Have an open mind
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
There has been a lot of commotion, confusion and misunderstanding around the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE.
If you did not watch the two-part interview that Fox News anchor Bret Baier did with Elon Musk and several of the people he has brought in to help investigate waste and fraud in our government, you need to do so. It doesn’t matter what political party you align with, you need to hear what is being found.
These issues are not directed back to just the last administration. These problems go back as far as the 1950s and every administration since then. Some of the findings are a lack of keeping up with technology, some are massive duplications of efforts within departments and across departments, others are with too many people doing the same job with technology that do not communicate with each other. In other words, massive waste of money across the board that comes from OUR hard-earned tax dollars.
They have found Social Security payments going to people as old as 120-plus and younger than 6. They are finding Social Security benefits being paid to illegal immigrants and other non-citizens. So benefits that should be provided to our citizens are being spent for people who have never paid in one penny while our citizens are struggling to live off the benefits they receive.
The purpose of auditing the Social Security Administration is NOT to close it or make cuts to Social Security or Medicare/Medicaid, but to bring technology in that will catch the misuse of funds. But first the problems need to be identified and corrected.
The Treasury Department, which is responsible for sending out the payments from the government agencies, has found that there are so many antiquated and duplicated computer systems that don’t communicate with each other that payments go out with no oversight or verification. Also, there are more credit cards issued to government employees than there are employees!
One of the examples they used was a family where everyone has at least one credit card and they use it for everything. No one is concerned with how much is being charged every month, and there is not anyone monitoring how the money is spent.
I’m sorry, but if you are not concerned with this waste of YOUR money something is wrong. These are just a few of the issues that have been found by DOGE. When you watch the interview, you realize that the story of the investigations being done by college-age nerds was absurd. These men are all successful businessmen who own and/or operate very successful businesses. They all agreed that if they ran their companies the way our federal government is run, they would have been bankrupt. And, they say that is exactly where our country is headed if these issues are not corrected SOON!
Also, these men are basically working for us for free. They may be receiving some reimbursement for travel, etc., but they have taken time away from their own businesses and families to help save the financial basis of our country.
I understand the concern over people being let go from their jobs. First, many have been people who were hired under a probationary basis. This means until their probation period is over, they can be let go for any reason. There are also many people who have been employed for jobs that should not even be part of the government – they can be done by private businesses or charitable organizations.
Also, I’m guessing that many of the employees were hired for one specific task and are not cross-trained to do anything else. I saw that with my own eyes when I worked for the State of Alabama. All employees had ONE job to do, and there were people who sat most of the day with little to do while other employees were swamped and not able to efficiently get their work done.
By the time I retired, the department I worked in had put cross-training in place so that all the work was done more efficiently, except for a few employees who refused to do anything not in their job description or fell asleep at their desk off and on all day!
Keep in mind that the deportation of illegal immigrants will also have an enormous impact on the finances of our government. We, the American taxpayers, are providing medical, housing, food, telephones, and other living expenses to these people who predominately work for unreported wages (if they work) and/or claim so many dependents that no taxes are withheld from their wages. We have citizens who worked all their lives who do not receive benefits like these.
The end result of improving the efficiency of our federal government should be a reduction in federal employees who can move into jobs in the private sector. With the cuts in expenses in the federal government, our taxes can be reduced, regulations and taxes on business can be reduced so they can hire more people at better wages, and the national debt can be drastically reduced so we don’t owe money to our enemies who we have borrowed from all these years.
Again, if you have not seen the interview I mentioned, please do so. You can find videos by Googling Bret Baier. Please keep an open mind – and strap your chin in! God bless America!
P.S. I know I said at the beginning I was not directing anything specifically at the last administration, but I have just seen a report from DOGE that millions more people were issued Social Security numbers under that administration than ever before!
