Today we are writing and mailing our annual check to the IRS. There has only been one year in my and my husband’s entire marriage when we got a refund. And that was due to massive out of pocket medical expenses. Next year, I hope to not be paying taxes on the Social Security which we both payed for and now receive. MAGA!
👍At least, you waited till the last minute to give it to 'em. Everyone who owes should wait till Apr 14th. Been doing that for years and never got stuck w/a penalty. Th myth is if it's over $1k, they make you pay quarterly.
You too? I finished mine up about 11:45 this forenoon. I'm neva eva gonna wait that long again; so help me Hannah! (Don't ask, just something my mother said. A lot.)
The very fact that people think they can carryout the government of THEIR choice is a testament that democracy is at stake. I like the fact that Mr. Trump is rooting out all of these rogue lunatics.
The intransigence is a marvel to behold--or perhaps it's arrogance. Yet, those operating at the level of management in the Deep State appear to believe they are the government, rather than servants of the people. From a civic awareness perspective, it's a poor sign--indicative of your worry that we may not recover from it.
I am usually very positive about this country and its ability to recover from adversity. But as I witness the reaction of the left and many on the right as well to Mr Trumps overwhelming victory in the last election, I started to see the sinister side of his opposition. They are against saving tax payer money or even reducing corruption. Boys can be girls? Seriously, this is not just politics as usual. It is far more dark and dangerous. Part of the country is clearly opposed to what the rest wants and they do not self reflect or deter from their course. This soft civil war is going to go hot at some point. Sadly, the country hasn’t learned from its past.
Given an opposition that keeps taking the 20% on the 80/20 issues, meanwhile only media is giving that opposition a consideration, I think there remains plenty of reason to remain positive.
OTH--unfortunately--it is media who feeds the worst instincts of the wreckers, e.g. Occupy Wall St from 2011, BLM in Ferguson, MO from 2014, Antifa movement followed on between the bookends of Michael Brown and George Floyd in Minneapolis in '20. Portions of all these movements remain viable through various levels of activism.
So long as media breaths life into these fringe groups, the risk of a hotter civil war remains possible. Cheers.
Amen, brother! I just got a text from Don, Jr., saying NVIDIA is back on US soil, making whatever doodad is theirs to make. I just know "computer people" are glad.
The Social Security "surplus" is an accounting entry that assumes the debt owed by the Treasury to Social Security will be happily repaid by the next generation of workers. The money has been spent and IOUs are all there is in the "surplus."
What you say is true, and applies just as well to the entire national money supply. It is a igment of the imagination, conjured out of thin air and "full faith and credit" of the Federal Reserve. That is to say, it is backed by the most completely bankrupt system in the history of the world.
Remember when GWBush tried to get Social Security changed to individual investment accounts so that we the working people who were paying into that scheme could manage our own retirement funds? Of course, John & I have been retired long enough to probably have withdrawn almost all of what we might have paid in, but still that was a pretty interesting concept
Looking on the bright side, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) suggests we need migrants because black people ‘are done picking cotton.’ I thought it was all done by machines nowadays. Oh well. To each his own, said the old maid as she kissed the cow. And Crockett went to a fancy boarding school, to boot!
Every dollar Biden stole, wasted, or gave away to the undeserving for his party's benefit should be audited and taken from FERS and retuned to the SS fund. That is, the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) that we NEVER hear is going broke and is NEVER used to pay for un-entitled benefits of illegal aliens or 'raided' as Congress's slush fund of sorts. FERS is the retirement system for the 'country club government gang'.
Only when the cost of such grift comes out of their pockets will they sit up and shut up.
I don't think there was anything wrong with the original concept of SS. It is how retirement systems work. Benefits are paid out within the limits of what people paid in.
It was the fiduciary fund managers who are Ponzi scheme crooks a la Bernie Madoff.
SS has been used as Congress's (and Biden's) 'slush fund' for many decades. THEY are the Bernie Madoffs in this epic tale and they should be forced to bring the account true again.
