In Musk's endeavors he has always enjoyed both authority and power. Totally unafraid to pull the trigger on anything. In DOGE, Pres Trump gave him authority to delve into almost everything, but he did not receive the commensurate power to actually do anything in real time.
The Rs and the Ds have had an unholy alliance forever -- the Ds get their shit and the Rs get their shit and they both look the other way while this goes on.
In any given state, the Ds and the Rs cooperate on pork for the state. Always have.
Musk disturbed that Force. He called out bullshit on both sides of the aisle, but mostly on the D side. But, he couldn't do anything in real time. Therein lies the source of his frustration.
In Musk World, if he decides 3 months to shut down a server farm is too bloody long, he reverses the flight of his plane and takes it out in real time. That's how Musk operates.
Consider just one fairly important thing: the bloody US Treasury did not have a general ledger, authorization for payments, receivers for goods, and no control to ensure a contract was not overpaid. They had zero financial control, not even equivalent to QuikBooks Enterprise. FFS.
Treasury did something about that because it was purely procedural.
USAID was a fucking cesspool with money going in gobs to D sponsored ultraleftist NGOs with massive overheads for the Ds running this crap, and then recycled back to the D politicians in the form of campaign contributions.
Musk and his DOGE Rangers figured that out, but he could not act in real time and most of that money will not be clawed back. That pisses off a guy like Musk.
Elon Musk was thinking HIT THE RESET BUTTON and there is no such reset button in government.
The Big Beautiful Bill is essentially a continuation of Joe Biden's budget with some specific Trump changes. It is a shitty budget blueprint.
Musk is right. It's a lousy bill, but it's the only bill we have and it will pass.
Trump toiled in the corrupt NY real estate world (besides having prior experience of fundamental betrayal by both Ds and Rs). He values the wrecking ball as one tool of many. His perspective is dual: that 1. the deal is more important than the fight, and 2. keep the *next* deal foremost in mind, regardless of grudges over the current thing. Elon worked in the builder/maker tech economy. His triple perspective is: 1. competence is prerequisite but excellence is always preferred; 2. delivery is more important than relationships; and 3. keep how (else) you can use what you are learning foremost in mind while building/making the current thing.
Their meeting of the minds has been and still is on how broken things are and the importance of disequilibrating the status quo. DOGE did a great thing, on countless levels, including exposing much foul evil in the uniparty administrative state and, not least, drawing fire while DJT set a billion other things in motion critical for the longer haul. I hope the value of his contribution is more apparent to Elon over time.
Where they diverge is time horizons and strategy. From the start, Elon was only in it for 18 months. Personally I am hoping for a minimum of 3-5 MAGA administrations, and we aren't even 6 months in. 2026 midterms are likely to be life-or-death for MAGA. The cast of characters in the Trump administration, and others flocking to a winning perspective (including at state level in some places, sadly not NC), won't succeed in all things but, with a little luck, can advance in many directions.
I always remember that Elon started building Teslas because it was a profit-making way to learn how to build better batteries. For Mars. It's good for him and possibly humanity for him to get out of government now.
Agreed. The "Uniparty" runs much of Washington. Their preference is NEVER to cut, in fact they deem cuts in rate of growth of spending a cut.
Seems to me that the American people voted for several things in the 2024 election, all radical--i.e., close the borders, cut inflation, nuke DEI (and its impact our military and education), disengage from China and cleanse our supply chains, AND reduce the debt as well as the deficit. Oh and solve Ukraine and Gaza and renew the Trump tax cuts.
In this iteration there seems to be progress on many of these issues. The last three are the toughest, as our "august" Congressional reps and Senators don't all agree. Add that to a thin majority and there are only so many game changers that can be accomplished.
Trump's cabinet is light years more capable than the Biden crew, and Bessent is worthy of some trust. Let's see what Congress can do with legislating DOGE identified cuts, and whether moves for recission reduced spending will be spared by the courts.
