The article is paywalled. Here's a podcast (with transcript) that the WSJ did with one of the authors. Some excerpts:
When taxpayer money is funneled into TV and media to control a narrative what is it called?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/...ding-for-cuts-going-to-find-a-lot/ar-AA1yC8Ld
apnews.com
FEMA says it's halting payments for migrant housing in New York after Musk blasts money for hotels
The acting head of the federal agency responsible for responding to disasters says he’s suspending payments sent to New York City to house migrants and that staff who made them will be held accountable.
This makes sense, let’s help people who don’t pay taxes first.
Don’t disagree with the program, actually think the idea of FEMA is a good one. We need to have oversight on these programs, things change from one year to the next. Same thing with education. Schools are spending money so they don’t lose the budget. No money for NC and California maybe we could do something that makes sense and move the money to where the priority is located. I know you have stated the border was a mess. This is just an insult to injury type of situation.Funding a program for housing doesn't mean they are helping them "first".
I appreciate that you may disagree with the program, but just like any other, funds were approved by congress and allocated for this specific purpose.
Musk is either ignorant to the facts or lying intentionally to stir up anger. My guess is the latter.
FEMA is not using disaster relief money here. They process the payments. I only know this because I looked it up last time republicans were trying to make people outraged that FEMA was using disaster money for immigrants, which they were not.
"The Shelter and Services Program (SSP), as directed by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, is administered by FEMA in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In Fiscal Year 2024, Congress appropriated $650,000,000 for SSP"
Shelter and Services Program | FEMA.gov
The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is funded through U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and administered by FEMA, as directed by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.www.fema.gov
The problem with FEMA is that they need to facilitate coordination at the local/state level rather than just be another layer of duplicate resources. Katrina was a good example of where there were resources available at local, state and federal levels, but commutation was atrocious and ultimately caused unnecessary delays that should have been avoided.
Long over due on Dept. of Education, we are paying to dumb down society. Our kids and checking accounts got screwed in this deal.
“Democrats are only focused on one thing right now, Mr. Musk. The fact of the matter, he’s quite popular. He has the largest platform in human history, which is, of course, Twitter/X. And I think we’re missing the boat as Democrats,” Phillips said in the interview.
When Elon/Trump start cutting off the money the polls will change. Its possible they are funded by the DNC. The corruption is widespread, when billion's turned into Trillions it was bound to go bad. Money corrupts people look at college sports. No oversight no checks and balances, no accountability equals fraud and waste. Dems are killing their brand, meanwhile for once in my lifetime Republicans are acting in best interests of American people. The under 35 crowd is watching closely because they are worried about being burdened by debt.
People like him less because of what DOGE is doing, but they just dislike him more in general. This is a guy who had a +26 approval rating in 2016. Now he's underwater by double digits. Spending nearly $300M (that we know of, the number is probably higher) to ensure your very polarizing pick for president wins the big election isn't going to do you any favors with the public either.
What’s not to like about cutting the Dept. of Education. I started my career as a teacher and have lots of friends who spent their whole life as teachers. Teachers resent the dept. of Education instructing them how to teach and what materials and books they have to use. Before the dept. of Education America was a leader in education. Now trillions of dollars later we are failing but you are Ok with that? People hate so much that their perspective is clouded with doubt. Let’s keep doing the same thing that led to the failure because they are telling us it’s for the kids who are failing. Great concept failing kids equal spend more money. Time will tell the story, if you were not filled with hate and Musk was helping Biden you would be calling him a savior. Democrats are hurting because they were busy checking boxes instead of bringing in smart people.
Same people had no issue when Musk openly supported Obama, when the Obama administration signed the first SpaceX agreement, and when Obama touted EV’s. Dems loved him. In addition to financially supporting Obama, donated to and voted for Hillary Clinton and then voted for Biden in 2020. And not to mention that he paid back a $435 million loan EARLY that he had received from the government on Tesla.
That is part of the art and the shock and awe of this...a distraction to see what is happening on world stage and with confirmation hearings
There’s a couple of things that are happening here. First part is about the “show”. Using DOGE and Musk to dig in and report information every single day about the waste of government spending. It’s like having a running “chiron” 24/7. And it’s getting the desired effect in the media. Every single day time is devoted on the news. Reinforces the issue that he ran on and distracts from everything else that’s going on. The controversial picks for his cabinet have gotten a little attention in the last month. Putting Musk in charge was brilliant. First of all, he has the credibility and background in driving automation and efficiency. Second, he has name recognition that gets responses from everyone, both positive and negative.
Uhm, because Clinton wanted cuts and he got Congress to enact those cuts - this is how the Constitution works. You see Trump is eliminating Congress's role. Again, no one is against cutting waste. The process by which it is being done is unconstitutional. Second, what may look like waste is not. Third, whether you like the spending or not, if it was approved by Congress, then only Congress can stop it. This absolute joke of a show by Trump and Musk is nothing for the masses to eat up.
And the difference when Clinton was President was the Congress would work in a bipartisan way and collaboratively on such issues. That has essentially disappeared. And it happened before Trump.
And at what costs? How many people are going to be wrongfully out of a job without due process? So you find waste, you destroy the entire agency and fire everyone? People with knowledge and expertise? They are throwing the baby out with the bath water.
