Comment by ks2048
2 months ago
"Working at DOGE" for 4 weeks reminds be of "Teach for America"... maybe it's fairly smart people with decent intentions [1] but not what's needed - not people taking a break from getting rich to do some charity work - rather what's needed is dedicated professionals devoting their careers to teaching / governance.
[1] for the record, I don't think that DOGE has good intentions. A lot of the tweets are nonsensical and I think just a rebranding for typical Republican cuts to health and retirement spending in exchange for more tax breaks at the top.
If they had good intentions, they wouldn't be conducting all of their business on FOIA-proof Signal (or so I like to imagine).
Yes, this bothered be as well - the department of government efficiency is, as with all government agencies, is working for the public good in the public interest. This means everything must default to being open, unless there is a good reason not to be (military, CIA etc).
I don't trust Elon, and don't see why DOGE should (or could) be secret - unless it's a cover to acquire more power, which seems to be his true objective. (recently, at least)
Signal is widely used among high-ranking and/or appointed officials in the bureaucracy. From what I have observed, this is true on both sides of the aisle.
also we already know what Elon efficiency looks like: firing a bunch of people
I'd honestly prefer my tax dollars be spent creating jobs than going into the pockets of the billionnaires providing the "efficiency" (i.e., large corps offering AI/automation).
Not just rebranding, but it's going to provides useful decision-laundering political cover, similar to what McKinsey and other consultants offer management. They were going to do it anyway, but the public reason becomes "It's not our idea, but DOGE (or the consultants) recommended it."