Elon's Fraud

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During the past week I've read several posts and comments on Facebook praising Elon Musk for uncovering and eliminating waste and fraud in the federal government. They range from simple expressions of gratitude to positively giddy but unsubstantiated pronouncements that Elon has found huge savings, or exposed massive fraud.

Slow down. Musk's so-called "Department Of Government Efficiency" has only been operating for a few weeks. Its staff of around 100 people with little or no government experience hasn't had time to really get to know their way around the massive federal bureaucracy and learn what these agencies actually do, much less determine what is meat and what is fat. Yet from day 1, they've been firing government employees right and left and proudly telling everyone they've already saved us billions of dollars.

I see no evidence that DOGE has uncovered any waste or fraud as they claim, though it is possible they may have stumbled on some by accident. Their method of deciding who gets fired has nothing to do with the employee's usefulness or lack thereof. Instead, it is based on a single arbitrary criterion, the length of time a person has been in their current job. These are called "probationary employees" who have worked at their current position less than two years. It is not based on how long a person has worked for a specific department. If someone with five or ten years of experience receives a promotion their probationary status resets and makes them a target for termination by DOGE.

These workers are then notified by a standardized e-mail that their employment has been terminated due to poor employee performance, even though reports indicate that many of these people have received excellent performance reviews.

So DOGE clearly isn't basing their firing decisions on waste or fraud. It's completely indiscriminate as evidenced by reports that people charged with ensuring the safety of nuclear materials were laid off. DOGE's incompetence then became glaringly obvious when, after realizing their mistake, DOGE was unable to locate them to rehire them. A similar thing happened with USDA researchers who were working on a solution for bird flu which has caused the price of eggs to go out of control.

Obviously, DOGE's aim is not to eliminate waste and fraud. Their aim is to tear down the government. It should come as no surprise that many of the firings are happening at agencies that are investigating Elon Musk's companies for various safety concerns. That alone should convince you that DOGE is not acting in the public interest, but in Elon's self-interest. I'd like to say that's un-American, but unfortunately it's 100% American made.

Night Train
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