Summary
Elon Musk claims his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is shutting down payments to federal contractors, including a Lutheran charity, asserting it is eliminating corruption.
This suggests DOGE has access to Treasury’s payment systems, though officials have not confirmed the extent.
Senator Ron Wyden warned that DOGE may interfere with Social Security, Medicare, and government contracts.
Musk also called USAID “a criminal organization” that should “die,” amid DOGE’s growing influence over federal financial operations.
If the US government stops paying their bills at a certain point the country is technically defaulting. That’s going to be fun.
Guess you’ll have to use crypto once your dollar is worthless
I don’t think crypto will replace USD as a global currency if USD fails.
If the dollar tanks, crypto’s going with it.
Or they can use euros. They’re widely accepted.
Learn how to spin up a monero node and stick it on the tor network. Only buy bitcoin and wash it with monero for transactions.
Don’t gamble on shitcoins.
Don’t get caught up in mining or NFTs
I don’t really know anything about crypto, but I’ve heard for many years how criminals use it to ransom things. I’ve always thought the “bitcoin is anonymous like cash” angle never made sense, since the entire point of the blockchain is to record ALL of it, and eventually that paper trail is going to tie it to someone. (It sounds like I’m somewhat correct about that since you mention “wash[ing]” it.)
I’ve never heard of monero. How does that work with the washing and whatnot? It’s a whole world I know nothing about, but find interesting.
That’s a long conversation. Please allow me to share a YouTube video that gets to the crux of the issue first. And I can share technical docs afterwards.
However you are 100% correct. Bitcoin is anything but anonymous. XMR/Monero is and has always been fully cryptographic, with the minor issue that if someone controls a node you connect your wallet to, there is metadata that will out you.
I don’t agree with everything this guy says about politics or social issues but he’s correct on netsec issues.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QrHsFZBab4U
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBHhz00vjI
As far as anonymizing your bitcoin you’ll need to do your own research. But here’s how not to do it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7CD_Nl3iwhE
If you’re gonna do that research do it on an updated tails distro as the previous release was compromised.
Then the internet gets shut down and you realize you have nothing.
Bury your reichmarcs in your mattress if you wish. We’re all trying to navigate this with the coping mechanisms we have.
My tor node is accessible outside of the US as is my ability to get there if things need be.
But right now I need a secure way to get funds to people in red states whose finances might be tracked so that they can get the gender affirming care in states that still allow it, or so they can move to states that aren’t actively trying to kill them.
And right now this is the safest way to get them funds that cannot be interfered with or traced by state or federal governments.
Can I ask? Why does Musk suddenly have this authority? “DOGE” isn’t even a real Department, right? And also, Musk hasn’t been elected or officially confirmed for any government position. Why the fuck is he giving orders and leading departments and having any power whatsoever over the U.S. Treasury and such? I don’t understand how this works. Why doesn’t the U.S. have any… I don’t know, safeguards against this sort of shit? It’s absolutely bonkers to watch this unfold from across the pond.
Musk just walked up, said “I’m in charge now” and everyone’s just complying? Please ELI5.
He doesn’t. However, that is only according to this pesky technicality called “the law”. If the President does not want to follow the law, and appoints people who also do not care for following the law, then the law stops being a thing to look for for authority; and Musk can do this because Trump says he can.
In the short term, expect this to be shut down by the courts. In the medium term, a bunch of these orders will end up in front of the Supreme Court that unironically said “if the president does it, it might be illegal, but he is absolutely immune from prosecution”. Even if the SC come down on the only legally defensible position, Trump could still say “them and what army”
This is 100% a coup by Trump to centralize power in the executive. When staging a coup, “authority” is merely an inconvenience.
Because our government is filled with a bunch of geriatric FUCKS who don’t give a shit and whose whole personality is ‘fuck you I got mine’. There are checks and balances and this could be stopped if anyone was fucking useful to any capacity. We shouldn’t have to rise up in the streets or deal with this as that’s the whole god damn point of the gov. But because we allowed corporate interests to infiltrate and line the pockets of these assholes, along with there being no term limits, this is what we get.