I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that 99-100% of all that has gone wrong in this country, it’s near total departure from its Constitutional guardrails, can be traced directly back to Congress’ thorough abdication of their lawful duties and responsibilities. Had they, refused, over decades and decades to accede those duties and responsibilities to either the Executive, or most destructively, to the creation of the ever-expanding monster we now recognize as the Administrative State bureaucracy, we would not be where are today.
But they cowardly and spinelessly, time and time again, decade upon decade, surrendered their most invaluable purpose for existence to others, solely to avoid “being the bad guy”, so as not to lose votes or to receive paybacks from lobbyists and a veritable cornucopia of “special interests”.
To think that now, with this new Trump 2.0 administration setting it’s sights on restoring those Constitutional guardrails, that that effort will, and must in order to be made permanent, come down to relying upon the unified cooperation of that feckless, greedy and corrupt body in order to see it through to fruition is probably the single most threatening aspect to the entire enterprise.
Don wrote that we voted for this twice. Um, actually we voted for it with Trump THREE TIMES - and at least a few more times with other Republicans who promised to fix this (immigration problem), but ignored it after they got elected. This has been a long time coming, baby!
Elon Musk was criticized for calling SS a Ponzi scheme. Actually, he was right. The amazing thing is that it has lasted this long. The following is from a post I wrote last month, with info from the SSA's own website:
"The law that created Social Security was enacted on August 14, 1935. But payments did not start until January 1940. The first recipient was a woman named Ida May Fuller, who lived in Ludlow, Vermont. She had been paying into Social Security during 1937, 1938, and 1939. Her payments for those three years amounted to a total of $24.75. Her first SS check was for $22.54—for her first month. Ida May Fuller lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975. Due to benefit increases over the years, by the time she died she had received $22,888.92 from Social Security. https://www.ssa.gov/history/idapayroll.html"
There's more at my Substack post----https://autisticredneckphilhawkins.substack.com/p/the-problem-with-social-security
The first generation that retired on SS made out better than gangbusters. Ida May received almost a thousand times as much as she put in. Of course, some didn't even get to collect it--the average life expectancy for men back in 1940 was 60 years. Now it's 74.8.
Most people don't even know that SS is a double tax--it's deducted from your paycheck, but your employer also has to match it (if you're self-employed, you have to pay both shares--I was self-employed since 1975, and I had to pay it along with my income taxes). But it is still not enough. But the Ponzi scheme bought votes for the Democrat Party for a long time.
The Social Security saga is just awful. It is coming to light that the Bureaucracy segment of the Deep State has been close to FUBAR. It has been atrociously 'managed'.
For sure, we owe profound gratitude to Trump and Musk for being the first people--ever--to dig in and expose this, and fix the specific problems they find. They are both highly savvy about financial matters.
But, neither Trump nor Musk are accountants, and this is above all, an accounting failure. Although they are reviewing disbursements and the recipients of this money, Trump and Musk are not doing an audit, nor are they fixing the overall system itself. Truly, strongly experienced CPA's need to be brought in to clean up these Augean Stables. Yes, I know that this stuff is very boring and that people's eyes glaze over at the idea of focusing on intricate accounting details. But we can see today what the result is of ignoring this type of detail. Here's what needs to be done:
--First, the government never has used standard GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) accrual-based accounting. For decades, the government has been using instead something called "Government Accounting / Fund Accounting". This decision needs to be reconsidered, because it is a unique animal that few people understand, and its nature makes it hard to compare government finances to the finances of ordinary businesses, making it the opposite of transparent, and thereby vulnerable to abuse.
--An analysis of the detailed processes in the current system has to be done.
