Yeah, crazy stuff.

I actually do some work for a federal agency and have contractual responsibilities which involve overseas travel. Traditionally I pay for my own travel, do a bunch of work, and then get paid several months later. However, I'm unwilling to incur the travel expense at this time unless they prepay me. And I'm unsure whether I will get my fees even if they do prepay the expenses so I probably will cancel the engagement and lose a little money, which is better than spending tons of time and losing a lot of money.

That's a long way of saying that even if operating outside the law, Trump's actions works on a practical level.

Wow. A prudent decision on your part I think given the uncertainty...

My guess is the plan is to cause severe economic disruption, resulting in mass protests/riots, which Trump will use to justify declaring martial law and exercising "emergency" powers...

And I guess slash social programs and give it in some way to Musk/Thiel and others. Crony capitalism...

Trump with Musk/Thiel pulling the strings. Because he's saying things now that are way more cuckoo than anything Biden has ever said.


They are really going to at least try to do this.

Medicaid portal (health coverage for the poor) has been cut off. Doctirs and hospitals can't get paid:

Chris Murphy, Connecticut Senator:

"Can confirm. Connecticut’s Medicaid payment system has been turned off. Doctors and hospitals cannot get paid. Discussions ongoing about whether services can continue.

Medicaid covers health care for millions of seniors and covers 40% of births in America."

Ray Jay wrote:Yeah, crazy stuff.

I actually do some work for a federal agency and have contractual responsibilities which involve overseas travel. Traditionally I pay for my own travel, do a bunch of work, and then get paid several months later. However, I'm unwilling to incur the travel expense at this time unless they prepay me. And I'm unsure whether I will get my fees even if they do prepay the expenses so I probably will cancel the engagement and lose a little money, which is better than spending tons of time and losing a lot of money.

That's a long way of saying that even if operating outside the law, Trump's actions works on a practical level.

I did receive a formal letter (email) from the government agency cancelling the project. I'm impressed by their efficiency ... I wouldn't be surprised if there are over 100,000 such letters that they have already sent out.

Ray Jay wrote:I did receive a formal letter (email) from the government agency cancelling the project. I'm impressed by their efficiency ... I wouldn't be surprised if there are over 100,000 such letters that they have already sent out.

Out of interest, what is it that you are/were doing for the government?

Ray Jay wrote:

Ray Jay wrote:Yeah, crazy stuff.

I actually do some work for a federal agency and have contractual responsibilities which involve overseas travel. Traditionally I pay for my own travel, do a bunch of work, and then get paid several months later. However, I'm unwilling to incur the travel expense at this time unless they prepay me. And I'm unsure whether I will get my fees even if they do prepay the expenses so I probably will cancel the engagement and lose a little money, which is better than spending tons of time and losing a lot of money.

That's a long way of saying that even if operating outside the law, Trump's actions works on a practical level.

I did receive a formal letter (email) from the government agency cancelling the project. I'm impressed by their efficiency ... I wouldn't be surprised if there are over 100,000 such letters that they have already sent out.

Interesting. No way they could work that fast I would think. I'm sure you're right about lots of letters going out--Doge or whoever has been going through programs they would cut and so they were ready and they've been sending out lots of letters canceling programs...

danivon wrote:

Ray Jay wrote:I did receive a formal letter (email) from the government agency cancelling the project. I'm impressed by their efficiency ... I wouldn't be surprised if there are over 100,000 such letters that they have already sent out.

Out of interest, what is it that you are/were doing for the government?

Guessing...Secret Agent Man!

From Twitter:

"Sources tell WIRED that OPM’s top layers of management now include individuals linked to xAI, Neuralink, the Boring Company, and Palantir. One expert found the takeover reminiscent of Stalin."

Senator Chris Murphy (discussing above): "This is pretty simple to understand.
Trump isn’t running anything. The billionaires are.

Specifically, one billionaire - Elon Musk - who wants to cut Medicaid, funding for elementary schools, and cancer research so he and his billionaire friends can take the money."

Those companies are Musk/Thiel companies. Musk and Thiel are in control of helping to prepare and administer the budget. Trump is essentially a figurehead just used for his control over Maga, at least with regard to the federal budget.

So if the government stops spending all this money domestically it's going to crater GDP, along with losing lots of people via expulsions, growth will be impossible. Do you think the billionaire class knows this? Is that part of the point? That this is more about power than money? Or am I missing the grift? How would the billionaire class make money off the gov't spending less domestically?

They just can't "take the money," congress has to appropriate it. Or am I not thinking big enough?

Well, if they don't have to spend what's appropriated that's one way to implement the Doge recommendations Here's is a discussion of what their thinking likely is.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... udget-law/

But it's clearly unconstitutional. I guess with a corrupt Supreme Court they think anything might be possible.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-b ... g-standing

I don't think Musk into this just to shrink the budget, however. He wants that money to be used for him. But redirecting the money instead of just not spending is even further out there constitutionally. That's basically the president directly impinging on a core Congressional power over appropriatons and his deciding it instead. But I would guess that's Musk's play. But even not spending the money--which they're clearly trying to do--is unconstitutional.

freeman3 wrote:

danivon wrote:

Ray Jay wrote:I did receive a formal letter (email) from the government agency cancelling the project. I'm impressed by their efficiency ... I wouldn't be surprised if there are over 100,000 such letters that they have already sent out.

Out of interest, what is it that you are/were doing for the government?

Guessing...Secret Agent Man!

Actually, Accountant who can think out of the box and write a decent report.

I want to be a little imprecise since this is real world stuff.

I am a subcontractor to a law firm which bids on federal contracts pertaining to developing world infrastructure projects. There are thousands of these put out for bid by several different U.S. agencies. You can Google and find these databases with contract opportunities. In this case we are doing research for a private company in Africa which has a broadband solution for internet services that is reasonably successful. To further connectivity in Africa, we are researching connecting their wires to other African countries. In some cases it may not be economical to do this so we also look at public and private funding options.

For these projects we may travel 3 times to the developing country and the travel fees can be expensive because they are so off the beaten path. In one case it took 4 flights and 24 hours to get to an Island group in Oceania where I was doing a different research project. But most of the work has been in Africa where it is not so hard for me.

freeman3 wrote:Well, if they don't have to spend what's appropriated that's one way to implement the Doge recommendations Here's is a discussion of what their thinking likely is.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... udget-law/

But it's clearly unconstitutional. I guess with a corrupt Supreme Court they think anything might be possible.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-b ... g-standing

I don't think Musk into this just to shrink the budget, however. He wants that money to be used for him. But redirecting the money instead of just not spending is even further out there constitutionally. That's basically the president directly impinging on a core Congressional power over appropriatons and his deciding it instead. But I would guess that's Musk's play. But even not spending the money--which they're clearly trying to do--is unconstitutional.

Some are grifters. Some like to be near power. (I once worked for a politician who said that power is like no other aphrodisiac in the world. The money came in but that was secondary.) Some are ideologically committed. This is a complex virus but it's not clear how it will mutate over the next several months and year.

Good analysis. And interesting discussion about your work for the gvt. Appreciate the insight, thanks RJ.

Ray Jay wrote:Actually, Accountant who can think out of the box and write a decent report.

I want to be a little imprecise since this is real world stuff.

I am a subcontractor to a law firm which bids on federal contracts pertaining to developing world infrastructure projects. There are thousands of these put out for bid by several different U.S. agencies.

I am guessing a lot of that sort of thing is going to be cancelled, postponed, cut or at least heavily reviewed.