Trump creates new "department" whose goal is efficiency and cutting down government waste

[VakAttack]

And appoints two billionaires to run said department, which, again, is ostensibly targeting efficiency.  The jokes write themselves.  And obviously they named it after a meme cryptocurrency, because nothing matters any more.  Also the department is, at it's inception, immediately redundant with the GAO.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/12/congress/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-trump-00189209?fbclid=IwY2xjawGhDU9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeVk_neQy-monfqBR516iZ96u0F9VAus2eJl0q7gJ3_O6eem0mOOge81oA_aem_cLrV2O8rHM7M-Avof_VzmA

[ionel]

5 minutes ago, VakAttack said:

And appoints two billionaires to run said department, which, again, is ostensibly targeting efficiency.  The jokes write themselves.  And obviously they named it after a meme cryptocurrency, because nothing matters any more.  Also the department is, at it's inception, immediately redundant with the GAO.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/12/congress/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-trump-00189209?fbclid=IwY2xjawGhDU9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeVk_neQy-monfqBR516iZ96u0F9VAus2eJl0q7gJ3_O6eem0mOOge81oA_aem_cLrV2O8rHM7M-Avof_VzmA

How do you think they became billionaires?  It wasn't from wasting money.  Musk is an economist, his whole business model SpaceX, Boring, Tesla, X.com, Paypal ... is about efficiency.  

[VakAttack]

3 minutes ago, ionel said:

How do you think they became billionaires?  It wasn't from wasting money.  Musk is an economist, his whole business model SpaceX, Boring, Tesla, X.com, Paypal ... is about efficiency.  

The joke is he put two people in charge of a department targeting efficiency.  Regardless, this is government, not a for-profit corporation, they are run completely differently, and when Elon strays outside of his technical lane, we get things like him cratering Twitter's value. Who knows, though, maybe his seat directly next to the most powerful man in the world will magically (and massively) financially benefit Elon.  What a coincidence that would be, huh? 

[ionel]

3 minutes ago, VakAttack said:

The joke is he put two people in charge of a department targeting efficiency.  

I bet they aren't going to charge their normal hourly rate and who cares about the value of tweeter. 

[VakAttack]

2 minutes ago, ionel said:

I bet they aren't going to charge their normal hourly rate and who cares about the value of tweeter. 

Yes, I would wager they do the same thing Trump did last time: forego the actual salary for a PR win while reaping huge financial benefits in slightly less direct ways, like forcing the government to pay full freight for Secret Service at your hotels, constantly traveling to your hotels, your son-in-law getting a $2 billion plus cash influx from the Saudi government for investing,  etc, and just expecting the rubes not to notice and the sycophants not to care.  For Elon it likely will come in continued massive government subsidies for Tesla (and attempting to close off any potential competitors) as well as his oth34 companies, and deregulation, plus the already promised massive tax cut.  Possibly a little union busting legislation, too.

Either way, there are currently two people assigned to lead a department that is supposed to target efficiency. A department that is, again, immediately redundant upon its creation. 

[ionel]

19 minutes ago, VakAttack said:

Yes, I would wager they do the same thing Trump did last time: forego the actual salary for a PR win while reaping huge financial benefits in slightly less direct ways, like forcing the government to pay full freight for Secret Service at your hotels, constantly traveling to your hotels, your son-in-law getting a $2 billion plus cash influx from the Saudi government for investing,  etc, and just expecting the rubes not to notice and the sycophants not to care.  For Elon it likely will come in continued massive government subsidies for Tesla (and attempting to close off any potential competitors) as well as his oth34 companies, and deregulation, plus the already promised massive tax cut.  Possibly a little union busting legislation, too.

Either way, there are currently two people assigned to lead a department that is supposed to target efficiency. A department that is, again, immediately redundant upon its creation. 

Orange man bad. 

Edited November 13 by ionel

[Offthemat]

Where to start?

Equity overload: Federal department keeps 294 DEI staffers on payroll, most with six-figure salaries

https://archive.is/g5xNM

[VakAttack]

5 minutes ago, ionel said:

Orange man bad. 

Me: points out very specific criticism.

You:  wow, just blindly hating because it's Trump.

Just the internet in a nutshell in that single exchange.

[RockLobster]

2 hours ago, ionel said:

How do you think they became billionaires?  It wasn't from wasting money.  Musk is an economist, his whole business model SpaceX, Boring, Tesla, X.com, Paypal ... is about efficiency.  

If you think Musk's businesses are the model of efficiency - then you aren't informed and/or aren't paying attention.

SpaceX is a tremendously wasteful company. X is far less profitable than it used to be. Tesla used to have the advantage of lack of competition - that is changing quickly (although arguably not as quickly now that Musk can cause his Chinese competition to have to pay significant tariffs.) 

It's simple, Musk maintains his wealth the same way Trump has - by spending investors money rather than his own.

[RockLobster]

2 hours ago, ionel said:

I bet they aren't going to charge their normal hourly rate and who cares about the value of tweeter. 

