I’m no economist or even accountant, but it takes no professional training. just a soupçon of common sense, to see what is emerging from the DOGE-led investigations of the US Treasury and USAID. Yet to come are the Pentagon, the CIA and the FBI, among a host of Beltway others.
The American taxpayer, it is already clear, has been fleeced for decades by this deliberate financial obscurantism at a level beyond comprehension, a significant part of which fits easily under the old category of featherbedding, especially for loyalists of both parties. When it is finally added up, it will more than justify the title of this article.
Government spending transparency has simply not existed in any of our lifetimes, not even remotely. The legislators themselves have little idea on how money they authorize is ultimately spent. Most apparently don’t care—at least they act as if they don’t—as long as their patrons get their portion of the payout.
This especially goes for so-called liberals and progressives, even though they won’t admit it, whose pet projects have been secretly funded to astonishing degrees through cutouts and other means but with the money almost always used to line pockets (cf. Samantha Power, but she’s the least of it. NGOs in general have become the new featherbeds, far more lucrative than ever.)
No wonder we are in the midst of a Democrat legal hissy-fit with some union bosses (who better?) having found the usual complaisant judge, resembling a third-level Mafioso, to do their bidding, putting a hold on the investigation or part of it. It won’t last for a simple reason. The cat is finally out of the proverbial bag and the American people have already seen what has been going on—enough of us anyway.
The Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot here, seemingly having lost their ability to read public opinion. Anger can do that to you. Also they are fighting those nasty little things, facts and truth.
Every check you write to the IRS contributes an as yet unknowable percentage to this fraud, but be prepared for all time sticker shock. Hitherto, none of this had been investigated, even in the most rudimentary manner. It is now getting the most thorough of high tech scourings, AI included. Legal interruptions will only be temporary. They have been planned for long in advance.
The scourers have been young people in some cases not old enough to drink—you know, the same youngsters all those over 40—or is it 30—desperately ask for help in navigating the ever-expanding digital world. The superb Substack EKO LOVES YOU reveals what they discovered, rather easily in fact, and how they discovered it in “When DOGE found empty fields in Treasury's payment system, they uncovered more than missing data. They found a mechanism.”
“Simple things were left blank:
Payment categories
Payment rationales
Basic audit controls
“The kind of fields any small business would require. The kind that let you track where money goes. The kind that stop a billion dollars of fraud. Every week.
“Here's what Treasury didn't want exposed:
“Over $100 billion flowing annually to accounts without Social Security numbers. No temporary ID numbers. No verification. Nothing.
“When Musk asked Treasury officials how much was ‘unequivocal and obvious fraud,’ the answer revealed decades of corruption: HALF”
Given the GNP of the United States, if half is anywhere near correct—and I would bet my proverbial house it is—the title of this article is close to an understatement. We should all demand our money back.
Democrats should be grateful to Elon Musk, although they again will never admit it, because the transparency he is agitating for works both ways. The Republican Party appears to be growing at this moment and with increased power comes increased opportunity for corruption. You don’t need Lord Acton to tell you that.
Meanwhile, although most of us already know it, what is worth noting among the growing list of hidden payments are multi-million dollar contributions to media companies like Politico (via subscriptions)—a fairly recent publication that suddenly became a conduit for Democrat Party leaks—and the BBC itself—a foreign entity, obviously, and the very model of today’s form of enforced government mind control. Everyone there is required to pay a licensing fee of which Google’s Generative AI says “The license fee helps the BBC provide impartial, high-quality, and distinctive content.”
Impartial? Having watched more than the usual amount lately while traveling abroad, I found it a snobbish, British upper class version of Trotsky, a less clumsy MSNBC. I guess it depends on whose AI you want to believe.
In any case, things are looking good for friends of freedom these days, but no back sliding. Constants attention is needed. Always.
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I am certain that nearly all our Congress are on the take. Why else would those that authorize the funding not make sure it’s being spent responsibly.
Another great article Roger. Please keep it up. I always look forward to them. It was a long four years, and really built up to this point, but the light is dispelling the darkness!!!!