Kintsugi
Fixing the government will make it more effective.
If all that DOGE does is to modernize the IT infrastructure of the federal government for a fraction of what the “consultants” would charge, then they will have done a heroic service that will create its own efficiencies organically over time.
‘The @DOGE team is making a real difference fixing broken software, computer and communications systems in the government. It is difficult to convey with words just how messed up the systems are! Tech Support is sorely needed.’
DOGE Put a College Student in Charge of Using AI to Rewrite Regulations
Using AI to review regulations for their compliance with the law sounds like a good idea. It’s not like it’s making actual decisions.
Why the pushback?
The pearl-clutching over the fact that he hasn’t completed his undergraduate degree in economics and data science at Chicago is a bit much.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that they are perfecting this approach at HUD for more general application.
‘A young man with no government experience who has yet to even complete his undergraduate degree is working for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and has been tasked with using artificial intelligence to rewrite the agency’s rules and regulations …
‘Sweet’s primary role appears to be leading an effort to leverage artificial intelligence to review HUD’s regulations, compare them to the laws on which they are based, and identify areas where rules can be relaxed or removed altogether. (He has also been given read access to HUD's data repository on public housing, known as the Public and Indian Housing Information Center, and its enterprise income verification systems, according to sources within the agency.)’
‘This Is What We Were Always Scared of’: DOGE Is Building a Surveillance State
Good grief. The US has been building a surveillance state for much of the past thirty years. Suggesting that this is a novel DOGE initiative is rich. Perhaps the problem is that it is effective. Or maybe it’s the identity of the putative political beneficiary.
‘Elon Musk may be stepping back from running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but his legacy there is already secured. DOGE is assembling a sprawling domestic surveillance system for the Trump administration — the likes of which we have never seen in the United States.
‘President Trump could soon have the tools to satisfy his many grievances by swiftly locating compromising information about his political opponents or anyone who simply annoys him. The administration has already declared that it plans to comb through tax records to find the addresses of immigrants it is investigating — a plan so morally and legally challenged, it prompted several top I.R.S. officials to quit in protest. Some federal workers have been told that DOGE is using artificial intelligence to sift through their communications to identify people who harbor anti-Musk or -Trump sentiment (and presumably punish or fire them).’
What?
‘The similarities between Elon Musk and Buddha may not be striking, but the billionaire made the comparison when discussing the future of DOGE with reporters at the White House on Wednesday. "DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism," he said. "Buddha isn't alive anymore. You wouldn't ask the question: 'Who would lead Buddhism?'"’
DOGE’s Damage Makes Way for Serious Government Reform
Here’s hoping that the initial noise is now behind us with the more effective reform just beginning.
‘As Musk’s involvement wanes, the priority for policymakers should be focusing on such workaday improvements. The president has said he wants to “keep the best and most productive people.” Appointing Scott Kupor to lead the Office of Personnel Management is a good start. Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, says that he prefers a “surgical” approach to cutting jobs and wants to redesign the recruitment, development and management systems for federal workers. He should be confirmed.
‘Next, Congress needs to update the Civil Service Reform Act to build a workforce suited to the digital era. That means rewarding federal workers for showing initiative and producing measurable results rather than for box-ticking. Staffers who deal directly with the public are often in the best position to see how and why government programs are falling short; they should be empowered to do something about it.’
DOGE expands presence at Wall St regulator, sources say
For all its talk of decimating agencies, DOGE seems to be remarkably thinly staffed.
‘Presidential adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is expanding its presence at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by adding a third staff member, according to people familiar with the matter.’
Another Bit of Revolutionary Common Sense
Merit is real. Merit is color-blind. All kinds of people evince merit every day.
Meritocracy is too important to be limited to the private sector.
‘A bedrock principle of the United States is that all citizens are treated equally under the law. This principle guarantees equality of opportunity, not equal outcomes. It promises that people are treated as individuals, not components of a particular race or group. It encourages meritocracy and a colorblind society, not race- or sex-based favoritism. Adherence to this principle is essential to creating opportunity, encouraging achievement, and sustaining the American Dream.
‘But a pernicious movement endangers this foundational principle, seeking to transform America’s promise of equal opportunity into a divisive pursuit of results preordained by irrelevant immutable characteristics, regardless of individual strengths, effort, or achievement. A key tool of this movement is disparate-impact liability, which holds that a near insurmountable presumption of unlawful discrimination exists where there are any differences in outcomes in certain circumstances among different races, sexes, or similar groups, even if there is no facially discriminatory policy or practice or discriminatory intent involved, and even if everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. Disparate-impact liability all but requires individuals and businesses to consider race and engage in racial balancing to avoid potentially crippling legal liability. It not only undermines our national values, but also runs contrary to equal protection under the law and, therefore, violates our Constitution.’
Republican bills aim to roll back state regulations
GOP legislators want to push back on administrative fiat. This includes mandatory sunset provisions, state payment of legal fees for successful regulatory challenges,, requirements to lay out the purpose and potential effects of new rules on a rule-by-rule basis.
‘“Wisconsin is in need of a regulatory reset,” said state Rep. Adam Neylon, R-Pewaukee, an author of one of the bills, during a news conference at the state Capitol. “Instead of trying to find compromise with the Legislature, Gov. Evers wants to govern through administrative rule, regulating as much as he can, as fast as he can.”’
The pitfalls of overhasty business deregulation
Administration moves to fold the responsibilities of the PCAOB (the accounting regulator) into the SEC may have unintended consequences.
I’m old enough to remember Enron, Tyco, and the lot of them. Let’s not forget “earnings management.”
The Big Wheel keeps on turning.
‘Commenting on changes in audit regulation in 2003, Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s business partner and vice-chair of Berkshire Hathaway, said accounting standards had “deteriorated faster than morality in investment banking — and I hate the first more than the second because I expected more of the accountants”.
‘Having at first resisted the change, big firms mostly see the value of a regulator that prevents a free-for-all and a race to the bottom in audit quality, even though they may carp occasionally about the activism of the board’s current chair, Erica Williams. She said this week she was “deeply troubled” by the draft legislation.’