--An analysis of what accountants call the "Internal Controls" system needs to be done, and the detailed processes re-designed to comply with it. This is the intricate but essential design of methodical processes to assure complete documentation at every stage, extremely clear accountability at each step (much like a "chain of custody" system for evidence in our police system), rigorous approval processes, designed to prevent any one individual from "single handling" of funds, (e.g., double-signatures on disbursements following review of the supporting documentation for the disbursement), continual internal audit procedures, etc. etc. etc. There is a Science to the design of an Internal Controls system, and it does prevent 99% of fraud, unless "collusion" occurs, where multiple people combine to override the controls. But collusion is harder to pull off, because there are more people involved and a greater likelihood of a "weak link".
--Degreed professional accountants need to be brought in to supervise the system. Any individual that violates any element of the Internal Controls is Fired.
--Monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements prepared and published.
--Every government department needs to be audited annually, by OUTSIDE unbiased auditors (who can only retain their licenses by complying with GAAS--Generally Accepted Auditing Standards).
--These audits also have to evaluate--just like audits of regular businesses--the compliance with the required Internal Controls and the effectiveness of the Internal Control system.
In other words, get a solid system designed, and audit the heck out of it, just like regular businesses have to. Right now, the system is full of holes and shockingly vulnerable to abuse. If we don't fix this, Trump and Musk are just putting band-aids on the current abuses, but they are not preventing the opportunity for future abuses once Musk and crew leave.
Although some people will object that a government is not a business, making an analogy between the two can be valid. Take a growing business. As long as it's tiny, the owner can easily stay on top of things, including opportunities for fraud and waste by employees or suppliers. But as it grows he needs to institute firm controls and regular audits by competent accountants; if he does not do so, all kinds of cheating can be perpetrated by insiders that may end up killing his organization. Remember Enron?
The same thing can happen to a growing government, except that governments are rarely declared bankrupt or insolvent, an oddity which provide a convenient cover for long-term fraud, waste, theft and other financial corruption. And since the federal government's growth took off a century ago, essentially without any proper oversight, it's no wonder that the DOGE crowd keeps uncovering astonishing realities -- but not a good kind of realities.
Way back (1973) in insurance underwriting school, our VP of crime insurance told us that if you don't have adequate controls on money or inventory, even honest people will be tempted to steal.
There are very easily programmed controls on the stuff we've been hearing about - people over 120 possibly receiving social security or unemployment - generate a list of them and look for fraud and prosecute if it is fraud.
I’m a lifelong hand embroiderer - hence my user name. The Smithsonian has a massive collection of embroidery in the archives of the Museum of American History which they have never and have no plans to ever put on display. I would love to get a few of those at bargain basement prices!
Great for her! I’m a 30 year EGA member and chapter president for the third time. Also a member of ANG and our local sampler guild. Those needles keep me sane!
I wonder too! You can view the collection of embroideries and samplers by making an appointment with the textiles curator. When I lived in Virginia, I belonged to a sampler guild and we visited the archives twice.
I asked about them putting some of the collection on display but none of them are framed (they are lying in archival drawers) and I was told that it would be too expensive to frame them. Meanwhile, we’re finally getting an idea of how many trillion$ our government wastes on massively much less worthy garbage thanks to Elon and DOGE.
I selected Smithsonian sale because it is closest to the right answer. Instead of selling off the office buildings and other federal govt assets we should be leasing them out with the funds going to fund the SSR benefits being paid out. We should do that with all federal properties that have leases and use fees. All of that should be funding SSR. Since the politicians spend the funds in the "lock box" the federally owned lands can be used to pay that debt. That, along with kicking the ineligible to the ineligible list, should save social security.
1 - the Federal government tends to build structures that nobody can afford the overhead on ( much less the initial cost / depreciation ) .
2 - putting the Feds in charge of anything generally ends in a disaster ( historic examples abound ) .
3 - The Social Security fund balance needs to be visible 24/7 to any citizen ( contributor ) on the the internet .
4 - The " ponzi scheme " management model needs to be eliminated in favor of a 100% domestic monetary fund .
