policies of the elected President.
‘So DOGE has been trying to get much of the government under its control. At the same time, sections of the bureaucracy that are certain to be hostile to the administration and its goals are simply being eliminated. USAID, seen as a pillar of the “Deep State” that is both culturally liberal and hostile to Trump’s foreign policy instincts, is in the process of being dismantled. The president planned to either fire or put on leave all but a few hundred of around 10,000 staff members. On February 7, a judge issued a temporary restraining order delaying this move, and it has now been extended to the 21st of the month. Regardless of what happens, if the president is determined to weaken or dismantle the agency, he will in the end find a way to do so regardless of what the courts say.’
The Blitzkreig of Lord Beaverbrook
Before there was Musk, there was Beaverbrook. He was a great Canadian.
‘The challenge for Beaverbrook, however, in May 1940, was how to dramatically speed up aircraft production in very quick order. The Ministry for Aircraft Production formally came into being on 17 May 1940, two days after the French Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud, had already admitted France had ‘lost the battle.’ Yet as Churchill had hoped, Beaverbrook had, within a few days, established a ministry like no other. For one thing, he didn’t like committees. In his office, he had two notices. One said, ‘Committees take the punch out of war,’ while the second read, ‘Organization is the enemy of improvisaiton.’ The buck stopped with him; he liked to be informed and then he made his decision. Scientists, businessmen, industrialists - men he respected ad trusted - were all brought in. There was little hierarchy, and Beaverbrook used his closeness to Churchill and his force of personality to cut through tedious red tape. Nor did he much like memos and letters for conducting business; the telephone was quicker. Nothing was to get in the way of speeding up aircraft production.
‘Even after just a fortnight in the job, Beaverbrook’s new ministry had made startling improvements. In the first week he took over, aroun 130 new aircraft of all types had been built. By the third week of May, that had risen to 200 and by the last week of May, 280. In June 446 fighter aircraft had been built while in July that figure was 496. The same month, the German aircraft industry produced 240 fighters, less than half. It was the most favourable ratio for the Luftwaffe of any remaining month that year. Beaverbrook also halted development of other aircraft and insisted that for the time being, only five aircraft types would be built: three bombers and two fighters, the Spitfire and Hurricane. Simplifying the production process was key to increasing numbers. New models could come later, once the immediate crisis had passed.’
International Organizations Can Help DOGE Deregulate
Regulatory reform is not a crazy idea.
‘In the regulatory domain, at least a few international organizations have developed a body of work that can be understood, to a great extent, as in line with DOGE’s “regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings.”
‘Consider the work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for example. OECD practices a principle-based approach, focused on reducing administrative burdens while promoting competition. OECD also supports studies on regulatory offsets in various countries, including the United States. In addition, OECD works hard to facilitate international regulatory cooperation. The importance of this issue is reflected for instance, in a recommendation of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
‘OECD has developed an index of best practices for regulation and competition, known as the Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicators. OECD developed these best practices based on the realization that “pro-competition regulations are vital to foster innovation, business dynamism, productivity, investment, and employment.” The PMR indicators show significant room for regulatory improvement in the United States, where regulations do not perform as well as in other countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Korea, and Chile—subject to the caveat that the second-to-last United States PMR indicator was not as complete as it could have been because it only relied on data from Texas and New York.’
Trump-Musk campaign overhauls US bureaucracy, over 9,500 federal workers dismissed
Is anyone surprised?
‘The cuts primarily targeted probationary employees in their first year, who have fewer job protections. The federal government’s human resources division advised agencies on Thursday to terminate most of the estimated 200,000 workers on probation, significantly accelerating the Trump administration’s efforts to overhaul the federal workforce.’
Ironically, the red tape in government means that a significant chunk of Biden’s planned spending will never happen. Bureaucracy delayed it long enough for Trump to sit on it.
‘The leisurely pace of change means Americans may never see much of Biden’s proof. The Trump administration is trying to unilaterally take back some of Biden’s infrastructure and clean-energy spending. The Republican-controlled Congress has vowed to repeal much of it, too. If the Biden administration had already doled out the money, Trump and Congress could not easily claw it back. But because much of it was never spent, Republicans can stop projects before they even begin.’
Big Banks Are Scrubbing Their Public Mentions of DEI Efforts
Banks see the change in the wind and act accordingly.
‘The moves mark the beginning of a pullback from Wall Street’s push into DEI, according to bank executives and lawyers, which came after the 2020 protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man murdered by police. The banks are joining a retreat by many other big companies that have dialed back similar efforts, including Ford, McDonald’s and Walmart. Tech giants such as Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google have done so, too.
‘More changes are in the works at banks in the coming weeks, when companies release their annual reports, proxies and other public filings. Banks have also launched audits of DEI policies, programs and events that could open them up to legal risks.‘
Universities Launched DEI Degrees After 2020 Unrest. They Don’t Want to Talk About It
Imagine going tens of thousands of dollars into debt for a degree in DEI.
‘In the fall of 2021, UK began offering what it’s called an “innovative” and a “first of its kind” Ph.D. in Studies in Higher Education with a specialization in Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.
‘“This program will be groundbreaking for anyone interested in social justice work,” Pearlstein told a reporter for her magazine in March 2021.
‘Students who completed the Ph.D. and a new graduate certificate in “Senior Diversity Officer Leadership” would have their DEI credentials listed on their transcripts, allowing them to “stand out among the most sought-after leaders in higher education,” UK claimed.’