Musk also very much needed to focus on his companies. He is reportedly miffed at Trump withdrawing the NASA head nomination of Issacson, and not receiving the nod to fix the FAA/air traffic control system via Starlink.
They should take a knife to every federal agency and cut by 20% leave defenses Medicare and social security alone. They could do that but don’t want to. They are all pussies.
In essence, that is exactly what they are trying to do. Take the Veterans Admin -- 474,000 employees and 10,000 initial cuts plus another 80,000 to be cut.
That's right at 19%.
Since 2003, the population of veterans has gone DOWN 37% whilst the workforce at the VA has gone UP by 115%. This in spite of new technologies and electronic record keeping.
As a veteran, I have first hand knowledge of the VA and it can stand some cuts. Read this:
100% agree and this piece should be a mandatory monologue for any first day college class.
There are several Senate 'republican' Decepticons our there like McConnell who is married to The Foremost Group, an Asian based shipping and shipbuilding business.
Ron Johnson and Thomas Massie are the only people in Washington DC that I trust. Maybe Rand Paul too, usually. Slim pickings. My liberal cousin bought a Tesla last year. She said to my wife this weekend: “A few months ago, I was a good liberal environmentalist. Now Im a Nazi.” And then she shrugged her shoulders and walked away. Will all this insanity wake her (and people like her) up? Remains to be seen…
When dealing with Washington and other politicians outside of there, if one is to accomplish anything meaningful, it is imperative to acknowledge to oneself that politicians by nature are bureaucrats, whether they admit it or not. Unfortunately, bureaucracy leads to complacency and a desire to placate rather than utilize even a modicum of vision and thinking three to four chess moves ahead and in many cases, even two moves ahead.
Elon Musk and sensible people realize that if you spend more than what you have, eventually you're going to run out of money, even if it's so-called other people's money.
Dig a little deeper and you'll find that if we could just eliminate lobbyists for 18 months, we could accomplish a hell of a lot more meaningful things that would benefit this country. Unfortunately, it does not look like that's going to happen and this country will suffer as a result of that.
Yes they did when explained correctly. You have to look at spending on those programs before 2019, and after Covid. We need to go back to the pre-Covid trajectory. Instead, foolish people say they are being cut. They are not being cut. Spending is higher than prior years
You are right about the pre-COVID budget with spending closer to $5T (against receipts of about $4.9T would be close to no deficit).
OTOH, I agree with Steve Bannon's take that the American people won't accept Social Security or Medicare cuts until there is some action on: 1)smart trims of the DOD budget and 2) tax breaks like the carried interest loophole and largely accommodating rates for the very wealthiest taxpayers.
Years ago someone said to not be fooled by the Rs and Ds after their names. They engage in Kabuki Theater for the cameras and then they are out to dinner with each other at night.
I saw something similar to this when my dad was in Federal Court suing his pension fund. Watching the other cases before us during their status hearings and I am expecting it to be a court room battle between the opposing lawyers as you would see on TV or in the movies. It was anything but. They were more than happy to request documents, time, accommodations from each other and happily give it. Quoting Jules Winfield here, "I Had What Alcoholics Refer to as a 'Moment of Clarity", I realized that they needed each other. They bill by the hour and get paid no matter what. The Rs and Ds need each other and they get paid/bribed/greased and grift, no matter what.
is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.
Have a nice day, DJT!"
"The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year"
Trump should be impeached.
The alliance lasted for less than 6 months. Which I think was my over/under. MAGA was always an alliance of oil and water factions tied together by dislike of the Ds. Now it will turn to pure populist slop. A little will be OK, most of the economic policies will be indistinguishable from D policies. See: Trump/Warren alliance on debt ceiling.
In Musk's endeavors he has always enjoyed both authority and power. Totally unafraid to pull the trigger on anything. In DOGE, Pres Trump gave him authority to delve into almost everything, but he did not receive the commensurate power to actually do anything in real time.