As Cranky Frankie pointed out , all of the IOU's need to be repaid ( with interest ) . Please remember this fund and our Federal deficit are going to take much more than four years to repair . Last of all but definitely not least , thanks to Don for gleaning the BS from the Fake News and giving us the truth . Once again he is providing information and insight to issues I probably would have otherwise never gotten the straight facts .
I don't know about your leasing plan. Landlords are usually responsible for maintaining the property which would require either hiring companies to do it or hiring more government workers to do the job. A straight up sale puts the upkeep in the hands of the new owners.
I'm thinking leasing out or even selling outright the numerous government owned office buildings will be a hard lift. Realtors have said we have a glut of commercial office buildings now in most every major city.
That's right, and Portland is one of them. Used to have a pleasant, walkable downtown with a lot of small businesses catering to the office workers. Now it's a disaster area, all thanks to the "fiery but peaceful" rioters. And clueless government officials, afraid of their own shadows.
I think (hope) Trump is taking the major steps to change the demand for business building real estate. . . (ie) Major steps that are shocking to the leftists and media elites, but are sound in economic principle.
There may be a shortage of office space in 4 to 8 years, God willing, and ONLY because of PDJT.
You can say that about blue-run (into the ground) cities throughout the country: Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Portland, Seattle, Pittsburg, etc., etc.
If the federal government does end up with a bunch of unused buildings, to whom would they lease them? I'm having trouble imagining any potential lessees, unless the Chinese want to increase their presence in DC.
Ending bureaucracy and media bad habits is like turning around an aircraft carrier and its task force. The hate of President Trump and his administration is evident in their every action. We are lucky he is willing and able to pursue this task.
I searched for pictures of deep state Greg, found two from his Linkdin. He’s wearing “signature” red sneakers in both. I guess he craves lots of attention to begin with.
I may be the only one here who gets irritated while reading US journalists' reports related to illegal immigration. It's related to the fact that I was an immigrant myself once, but a legal one, having gone through months of filling out forms and vetting, obtaining a sponsor who would keep me from becoming dependent on government benefits, and more.
But throughout all the quoted articles in Don's piece runs this confusing thread: those bozos all write as if "Immigrants" and "Migrants", legal or not, are the same thing, and they use all those descriptions, with or without the term "illegal", interchangeably. Besides being irritating, it muddies the water no end. And I can't tell whether the muddying is on purpose, or it's just the usual journalistic ignorance.
Don, you made the point that the MSM will provide mutual echo chambers ad infinitum for any anti-Trump, anti-American lie. Likewise, there will be an endless supply of lies. Greg Pearre is a symptom, a representative of the entitled leaches in the Deep State who see themselves as noble patriots. The don't see themselves as servants of The People tasked with following the dictates of the President. They see themselves as patriots. as if they were members of the French Resistance of WW II fighting the Nazi's. Should we expect better? Yes, but let us be real. They were raised on lies provided by a leftist educational system and earn their living within a corrupt government. Pearre is not a unique individual resister, he serves as a totem for the huge tribe fighting against Trump from within.
Today we are writing and mailing our annual check to the IRS. There has only been one year in my and my husband’s entire marriage when we got a refund. And that was due to massive out of pocket medical expenses. Next year, I hope to not be paying taxes on the Social Security which we both payed for and now receive. MAGA!
Your lips to Congress' ears!
Yeah we just sent ours in too. Looking forward to that no tax on Social Security.
👍At least, you waited till the last minute to give it to 'em. Everyone who owes should wait till Apr 14th. Been doing that for years and never got stuck w/a penalty. Th myth is if it's over $1k, they make you pay quarterly.
Look into the safe harbor rules for estimated tax payments:
If you owe less than $1,000 on April 15th, no penalty
If you pay 100% of the prior year's taxes, no penalty. I THINK 110% of the tax due if your AGI (adjusted gross income) is greater than $150,000.
If you pay 90% of the total tax due, no penalty
You can find it on the IRS website or any reputable financial website
My best Johnny Carson voice hollers, "I did not know that!"