"Hourly rate"? Wtf? These guys aren't plumbers, they are only in it for wealth. Wealth is transferred differently in those circles (as I said above, watch Musk's wealth grow as his main competition is overly taxed by the White House.)

In this particular case, the US consumer loses. If we wanted an electric car, we'll have to pay more - not less. While Musk earns more - not less.

In this new administration, even the extremely wealthy will gain more wealth - while US taxpayers see more inflation.

[headshuck]

Imagine if there was an active liberal billionaire to counter Musk?

[Caveira]

9 hours ago, VakAttack said:

things like him cratering Twitter's value.

He cut something like 75% of their unnecessary staff….. and they are now a privately held company.  What is their value today vs “yesterday”?

[Bigbrog]

6 hours ago, RockLobster said:

If you think Musk's businesses are the model of efficiency - then you aren't informed and/or aren't paying attention.

SpaceX is a tremendously wasteful company. X is far less profitable than it used to be. Tesla used to have the advantage of lack of competition - that is changing quickly (although arguably not as quickly now that Musk can cause his Chinese competition to have to pay significant tariffs.) 

It's simple, Musk maintains his wealth the same way Trump has - by spending investors money rather than his own.

  Please do tell how you know the in's and out's of Elon's businesses...

[jross]

9 hours ago, VakAttack said:

And appoints two billionaires to run said department, which, again, is ostensibly targeting efficiency.  The jokes write themselves.  And obviously they named it after a meme cryptocurrency, because nothing matters any more.  Also the department is, at it's inception, immediately redundant with the GAO.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/12/congress/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-trump-00189209?fbclid=IwY2xjawGhDU9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeVk_neQy-monfqBR516iZ96u0F9VAus2eJl0q7gJ3_O6eem0mOOge81oA_aem_cLrV2O8rHM7M-Avof_VzmA

NEWS: Agnostics are becoming believers as the divine force rumored for parting seas looked at the bureaucracy and said, 'Let there be less!'

[ionel]

6 hours ago, RockLobster said:

SpaceX is a tremendously wasteful company.

How many times did NASA re-use booster rockets before SpaceX?  How many other companies have taken astronauts to space and re-used the booster rockets?  How many times has SpaceX been able to re-use an individual booster?  How many times did it take SpaceX to re-land their first rocket vs how many times did it take NASA & companies to successful launch to space? 

[Wrestleknownothing]

36 minutes ago, Caveira said:

He cut something like 75% of their unnecessary staff….. and they are now a privately held company.  What is their value today vs “yesterday”?

USA Today 11/2/24

The valuation of social media platform X has dropped dramatically in the eyes of major investment firm Fidelity, according to multiple reports.

The market value of Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund's shares in the private company is estimated at $4.2 million, according to a monthly report released Sunday.

That's 79% less than the fund's estimate of its shares in October 2022 when Elon Musk took over Twitter, which were valued at $19.66 million. Applying the shares' relative decline to the total value of X when it was purchased would indicate a $9.4 billion overall valuation, a steep drop from the $44 billion that Musk paid in the acquisition.

MarketWatch 8/20/2024

Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter Inc. has emerged as the worst buyout since the global financial crisis for seven large financial institutions that provided debt for the deal, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The deal has now run up about $13 billion in so-called hung debt, which is money owed to banks that has not been sold partly because the value of the underlying asset has dropped so sharply due to its weak performance.

[headshuck]

.

[ionel]

3 hours ago, headshuck said:

Imagine if there was an active liberal billionaire to counter Musk?

ahh ... Trump & Musk were both liberal (Democrat) billionaires.  The liberals loved them.  Then their party moved left and left them.  They didn't change but the liberals now hate them.  

[headshuck]

Well, they have Soros.

[VakAttack]

21 minutes ago, ionel said:

ahh ... Trump & Musk were both liberal (Democrat) billionaires.  The liberals loved them.  Then their party moved left and left them.  They didn't change but the liberals now hate them.  

Lol.  Trump started claiming Obama was not a citizen.  Yeah, the left left him. 

[Paul158]

Where to start. The interest on our debt is 1 trillion dollars.  The waste and fraud in the federal government is estimated at  1 trillion dollars. The federal government employ's over 3 million people. I can't find a figure for that cost. If you add their salaries and the health, pension and all the other goodies in their package, I'm going to guess 600 Billion dollars a year. I'm sure there is a lot of redundancy in there. Maybe some analytical expert can help me with that number. 

[headshuck]

Lol.  Trump started claiming Obama was not a citizen.  Yeah, the left left him. 

You can bet they would take him back today!

[Paul158]

2 minutes ago, VakAttack said:

Lol.  Trump started claiming Obama was not a citizen.  Yeah, the left left him. 

Maybe in the special UFO hearing today they will find out he (Obama) is actually from Mar's.

[ionel]

Is it true Trump has tagged three world renowned pandemic research doctors who will head a new department and research institute to develop a new vaccine for eradicating TDS? 

[uncle bernard]