We do have safeguards. They’re all being removed one by one by the party in charge. I’m guessing that some just comply because they figure it’s inevitable. On the other hand we have a long history of allowing people in power to do what they want. Bush walked into Iraq, we’ve had many military actions in many countries but haven’t declared war since world war III.
Or maybe Musk is just pushing the boundaries before he’s deported. LOL.
Trump said he’s in charge in a private capacity
The Supreme Court is yet to say it’s not allowed
It takes months if not years for a case to be appealed to the supeme court. They don’t even accept most cases.
Any court federal can issue an order on this if a case is brought. Courts cannot do anything unless asked. That’s kind of how the legal process works. Someone, or some AG will file a suit. Might take a few days or weeks.
It takes months if not years for a case to be appealed to the supeme court. They don’t even accept most cases.
I’m old enough to know how Bush beat Gore
They will keep doing this through the appeals process
Everyone is not “just complying,” two security directors of USAID were dismissed when they tried to stop the musky henchmen.
Not paying contractors, a plan straight out of the Trump playbook.
I pray they’re dumb enough to stop payments to Lockheed it Raytheon. Problem might solve itself
Mess with the military industrial complex. A wise plan for the Twits, Musk and Trump.
Lmfaooooo I just turned down a contractor position at NASA Ames. Applied for a full time position, went through interviews and even a facility tour, just to be offered part time temp to hire. Get fucked lmaooo
Good to know that our elected officials in the legislative branch are no longer able to create laws that are actually enacted.
This shit is outside the scope of the presidency.
This is a coup
Can you guys maybe do something about this? You all have guns right, I thought that was the entire point of that part of the Constitution.
and which side was interested in guns and militancy, and which side was against guns and militancy?
The point of that was to prevent the need for a standing military. The thought was a standing military would lead to tyranny
Texas used to have gun free towns (sort of, when you entered you left your gun with the sheriff)
Political parties were also a big nono, the runner up was supposed to be VP
And for people who don’t like that word:
Regulatory capture of the entire United States government.
Yet, no one’s doing anything about it or can do anything. These people are all powerful now. The White House, the House, the Senate, SCOTUS, Fed. Everything belongs to the Republican Party and they can do whatever, whenever. No checks and balances.
I reject that defeatist attitude. It’s time for tax strike and general strike and mass protests across the country as next step
I got laid off two weeks ago am I supposed to just not work lol, my parents live with me:\
I think we can pretty much skip the first step, wouldn’t do us much good. Protests planned at every state capital on the 5th.
Could have used the thumbnail with his famous salute
The US isnt good for their money. Creditors should demand their debts or threaten legal consequences in the form of international sanctions
US owns most of its own debt.
So, time to stop paying federal students loans and income taxes, eh?
Edit: student loans would be more difficult because loan default but the W4 can be adjusted so no income is deducted for Federal taxes. One would just have to be sure to put that money aside in a savings account
to pay next year with no current impact in this tax year. Looks like there would have to be some quarterly payments or one would otherwise incur penalties. So it’d be a bit tricky to pull off cleanly. Maybe someone better at tax code could figure out a way to just do this quarterly.Oops that was a paperwork fuck up. I’m sorry IRS, I’ll hand over the amount owed from my savings.
And life continues.
The IRS doesn’t want to prosecute people, it wants to get paid. A massive tax strike would be very effective because the IRS is getting short staffed under a trump administration. So they might actually take a few years to get to you. This is, of course, contingent on you having that money in savings and being willing to pay them when they show up for it.
This isn’t legal advice, I’m not a lawyer, just an old guy who pays attention, if you’re going to do this I highly recommend not responding or voting this comment. (It’s evidence)
Contractors handle Medicare.
Contractors run our military
Contractors build our nukes and keep them functioning
Contractors run Homeland Security as well. You know, the people running the deportations. And they sure as shit won’t do that crap for free.
Contractors probably have a hand in building your roads, supplying and maintaining your schools (and hospitals?), your plumbing, rail, air transit, power….Ive run out of steam. How is this a good thing? It’s terrifying.