Our 2024 federal taxes quadrupled because of Social Security payments. There's one good thing about Oregon: SS isn't taxed.
And the scenery, don’t forget the scenery.
LOL. I'm from Montana.
Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Oregon. Best states for scenery in America.
You too? I finished mine up about 11:45 this forenoon. I'm neva eva gonna wait that long again; so help me Hannah! (Don't ask, just something my mother said. A lot.)
The very fact that people think they can carryout the government of THEIR choice is a testament that democracy is at stake. I like the fact that Mr. Trump is rooting out all of these rogue lunatics.
Agreed. It is the rot brought on by all things being politicized. And we may not recover from it.
The intransigence is a marvel to behold--or perhaps it's arrogance. Yet, those operating at the level of management in the Deep State appear to believe they are the government, rather than servants of the people. From a civic awareness perspective, it's a poor sign--indicative of your worry that we may not recover from it.
I am usually very positive about this country and its ability to recover from adversity. But as I witness the reaction of the left and many on the right as well to Mr Trumps overwhelming victory in the last election, I started to see the sinister side of his opposition. They are against saving tax payer money or even reducing corruption. Boys can be girls? Seriously, this is not just politics as usual. It is far more dark and dangerous. Part of the country is clearly opposed to what the rest wants and they do not self reflect or deter from their course. This soft civil war is going to go hot at some point. Sadly, the country hasn’t learned from its past.
Given an opposition that keeps taking the 20% on the 80/20 issues, meanwhile only media is giving that opposition a consideration, I think there remains plenty of reason to remain positive.
OTH--unfortunately--it is media who feeds the worst instincts of the wreckers, e.g. Occupy Wall St from 2011, BLM in Ferguson, MO from 2014, Antifa movement followed on between the bookends of Michael Brown and George Floyd in Minneapolis in '20. Portions of all these movements remain viable through various levels of activism.
So long as media breaths life into these fringe groups, the risk of a hotter civil war remains possible. Cheers.
And therein lies the problem.
It is obvious that Trump is doing many things right hence the media distorting and lying about what is going on.
Not difficult to get over the target. It is sooooo large.
Amen, brother! I just got a text from Don, Jr., saying NVIDIA is back on US soil, making whatever doodad is theirs to make. I just know "computer people" are glad.
The Social Security "surplus" is an accounting entry that assumes the debt owed by the Treasury to Social Security will be happily repaid by the next generation of workers. The money has been spent and IOUs are all there is in the "surplus."
What you say is true, and applies just as well to the entire national money supply. It is a igment of the imagination, conjured out of thin air and "full faith and credit" of the Federal Reserve. That is to say, it is backed by the most completely bankrupt system in the history of the world.
Remember when GWBush tried to get Social Security changed to individual investment accounts so that we the working people who were paying into that scheme could manage our own retirement funds? Of course, John & I have been retired long enough to probably have withdrawn almost all of what we might have paid in, but still that was a pretty interesting concept
Looking on the bright side, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) suggests we need migrants because black people ‘are done picking cotton.’ I thought it was all done by machines nowadays. Oh well. To each his own, said the old maid as she kissed the cow. And Crockett went to a fancy boarding school, to boot!
Every dollar Biden stole, wasted, or gave away to the undeserving for his party's benefit should be audited and taken from FERS and retuned to the SS fund. That is, the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) that we NEVER hear is going broke and is NEVER used to pay for un-entitled benefits of illegal aliens or 'raided' as Congress's slush fund of sorts. FERS is the retirement system for the 'country club government gang'.
Only when the cost of such grift comes out of their pockets will they sit up and shut up.
Social Security is, at its core, the biggest Ponzi scheme ever made.
Bernie Madoff was a piker.
I don't think there was anything wrong with the original concept of SS. It is how retirement systems work. Benefits are paid out within the limits of what people paid in.
It was the fiduciary fund managers who are Ponzi scheme crooks a la Bernie Madoff.
