🚨🚨Musk, Ramaswamy today gave us first "DOGE" roadmap; as I understand the key steps...:
1) Put DOGE ppl at each U.S. agency, then use "advanced technology" (AI?) to have them identify "thousands" of regulations to cut across government
2) Give Trump a list of "thousands" of regs to cut across the government, & have him approve their elimination
3) Identify "the minimum number of employees" necessary to maintain each agency's core function, which should be lower once 2 is complete. (NB: Musk oversaw ~80% reduction in X headcount)
4) Cut the federal employees - Musk/Ramaswamy call for for severance packages/ "incentives for early retirement," but we have no details
5) Cut programs where where Congress's specific spending authorization has lapsed (This category includes VA health care, NASA, antipoverty programs)
6) Approve a "temporary suspension of payments" amid "large-scale audits" (Details, specifics hugely unclear)
7) Assert POTUS authority to stop spending w/o Congressional approval by challenging 1974 budget law on impoundments
@elonmusk did i get any of this wrong? do you expect Medicare/VA cuts to be part of what you target? the federal government is not a social media app - how are you going to ensure americans do not get hurt by a breakdown in critical federal functions?
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Roughly *67%* of voters rated the economy as "not so good/poor," per Washington Post exit polls
A shockingly poor number amid a hot labor market, booming stocks, much lower inflation, growing GDP
But widespread voter dissatisfaction w/ the economy been clear for years
Results are preliminary
“You know my complaints about the media — I think the coverage has been invariably terrible,” said @DeanBaker13, a White House ally. “People rate their own economic circumstances better than the country’s — and that’s because of what they’re being told by the media.”
PART V: U.S. SANCTIONS HAVE SURGED. WASHINGTON INSIDERS ARE MAKING MILLIONS OFF THEIR RISE.
You may have heard of "the military industrial complex."
Meet the booming "sanctions industrial complex"
A dive into how an avalanche of corporate & foreign cash has penetrated US sanctions
Our findings from a +6 month investigation:
- 1 firm founded by ex-Treasury officials has made *$75 million* from the UAE
- The former FBI director has raised eyebrows at Treasury for sanctions work on behalf of numerous foreign entities
- Powerful ex-House & Senate lawmakers are taking multi-million-dollar foreign paydays on sanctions
- Azerbaijan paid 1 lobbyist ~$2 million to ward off sanctions after Nagorno-Karabakh attack
- Deepening perception among allies that sanctions policy can be shaped by highest bidder
- WH officials have considered new guardrails on sanctions lobbying, but haven't advanced
- Foreign sanctions spending up more than 5X. US firms spending ~*$1B* on lobbying related to China & sanctions
Louis Freeh was the FBI director and a federal judge
After leaving government, he has worked for numerous foreign entities, including sanctioned Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler & banker Leonardo González Dellán, who was accused w/ others of stealing from Venezuelans
Matthew Epstein was Treasury's attache to Saudi Arabia & the UAE
Since leaving government, he started a firm that has taken +$75 million from a company linked to UAE government
The UAE has been accused serving as a hub for arms dealers, mobsters, oligarchs & kleptocrats
NEW: THE STAGGERING RISE OF AMERICA'S GLOBAL ECONOMIC WARFARE
1st in a series
@federicacocco & I found:
1. ~1/3 of all nations on Earth now face some form of US sanctions. Huge increase from when mostly applied to Cuba & a handful of regimes
2. +*60%* of *all poor countries* are under US sanctions of some kind. Has become almost a reflex of US foreign policy
3. Sanctions have spawned multi-billion-dollar lobbying & influence industry, enriching former US officials who are hired by foreign countries & oligarchs
4. Sanctions have had devastating effects on innocent civilians. In Cuba, they've made critical medical supplies impossible to import. In Venezuela, they contributed to a financial collapse 3X greater than the US Great Depression. Syria faces its greatest humanitarian crisis this year after a decade civil war & sanctions.
5. Treasury staffers drafted a ~40 page plan aimed at reforming the sanctions process that was dramatically whittled down amid disagreements w/ State
6. OFAC is widely described as overwhelmed by tens of thousands of requests. WH officials have brainstormed sanctions scenarios w/ outside nonprofits
7. Biden has unleashed unprecedented volley of +6K sanctions in 2 years. Higher than even previously unprecedented rate of Trump.
“We don’t think about the collateral damage of sanctions the same way we think about the collateral damage of war ... But we should.”
@federicacocco Here's a partial list of all countries under some form of US sanctions, with an (somewhat admittedly/inherently subjective) attempt to categorize by severity:
SANCTIONS CRUSHED SYRIA’S ELITE.
SO THEY BUILT A ZOMBIE ECONOMY FUELED BY DRUGS.
Incredible reporting
Revealing in why sanctions have exploded: They are often applied in response to atrocities abroad. But what about second or third order impacts?
Hearing A LOT of alarm today among GOP donors & Reaganite conservative types about JD Vance
On trade, taxes, unions, antitrust — he’s signaled sharp departure from traditional conservatism, despite venture capitalist roots
Now he’s heir apparent for the party, & Reaganites fear being shut out
Vance had troubled them by:
— Praising Biden FTC pick Lina Khan
— Suggesting openness to higher corporate taxes
— Backing Trump’s major tariffs & trade barriers
— Being tied to Oren Cass’s pro industrial & family policy group
— Visiting UAW picket line
OTOH plenty of reason to feel these fears are overstated
Vance has:
— Given no indication he’ll resist Trump plans on cutting corporate taxes & the rich, deregulating businesses
— Rejected PRO Act
— Signed Grover Norquist’s tax pledge
— Tied himself to billionaire Peter Thiel
Had the pleasure ysd to meet Father Gary Wegner, who runs a Detroit soup kitchen
Wegner says demand is up ~80% over last yr w/ hunger rising nationally
“Jesus said blessed are the poor,” Wegner said. “Only in America do we put the modifier, ‘Blessed are the *deserving* poor’”
Johneka Austin, 42, a banquet server with 5 sons, saw her food stamps cut from $843 to $400-$500 as covid aid expiration hit ~1M Michiganders
She’s torn bw buying good groceries & Internet for her sons
Austin laughed when I asked whether the economy is good. “Nobody says that!”
Nate Standing, 31, right, was homeless & a drug addict for about 10 years. He said an extended treatment program made possible by covid aid allowed him to get sober — and eventually a job with Capuchin Soup Kitchen
But now he’s seeing a big increase in need, esp for families
Due largely to an unexpected surge in immigration, the U.S. economy will be about $7 trillion larger - & federal revenues about $1T bigger - the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday
That impact is over 10 years, to be clear. It does not take into account any legislation that Congress may or may not approve