DOGE

DOGE isn't about what it pretends to be.

[...]

It used to be the kind of thing that Americans would point at sadly as an example of how other countries were struggling. Now we're failing to see the same playbook being used against us.

[...]

Tycoons don't like any game that's not rigged in their favor. And right now, government spending at the federal level is mostly controlled by an agency called the General Services Administration, which oversees procurement. Is it complicated? Sure! Sometimes the complexity is for the same reasons that processes are inefficient around the office at your job, and that's frustrating. But sometimes it's good, because they're trying to make sure nobody is buying $800 hammers. It's not perfect, and it's overly complex, but it is not totally captured by the richest guys in the world right now.

Now, imagine you were a tycoon who is also a defense contractor that is trying to sell hundreds of billions of dollars of military equipment to the government, and you know that the procurement process requires them to go with the lowest bidder. But, since you're a dude with hundreds of billions of dollars, it doesn't seem fair that the system isn't even more rigged in your favor. How would you "fix" this system? Well, you'd have to capture procurement, so that it was rigged to only buy stuff from you and your friends, at whatever price you guys want. And if it could screw your competitors along the way, and punish them for not kissing your ass? That would be a bonus.

Enter DOGE.

[...]

Say you're a government employee trying to figure out who to buy rockets from. Maybe it better be from the guy who runs the "department" that's in charge of deciding where money gets spent in the government! But what if you're that government employee and you're still trying to do things by the book, and follow the laws as written, and listen to the process that says you should go with the lowest bidder so you can spend less taxpayer money on things?

Well, wouldn't it be a shame if the guy who runs the "department" also ran a huge social media company, and also had started mentioning individual government employees by name, and had a rabid army of followers who consistently targeted those employees for violent threats — including death threats — and had in fact just carried out two different terrorist attacks in the last week while specifically talking about how enemies of this new regime needed to be targeted for violence?

[...]

People who, in good faith, want to see government get more efficient, may ask, "But what if we really do want to improve government efficiency and reduce spending?" That's great! Lots of us who care about this stuff would love to see those goals achieved. It's worth asking yourself a few questions if you care about those issues:

  Anil Dash

Continue reading.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.