SS has been used as Congress's (and Biden's) 'slush fund' for many decades. THEY are the Bernie Madoffs in this epic tale and they should be forced to bring the account true again.
I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that 99-100% of all that has gone wrong in this country, it’s near total departure from its Constitutional guardrails, can be traced directly back to Congress’ thorough abdication of their lawful duties and responsibilities. Had they, refused, over decades and decades to accede those duties and responsibilities to either the Executive, or most destructively, to the creation of the ever-expanding monster we now recognize as the Administrative State bureaucracy, we would not be where are today.
But they cowardly and spinelessly, time and time again, decade upon decade, surrendered their most invaluable purpose for existence to others, solely to avoid “being the bad guy”, so as not to lose votes or to receive paybacks from lobbyists and a veritable cornucopia of “special interests”.
To think that now, with this new Trump 2.0 administration setting it’s sights on restoring those Constitutional guardrails, that that effort will, and must in order to be made permanent, come down to relying upon the unified cooperation of that feckless, greedy and corrupt body in order to see it through to fruition is probably the single most threatening aspect to the entire enterprise.
Pray much. 🙏♥️🙏
That's a big AMEN.
Don wrote that we voted for this twice. Um, actually we voted for it with Trump THREE TIMES - and at least a few more times with other Republicans who promised to fix this (immigration problem), but ignored it after they got elected. This has been a long time coming, baby!
Elon Musk was criticized for calling SS a Ponzi scheme. Actually, he was right. The amazing thing is that it has lasted this long. The following is from a post I wrote last month, with info from the SSA's own website:
"The law that created Social Security was enacted on August 14, 1935. But payments did not start until January 1940. The first recipient was a woman named Ida May Fuller, who lived in Ludlow, Vermont. She had been paying into Social Security during 1937, 1938, and 1939. Her payments for those three years amounted to a total of $24.75. Her first SS check was for $22.54—for her first month. Ida May Fuller lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975. Due to benefit increases over the years, by the time she died she had received $22,888.92 from Social Security. https://www.ssa.gov/history/idapayroll.html"
There's more at my Substack post----https://autisticredneckphilhawkins.substack.com/p/the-problem-with-social-security
The first generation that retired on SS made out better than gangbusters. Ida May received almost a thousand times as much as she put in. Of course, some didn't even get to collect it--the average life expectancy for men back in 1940 was 60 years. Now it's 74.8.
Most people don't even know that SS is a double tax--it's deducted from your paycheck, but your employer also has to match it (if you're self-employed, you have to pay both shares--I was self-employed since 1975, and I had to pay it along with my income taxes). But it is still not enough. But the Ponzi scheme bought votes for the Democrat Party for a long time.
Rush called it a Ponzi scheme, also.
You are right! I always thought Bitcoin was the largest Ponzi scheme.
The Social Security saga is just awful. It is coming to light that the Bureaucracy segment of the Deep State has been close to FUBAR. It has been atrociously 'managed'.
For sure, we owe profound gratitude to Trump and Musk for being the first people--ever--to dig in and expose this, and fix the specific problems they find. They are both highly savvy about financial matters.
But, neither Trump nor Musk are accountants, and this is above all, an accounting failure. Although they are reviewing disbursements and the recipients of this money, Trump and Musk are not doing an audit, nor are they fixing the overall system itself. Truly, strongly experienced CPA's need to be brought in to clean up these Augean Stables. Yes, I know that this stuff is very boring and that people's eyes glaze over at the idea of focusing on intricate accounting details. But we can see today what the result is of ignoring this type of detail. Here's what needs to be done:
--First, the government never has used standard GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) accrual-based accounting. For decades, the government has been using instead something called "Government Accounting / Fund Accounting". This decision needs to be reconsidered, because it is a unique animal that few people understand, and its nature makes it hard to compare government finances to the finances of ordinary businesses, making it the opposite of transparent, and thereby vulnerable to abuse.
--An analysis of the detailed processes in the current system has to be done.
