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Is the USA entering another 'RED SCARE' scenario i.e. firing gov't employees on suspicion only?

That history repeats itself is a worthy watchphrase that allows 'people' - especially governments to refer back to what happened so as not to repeat the same mistakes. However, without that 'due diligence' of determining what errors were committed and just forging ahead in an uncharted and haphazard manner, much harm can be done: The article here talks about what happened in the 1950s when the US government closed it's mind and opened the doors of its institutions and literally kicked innocent people out into the street.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/06/government-workers-purge-1950s-communism-00202336?utm_medium=email&utm_source=pocket_hits&utm_campaign=POCKET_HITS-EN-DAILY-SPONSORED&QUINSTREET-HOMEINSURANCE-2025_02_11=&sponsored=0&position=1&category=fascinating_stories&scheduled_corpus_item_id=697333d7-abb5-4a51-a16d-491dee1c86d2&url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/06/government-workers-purge-1950s-communism-00202336
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sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
Whoever it was that signed off on spending $20 million for a Sesame Street show in Iraq has earned getting fired
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@sunsporter1649 So your answer to the OP's question - firing workers on suspicion only - is "yes"? 🤔
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@SunshineGirl Whoever it was that signed off on spending $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru has earned the right to get fired
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@sunsporter1649 Because Elon says so? Not a tremendously high standard of evidence 🤔
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@SunshineGirl So you approve of spending $2 million for sex changes in Guatemala?
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@sunsporter1649 I don't accept as fact anything Musk says until it has been independently verified. He himself admitted today that the $50m of condoms allegedly used as bombs in Gaza was complete rubbish. Didn't stop him from making a load of political capital out of it though.
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@SunshineGirl says
I don't accept as fact anything Musk says until it has been independently verified.

CASE IN POINT:

Musk's social security date confusion is probably the biggest DOGE mistake so far. Likely where his "billions" claim comes from.

In the social security data, the DOGE boys encountered a number of dates going back to 1875; thus implying that the people were 150 years old. And, in his unique mixture of arrogance and ignorance Musk assumed this was proof of fraud.

But Musk & the DOGE boys don't understand COBOL. If a date is unknown, many COBOL data sets use a zero to indicate missing data. And because the earliest date that COBOL can represent is May 20, 1875, that zero prints out as May 20, 1875. Importantly, every zero date shows that exact same value of May 20, 1875.

Of course only a few people understand enough about COBOL to know why May 20, 1875 keeps showing up. I certainly didn't know until yesterday.

Here's the funny bit: when Musk & the DOGE boys repeatedly encountered that same mysterious date, did they investigate why it kept showing up?? Did they do any checking?? No, they did not. Instead, they assumed fraud and announced it at a presidential press conference🤣😂😝🤣😂

See what I mean about the unique mixture of arrogance and ignorance???

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@ElwoodBlues That is interesting, and quite embarrassing for someone who is supposedly skilled in analysing big data.

But the most worrying part, as you imply, is the complete lack of critical analysis and scientific method applied to this project. They have developed a hypothesis which is not exposed to challenge by the evidence. Musk would never allow the same shoddy methodology to be applied to his own business interests.
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@SunshineGirl So opewn the books for scrunity, all debate would stop when the taxpayers get a peek inside
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@sunsporter1649 I have been reading a website called USAspending.gov

There is a huge amount of financial data already in the public domain, as it should be. Which is why it is difficult to see exactly what DOGE is bringing to the party.
@sunsporter1649 says
So opewn the books for scrunity, all debate would stop
Right, sunstroke, reveal EVERYONE's social security info, what could possibly go wrong???

@SunshineGirl
it is difficult to see exactly what DOGE is bringing to the party.
DOGE is misrepresenting the actual spending info in order to convert it to rage bait. The rage bait then fires up ijits like sunstroke to spread further conspiracy theories. There are no actual auditors on the job; hence no actual auditing going on, just the manufacture and dissemination of rage bait.
JollyRoger · 70-79, M
@sunsporter1649 You didn't sign off on that - Did you, Sunbather??
JollyRoger · 70-79, M
@ElwoodBlues I don't KNOW that there are no auditors, but your hypothesis (or fact) that there are none stands strong as it is difficult to imagine that NO OTHER AUDITORS over years of oversight have ALL failed to question this reckless mis-use of public money - EXCEPT of course, DOGE???
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@ElwoodBlues "Democrat IRS Leaker Exposed Tax Returns of 400,000 Americans, Including Donald Trump"
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@sunsporter1649 Actually, sunstroke, that was an OUTSIDE CONTRACTOR who leaked citizens' IRS data. Seems like ALL your examples of government leaks are done by outside contractors. That's why IRS data shouldn't go to outsiders and get stored on places like twitter servers. P.S. the leaker, Charles Littlejohn, was caught and imprisoned by the Biden admin.

Oh, speaking of illegally leaking personal info,
Elon Musk is mad about Judge McConnell’s decision to unfreeze federal grants…

So he posted a picture of his daughter, her full name, her position of where she works, and a page of a signed tax statement she filed.

The judge’s daughter.

How much you wanna bet that the tRump admin lets Musk off the hook without even a wrist slap?
@JollyRoger says
I don't KNOW that there are no auditors
There ARE other auditors constantly at work, even though tRump fired a bunch
I.R.S. Fires 6700 Employees Amid Tax Filing Season

The silliest thing is that auditors more than earn their keep!!
... The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that in the middle of the last decade, underreporting of income on individual income tax returns accounted for roughly $300 billion in unpaid taxes.

... For each audit, they calculate both the upfront revenue associated with the audit and also the deterrence effect that the audit has on future tax revenue paid by the person who is audited. The researchers find that the average upfront revenue per audit was $14,283, compared with an average cost, including exams, appeals, and collections, of $6,418. The average revenue yield was therefore $2.17 per dollar spent on audit resources.
https://www.nber.org/digest/20238/comparative-returns-irs-audits-income-groups

Unpaid taxes – that's FRAUD!! And the tRump admin, by firing auditors, is making it HARDER to detect tax fraud!!!
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@ElwoodBlues LOL, so posting publicly available information is now illegal, eh?
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@sunsporter1649 says
So opewn the books for scrunity, all debate would stop
Right, sunstroke, reveal EVERYONE's social security info, what could possibly go wrong???

... The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that in the middle of the last decade, underreporting of income on individual income tax returns accounted for roughly $300 billion in unpaid taxes.

Unpaid taxes – that's FRAUD!! And the tRump admin, by firing auditors, is making it HARDER to detect tax fraud!!!
I.R.S. Fires 6700 Employees Amid Tax Filing Season

The silliest thing is that auditors more than earn their keep!! Firing them REDUCES revenue!!!
... For each audit, they calculate both the upfront revenue associated with the audit and also the deterrence effect that the audit has on future tax revenue paid by the person who is audited. The researchers find that the average upfront revenue per audit was $14,283, compared with an average cost, including exams, appeals, and collections, of $6,418. The average revenue yield was therefore $2.17 per dollar spent on audit resources.
https://www.nber.org/digest/20238/comparative-returns-irs-audits-income-groups