The Rs and the Ds have had an unholy alliance forever -- the Ds get their shit and the Rs get their shit and they both look the other way while this goes on.
In any given state, the Ds and the Rs cooperate on pork for the state. Always have.
Musk disturbed that Force. He called out bullshit on both sides of the aisle, but mostly on the D side. But, he couldn't do anything in real time. Therein lies the source of his frustration.
In Musk World, if he decides 3 months to shut down a server farm is too bloody long, he reverses the flight of his plane and takes it out in real time. That's how Musk operates.
Consider just one fairly important thing: the bloody US Treasury did not have a general ledger, authorization for payments, receivers for goods, and no control to ensure a contract was not overpaid. They had zero financial control, not even equivalent to QuikBooks Enterprise. FFS.
Treasury did something about that because it was purely procedural.
USAID was a fucking cesspool with money going in gobs to D sponsored ultraleftist NGOs with massive overheads for the Ds running this crap, and then recycled back to the D politicians in the form of campaign contributions.
Musk and his DOGE Rangers figured that out, but he could not act in real time and most of that money will not be clawed back. That pisses off a guy like Musk.
Elon Musk was thinking HIT THE RESET BUTTON and there is no such reset button in government.
The Big Beautiful Bill is essentially a continuation of Joe Biden's budget with some specific Trump changes. It is a shitty budget blueprint.
Musk is right. It's a lousy bill, but it's the only bill we have and it will pass.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Maybe he is Trump's stalking horse and saying stuff Trump wouldn't say?
Trump toiled in the corrupt NY real estate world (besides having prior experience of fundamental betrayal by both Ds and Rs). He values the wrecking ball as one tool of many. His perspective is dual: that 1. the deal is more important than the fight, and 2. keep the *next* deal foremost in mind, regardless of grudges over the current thing. Elon worked in the builder/maker tech economy. His triple perspective is: 1. competence is prerequisite but excellence is always preferred; 2. delivery is more important than relationships; and 3. keep how (else) you can use what you are learning foremost in mind while building/making the current thing.
Their meeting of the minds has been and still is on how broken things are and the importance of disequilibrating the status quo. DOGE did a great thing, on countless levels, including exposing much foul evil in the uniparty administrative state and, not least, drawing fire while DJT set a billion other things in motion critical for the longer haul. I hope the value of his contribution is more apparent to Elon over time.
Where they diverge is time horizons and strategy. From the start, Elon was only in it for 18 months. Personally I am hoping for a minimum of 3-5 MAGA administrations, and we aren't even 6 months in. 2026 midterms are likely to be life-or-death for MAGA. The cast of characters in the Trump administration, and others flocking to a winning perspective (including at state level in some places, sadly not NC), won't succeed in all things but, with a little luck, can advance in many directions.
I always remember that Elon started building Teslas because it was a profit-making way to learn how to build better batteries. For Mars. It's good for him and possibly humanity for him to get out of government now.
Agreed. The "Uniparty" runs much of Washington. Their preference is NEVER to cut, in fact they deem cuts in rate of growth of spending a cut.
Seems to me that the American people voted for several things in the 2024 election, all radical--i.e., close the borders, cut inflation, nuke DEI (and its impact our military and education), disengage from China and cleanse our supply chains, AND reduce the debt as well as the deficit. Oh and solve Ukraine and Gaza and renew the Trump tax cuts.
In this iteration there seems to be progress on many of these issues. The last three are the toughest, as our "august" Congressional reps and Senators don't all agree. Add that to a thin majority and there are only so many game changers that can be accomplished.
Trump's cabinet is light years more capable than the Biden crew, and Bessent is worthy of some trust. Let's see what Congress can do with legislating DOGE identified cuts, and whether moves for recission reduced spending will be spared by the courts.
Musk also very much needed to focus on his companies. He is reportedly miffed at Trump withdrawing the NASA head nomination of Issacson, and not receiving the nod to fix the FAA/air traffic control system via Starlink.
