– by New Deal democrat We continue our exercise in flying blind (into terrain?) as the government shutdown prevented the release of housing permits, starts, and construction this morning; and the Fed did not have the data necessary to update industrial production and capacity utilization. The only current information we have on the housing sector is […]

So far, the only “efficiencies” realized by DOGE have been (1) keeping Elon Musk’s name and image in the news and (2) the systematic destruction of federal programs and the expertise to run them efficiently. Like Elon’s SpaceX rockets, his DOGE has mostly failed on the launch. “On the first day of his second term, […]

These days, it’s fashionable for right-wing Republicans to accuse those who disagree with their extremism as being Marxists, socialists or communists. Of course, they are using these words as epithets, not based on their actual definition. Also, it’s fashionable for right-wing Republicans to claim they’re not cutting the federal budget, they’re only cutting waste, fraud […]

There’s no evidence that DOGE has saved any money so far: “Picking apart the “estimated savings” of $175 billion on the DOGE website, Tolan told me that less than half that figure is backed up with even the most basic documentation. That means it’s possible only even to start investigating about $32 billion of savings […]

Angry Bear did have “open threads” in the past. They were meant to allow commenters to discuss topics which were important to them. The same rules apply in that you have to be polite, unruly, etc. I added one topic to this Open Thread. If there are other topics you wish to talk about, have […]

The training for an independent research career in the biomedical sciences entails a significant opportunity cost. It takes an average of about seven years from the bachelors degree to get the PhD, and then there are 2-5 years of postdoctoral training. Indeed, it’s common to do two postdocs to get diversified training. Those years could […]

Elon Musk, as czar of DOGE, has been making deep cuts in federal programs that serve civilians. But what about that budgetary elephant in the room, the military. There must surely be waste, fraud and abuse in military spending that Musk’s tech bros can ferret out, right? “After misleading headlines suggested that its topline would […]

Don’t like income taxes? Next year, don’t pay ‘em. Who’s gonna force you to? “DOGE is also in the process of essentially closing down the Tax Division at the Department of Justice. “Since the Tax Division is a statutory creation, it can’t literally be shuttered. As DOGE has done at numerous other offices and agencies, […]

Looks like DOGE is proving quite efficient at destroying government revenue sources. From Josh Marshall over at TPM: “The Post reports today that the IRS’s internal projections estimate that the DOGE-driven disruptions to the IRS since the inauguration are on track to have reduced tax receipts by more than $500 billion by April 15th. This, […]

Lets start here . . . It was revealed recently, Mr. Musk is not the boss of DOGE, Indeed, he is not a paid employee of DOGE either. In fact, he is a volunteer or you might, might want to suggest he is a vigilante with a posse of paid volunteers (out of his own […]