Talk about an idea that will never go anywhere…
Last week there was an article in the paper exploring the proposition that the big dividend that the DOGE cuts are supposed to provide be refunded to the taxpayers.
As soon as I saw the headline, I knew this was a
non-starter. Republicans are not taking a buzzsaw to government agencies so
that they can give the savings back to us…
Aside from eliminating federal regulations that might
cost their companies money, they want these cuts to provide a bigger pile of
money the one-percenters can divide among themselves. I’m sure they’ll figure
out just how high of an increase to the deficit that they can stomach and still
siphon the “found money” back to themselves by way of sweetheart contracts,
shady deals, and tax cuts. There is a zero percent chance that the average
citizen is going to see a dime of this largesse. Those were my thoughts before
I even read the article.
Then, I found the “but” right near the end. They quoted a guy from the Heritage Foundation as saying, “I love what DOGE is doing, but this is a bad idea. There’s no need to send dividend checks. The dividend we get from slashing spending is that it brings inflation into check.”
In other words, “Don’t
worry your pretty heads about it. I’ll tell you what you need, let’s not get into
such unpleasant topics like “money. Just forget about it and we’ll tell you
when everything is better.”
So, the original thrust of this article is that fElon was
going to check with TFG. A couple days later, I saw this article:
In other words: “No
screen time until you finish your chores. Also, you will never finish your
chores because I’ll keep adding more.” They are never going to “balance the
budget.” Republicans will fight to eliminate “waste,” as defined by “services that help the average citizen,”
but fight just as hard to avoid the tax hikes it would realistically take to
balance the books. Not to mention giving up the tax cuts that will push the deficit higher.
No, this is a smoke-and-mirrors issue that will never
come to fruition. They want the notion out there to make low-information voters
think they’ll be getting some free dough. And when they don’t, they’ll find a
way to blame the Democrats. Business as usual.
In other news, TFG remains busy trying to euthanize all the watchdogs.
Is should go without saying that if you seek control over
independent investigators, they cease to be independent. That’s exactly what he
wants. Any office that can throw a wrench into his
government-destroying plans, he’s neutering by installing his own toadies who
will be loyal to him, rather than the country or Constitution.
He’s also firing military Inspectors General (or JAGs), the
armed service attorneys who would likely take legal action to prevent the
president from unconstitutionally using the military. With them gone,
and a new legion of loyalist paper Generals, he can use the Army against
American citizens on American soil.
No one removes legal checks on power if they don’t have
plans that require such checks.
Watch this going forward. He is not doing this just for
shits and giggles.
It’s the same with the post office. He plans to abolish its independence and assume control. I’m sure there are reasons for that, too. The first one I came up with is that he bans them from delivering mailed ballots. Or, even more sinister, he keeps the status quo but covertly dumps mailed ballots from Democratic districts.
There is not a single thing this guy, nor the rest of the
Republicans are doing that helps a single citizen (making less than $500k). The
sad thing is that they’re not even hiding it anymore and their supporters couldn’t
care less.
Remember how they called Obama “The Imperial President,”
for all the executive orders he issued? (Less than Bush II, but who’s
counting?) Funny how you don’t hear a peep out of them while their guy is
destroying the government, our standard of living, and our safety net, one
executive order at a time.
(All articles are from my home delivery of the Baltimore Sun.)