They should take a knife to every federal agency and cut by 20% leave defenses Medicare and social security alone. They could do that but don’t want to. They are all pussies.
In essence, that is exactly what they are trying to do. Take the Veterans Admin -- 474,000 employees and 10,000 initial cuts plus another 80,000 to be cut.
That's right at 19%.
Since 2003, the population of veterans has gone DOWN 37% whilst the workforce at the VA has gone UP by 115%. This in spite of new technologies and electronic record keeping.
As a veteran, I have first hand knowledge of the VA and it can stand some cuts. Read this:
https://themusingsofthebigredcar.com/the-veterans-administration-right-sizing-government-agencies-an-exemplar/
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Good article.
100% agree and this piece should be a mandatory monologue for any first day college class.
There are several Senate 'republican' Decepticons our there like McConnell who is married to The Foremost Group, an Asian based shipping and shipbuilding business.
Ron Johnson and Thomas Massie are the only people in Washington DC that I trust. Maybe Rand Paul too, usually. Slim pickings. My liberal cousin bought a Tesla last year. She said to my wife this weekend: “A few months ago, I was a good liberal environmentalist. Now Im a Nazi.” And then she shrugged her shoulders and walked away. Will all this insanity wake her (and people like her) up? Remains to be seen…
When dealing with Washington and other politicians outside of there, if one is to accomplish anything meaningful, it is imperative to acknowledge to oneself that politicians by nature are bureaucrats, whether they admit it or not. Unfortunately, bureaucracy leads to complacency and a desire to placate rather than utilize even a modicum of vision and thinking three to four chess moves ahead and in many cases, even two moves ahead.
Elon Musk and sensible people realize that if you spend more than what you have, eventually you're going to run out of money, even if it's so-called other people's money.
Dig a little deeper and you'll find that if we could just eliminate lobbyists for 18 months, we could accomplish a hell of a lot more meaningful things that would benefit this country. Unfortunately, it does not look like that's going to happen and this country will suffer as a result of that.
You really think many Rs voted for Medicare and Social Security cuts? America is in for a jolt when the free lunches end.
"If a thing can't go on forever, it will eventually stop." - Herb Stein.
Maybe we're getting close.
Yes they did when explained correctly. You have to look at spending on those programs before 2019, and after Covid. We need to go back to the pre-Covid trajectory. Instead, foolish people say they are being cut. They are not being cut. Spending is higher than prior years
You are right about the pre-COVID budget with spending closer to $5T (against receipts of about $4.9T would be close to no deficit).
OTOH, I agree with Steve Bannon's take that the American people won't accept Social Security or Medicare cuts until there is some action on: 1)smart trims of the DOD budget and 2) tax breaks like the carried interest loophole and largely accommodating rates for the very wealthiest taxpayers.
Years ago someone said to not be fooled by the Rs and Ds after their names. They engage in Kabuki Theater for the cameras and then they are out to dinner with each other at night.
I saw something similar to this when my dad was in Federal Court suing his pension fund. Watching the other cases before us during their status hearings and I am expecting it to be a court room battle between the opposing lawyers as you would see on TV or in the movies. It was anything but. They were more than happy to request documents, time, accommodations from each other and happily give it. Quoting Jules Winfield here, "I Had What Alcoholics Refer to as a 'Moment of Clarity", I realized that they needed each other. They bill by the hour and get paid no matter what. The Rs and Ds need each other and they get paid/bribed/greased and grift, no matter what.
Elon Musk today:
"Time to drop the really big bomb:
@realDonaldTrump
is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.
Have a nice day, DJT!"
"The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year"
Trump should be impeached.
The alliance lasted for less than 6 months. Which I think was my over/under. MAGA was always an alliance of oil and water factions tied together by dislike of the Ds. Now it will turn to pure populist slop. A little will be OK, most of the economic policies will be indistinguishable from D policies. See: Trump/Warren alliance on debt ceiling.