Eh, to an extent. It’s going to be fun watching the military discover just how much of base services was contracting. But they’ll just order privates to do a half ass job and keep rolling. The big problems are the cargo and airline contracts. The Air Force and Navy are about to be very busy with stuff they didn’t want to handle.
I wonder at what point people are going to use force to stop this coup, at this point everyone is just watching laws and systems being broken and dimantled with no regard.
Is the media in the US that controlled that their people just don’t see what is happening?
I wonder at what point people are going to use force to stop this coup
Historically, it should start in about 30 days, or so, internally with rapid succession authoritarianism settling in.
Then, it takes a year or so after the first territorial grab. The first one is called “appeasement” strategy.
After that, then the rest of the world bombs us into desolation.
then the rest of the world bombs us into desolation.
Happy to, but you guys have nuclear weapons.
Remember when people were posting articles on how stupid and ridiculous DOGE is because it wouldn’t have the authority to do anything?
It’s still stupid and ridiculous and it still doesn’t have any legal authority.
Unfortunately, it is being allowed to act without legal authority.
He doesn’t need the authority if he just forces his way in.
Grabbed America by the pussy
Twitter remembers.
I see lawsuits flooding the US government for not paying for things they ordered.
Sorry the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.
They would just send back a shit emoji
jod I hope the shitty military bs has DRM that prevents it from functioning on non payment.
It’s not just suppliers. If you piss off Constellis (remember Blackwater?) and deny it legal remedies, they might be of a mind to do something to Elon as extra-legal as some of the stuff they have done for the US military as a PMC. These companies are used to getting their hands dirty and getting away with it. Not the sorts of people I’d be illegally denying their payments…
I hate to inform you, but US corporations don’t do that shit to other corporations/ governments. Just look at TVs. All your consumer grade TVs have had smart/LLM “features” shoved into them. They don’t do that on the commercial lines though. Commercial TVs are still “dumb.” Same for computers, cars, and pretty much everything that they can shove electronics in.
They do sell fleet vehicles with all the tracking stuff. They just offer the tracking information to the company as a means of surveiling their employees.
I sure hope this was worth it to hate on the trans and the browns. That’s the only thing dumb ass Americans voted for in 2024.
Looking at exit polls and post election polls it was the economy. Trump was very direct in his promise to lower prices. Harris ran over a hundred different messaging lines which clouded her economic message. Then she got caught on national TV defending Biden’s economy and saying nothing would change.
Yeah. IMO democrats refusing to acknowledge the state of the economy is what tipped the scale. You’d have to be a complete moron to believe Trump had any solutions for the economy, but he at least acknowledged that economically there’s something wrong. Harris on the other hand doubled down on Biden’s economic message of sticking your head in the sand and going “the economy is good”.
Blame the election system, not the voters. Its not a democracy
What a shitty election system. Anyway, i’ll vote for the racist diaper boy.
I hate the mango man but he won both the popular vote and electoral vote. How is that the fault of the system? The Dems put up a losing candidate that polled abysmally when she was running in the original primaries against Biden. To many in the center, the Dems had also swung too far left for their own flavor of progressive ideology. Put those two things together and they didn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of winning the election.
Edit: Thanks for the downvotes? I’m just stating facts. Kamala was NOT a likeable candidate for many on the left and center, so they simply didn’t vote. This led to cheeto in charge winning both the PV and EC. The rest of the world isn’t nearly as progressive as most folks on Lemmy.
He won the popular vote this time because people didn’t vote. Because there was no viable candidate for the left.
Again thats a problem with democracy. He’s not the candidate that the majority of people want. He won because we dont have a democracy
The system is stupid because you only have two parties so if one of them is useless then you’re screwed. But that’s the voter’s fault if they voted for third party candidates and actually organized themselves in such a way that they all voted for the same third party candidate then they could actually achieve something.
Musk is himself a giant government contractor via Space X and Starlink. Odds are he’s just trying to clear the board to funnel the money to his businesses. Especially when it comes to defense money!