--An analysis of what accountants call the "Internal Controls" system needs to be done, and the detailed processes re-designed to comply with it. This is the intricate but essential design of methodical processes to assure complete documentation at every stage, extremely clear accountability at each step (much like a "chain of custody" system for evidence in our police system), rigorous approval processes, designed to prevent any one individual from "single handling" of funds, (e.g., double-signatures on disbursements following review of the supporting documentation for the disbursement), continual internal audit procedures, etc. etc. etc. There is a Science to the design of an Internal Controls system, and it does prevent 99% of fraud, unless "collusion" occurs, where multiple people combine to override the controls. But collusion is harder to pull off, because there are more people involved and a greater likelihood of a "weak link".
--Degreed professional accountants need to be brought in to supervise the system. Any individual that violates any element of the Internal Controls is Fired.
--Monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements prepared and published.
--Every government department needs to be audited annually, by OUTSIDE unbiased auditors (who can only retain their licenses by complying with GAAS--Generally Accepted Auditing Standards).
--These audits also have to evaluate--just like audits of regular businesses--the compliance with the required Internal Controls and the effectiveness of the Internal Control system.
In other words, get a solid system designed, and audit the heck out of it, just like regular businesses have to. Right now, the system is full of holes and shockingly vulnerable to abuse. If we don't fix this, Trump and Musk are just putting band-aids on the current abuses, but they are not preventing the opportunity for future abuses once Musk and crew leave.
Although some people will object that a government is not a business, making an analogy between the two can be valid. Take a growing business. As long as it's tiny, the owner can easily stay on top of things, including opportunities for fraud and waste by employees or suppliers. But as it grows he needs to institute firm controls and regular audits by competent accountants; if he does not do so, all kinds of cheating can be perpetrated by insiders that may end up killing his organization. Remember Enron?
The same thing can happen to a growing government, except that governments are rarely declared bankrupt or insolvent, an oddity which provide a convenient cover for long-term fraud, waste, theft and other financial corruption. And since the federal government's growth took off a century ago, essentially without any proper oversight, it's no wonder that the DOGE crowd keeps uncovering astonishing realities -- but not a good kind of realities.
Way back (1973) in insurance underwriting school, our VP of crime insurance told us that if you don't have adequate controls on money or inventory, even honest people will be tempted to steal.
There are very easily programmed controls on the stuff we've been hearing about - people over 120 possibly receiving social security or unemployment - generate a list of them and look for fraud and prosecute if it is fraud.
Newspapers have become nothing more than scat wrap. What a shame.
A rummage sale would be great
I’m a lifelong hand embroiderer - hence my user name. The Smithsonian has a massive collection of embroidery in the archives of the Museum of American History which they have never and have no plans to ever put on display. I would love to get a few of those at bargain basement prices!
Me too!
You and my wife (an EGA member and officer). Plus there's their treasure trove of smocking! (She's a former national president of SAGA.)
Great for her! I’m a 30 year EGA member and chapter president for the third time. Also a member of ANG and our local sampler guild. Those needles keep me sane!
I wasn’t aware of this. I wonder, what else are they hoarding?
I understand and relate to the sanity embroidery provides you. I used to embroider but have moved to bead weaving and jewelry.
I wonder too! You can view the collection of embroideries and samplers by making an appointment with the textiles curator. When I lived in Virginia, I belonged to a sampler guild and we visited the archives twice.
I asked about them putting some of the collection on display but none of them are framed (they are lying in archival drawers) and I was told that it would be too expensive to frame them. Meanwhile, we’re finally getting an idea of how many trillion$ our government wastes on massively much less worthy garbage thanks to Elon and DOGE.
Thanks for all the good info. Sounds a little like a herbarium set-up, except for textiles.
And yes, GO Elon, GO DOGE!
Have you ever been to The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky? It's known as "Quilt City USA."
