If I wanted to spend $1 million ($1M) at the rate of $1 per second, it would take about 13 days; $1 billion ($1B) about 31 years, and $1 trillion ($1T) over 300 centuries. The difference between 1M, 1B, and 1T is hard to comprehend.
That’s just a fun math exercise until you realize the debt service alone on the annual Federal budget is $1.78T. With that sort of debt service, you quickly get the idea that the Federal budget is huge and the amount of spending versus the amount of revenue is way out of balance and has been for years. I will leave the argument as to whether there is too much spending or too little revenue to others … but the right answer is probably some of each. What is certain is that drastic corrective action is urgently needed.
I understand and agree with the need to control Federal spending, even if that includes reducing the Federal civilian head count. I applaud efforts to ferret out waste and fraud. However, I will never understand the repugnant way it’s being done. A chainsaw!?! Firing critical people and then hiring them back!?!
What we all read is that DOGE is going after the civilian workforce as part of an efficiency and cost-cutting effort. What we don’t read is that the Federal government spends about $300B annually on its civilian workforce. If every single employee was fired, the savings would only cover about one-third of the current debt service and have minimal impact on the deficit (the difference between outlays and revenues). That hardly justifies enduring the blowback this effort is receiving, even in terms of efficiency.
USAID was essentially shut down, again in the name of efficiency and cost cutting. If it ends up being zeroed, the savings amount to about $50B, or one-sixth of the savings associated with eliminating the civilian workforce.
So, if eliminating USAID and significantly reducing the workforce has minimal fiscal impact compared to the annual Federal budget of over $7T, why is it being done? And if I’ve missed something very fundamental in all of this, why is it being done without concern for people’s dignity?
Getting Federal spending under control is a national security priority, but maybe, just maybe, the current effort isn’t about efficiency, cost cutting, or even balancing the budget.
Tom Wilson is a U.S. Navy veteran, retiring as a Rear Admiral. After moving to a farm in Butler township in 2012 he has been active in the local community, currently serving on the boards of WellSpan Hospital Foundation, Adams County Community Foundation and the Susquehanna Regional Transit Authority (Rabbittransit). He is a past two term member of the UASD school board. He was board president for five of the eight years on the board.
In response, I believe it is “something else.” But exactly what Trump and Musk are really trying to accomplish must have something to do with solidifying their power, clearly making people fearful and distrustful of each other at the same time that they are suffering because of what Trump and Musk are doing. I’ve read about the effect Hitler had on the German population in his pursuit of power: Keep repeating the same lies and misinformation (in our case,”fraud and waste in the government”) over and over and people with no critical thinking skills will start believing the rising dictator.… Read more »
I think everyone would agree with cutting waste and fraud, no matter where it is found in the federal, state, local, or family budget. Doing so effectively is never done with a blind chainsaw handler. DOGE is certainly going into the history books, but not the way its creators or believers think it will. Their method is likely to cost the US government more money than it saves – court costs, lost research, lost experts, and more. After that we can add in lost reputation worldwide, which again, costs us money as a multitude of tourists have changed existing plans… Read more »