Oh lordy, we might be kin. Rummage sales were the bomb back when I was a kid in the 40's
I selected Smithsonian sale because it is closest to the right answer. Instead of selling off the office buildings and other federal govt assets we should be leasing them out with the funds going to fund the SSR benefits being paid out. We should do that with all federal properties that have leases and use fees. All of that should be funding SSR. Since the politicians spend the funds in the "lock box" the federally owned lands can be used to pay that debt. That, along with kicking the ineligible to the ineligible list, should save social security.
A few things to remember :
1 - the Federal government tends to build structures that nobody can afford the overhead on ( much less the initial cost / depreciation ) .
2 - putting the Feds in charge of anything generally ends in a disaster ( historic examples abound ) .
3 - The Social Security fund balance needs to be visible 24/7 to any citizen ( contributor ) on the the internet .
4 - The " ponzi scheme " management model needs to be eliminated in favor of a 100% domestic monetary fund .
As Cranky Frankie pointed out , all of the IOU's need to be repaid ( with interest ) . Please remember this fund and our Federal deficit are going to take much more than four years to repair . Last of all but definitely not least , thanks to Don for gleaning the BS from the Fake News and giving us the truth . Once again he is providing information and insight to issues I probably would have otherwise never gotten the straight facts .
I don't know about your leasing plan. Landlords are usually responsible for maintaining the property which would require either hiring companies to do it or hiring more government workers to do the job. A straight up sale puts the upkeep in the hands of the new owners.
joated, I also agree with the straight up sale, we don't need more gubment workers to further bloat the system
I'm thinking leasing out or even selling outright the numerous government owned office buildings will be a hard lift. Realtors have said we have a glut of commercial office buildings now in most every major city.
That's right, and Portland is one of them. Used to have a pleasant, walkable downtown with a lot of small businesses catering to the office workers. Now it's a disaster area, all thanks to the "fiery but peaceful" rioters. And clueless government officials, afraid of their own shadows.
I think (hope) Trump is taking the major steps to change the demand for business building real estate. . . (ie) Major steps that are shocking to the leftists and media elites, but are sound in economic principle.
There may be a shortage of office space in 4 to 8 years, God willing, and ONLY because of PDJT.
You can say that about blue-run (into the ground) cities throughout the country: Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Portland, Seattle, Pittsburg, etc., etc.
Facts ☝ !
If the federal government does end up with a bunch of unused buildings, to whom would they lease them? I'm having trouble imagining any potential lessees, unless the Chinese want to increase their presence in DC.
Ending bureaucracy and media bad habits is like turning around an aircraft carrier and its task force. The hate of President Trump and his administration is evident in their every action. We are lucky he is willing and able to pursue this task.
I searched for pictures of deep state Greg, found two from his Linkdin. He’s wearing “signature” red sneakers in both. I guess he craves lots of attention to begin with.
I may be the only one here who gets irritated while reading US journalists' reports related to illegal immigration. It's related to the fact that I was an immigrant myself once, but a legal one, having gone through months of filling out forms and vetting, obtaining a sponsor who would keep me from becoming dependent on government benefits, and more.
But throughout all the quoted articles in Don's piece runs this confusing thread: those bozos all write as if "Immigrants" and "Migrants", legal or not, are the same thing, and they use all those descriptions, with or without the term "illegal", interchangeably. Besides being irritating, it muddies the water no end. And I can't tell whether the muddying is on purpose, or it's just the usual journalistic ignorance.
Don, you made the point that the MSM will provide mutual echo chambers ad infinitum for any anti-Trump, anti-American lie. Likewise, there will be an endless supply of lies. Greg Pearre is a symptom, a representative of the entitled leaches in the Deep State who see themselves as noble patriots. The don't see themselves as servants of The People tasked with following the dictates of the President. They see themselves as patriots. as if they were members of the French Resistance of WW II fighting the Nazi's. Should we expect better? Yes, but let us be real. They were raised on lies provided by a leftist educational system and earn their living within a corrupt government. Pearre is not a unique individual resister, he serves as a totem for the huge tribe fighting against Trump from within.