Glenn, I perceive a willful blindness to government malfescense (bloat, in John's words). At a glance, I can point to scandalous fraud in the state of CA, the $2 billion that disappeared from homeless programs, the high speed rail boondoggle, in the tens of billions, the 50% of every tax dollar going to teacher's unions, plus the state lottery profits. My sense is that an economist like you could do a report, from the headlines alone, to answer critics charges that DOGE is going WAY too far. I expect politicians to steal 1 dollar of every 3. With all the cash sloshing around after trillions in Covid grift, I expect them to see it as an opportunity to get greedy, taking 2 of every three dollars of tax money for their slush funds. I expect them to grab as much as they think they can get away with. But, there's a new sheriff in town, TEAM DOGE!
My subscription is finally coming to an end tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for this for a number of months. I have nothing but respect and admiration for Glenn, but I just cannot take any more of John ever since he called for the assassination of a presidential candidate. It’s sickening, and amoral, and I can’t take the man in good faith as an intellectual anymore as a result.
I’m sure neither Glenn nor John will give a crap about one insignificant person leaving, life goes on.
Glenn thinks DOGE will be an ultimate good. In the short term they are screwing up Social Security. Kamala Harris would not be this incompetent Biden would not be this incompetent.
If Kamala Harris was this incompetent, Conservatives would be shouting about DEI. The white boys are given a pass because of WEI (White, Entitled, and Incompetent). Conservatives set a race based double standard.
Republicans are destroying the idea that they are better on the economy. The limp response to the use of social media to discuss classified information sends a message that other governments cannot trust the United States to handle sensitive information. Finally, RFK Jr cancelled the meeting to set the targets for the flu vaccine to deal with the fall flu season.
There is a book “Uncharted” that contains allegations that Biden was in mental decline. Similar allegations are made in another book “Fight” by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes. Modern day Conservativism is such a clown car that many would prefer a supposed mentally impaired Biden surrounded by competent people to Trump advised by the the incompetent sycophants currently in the administration.
The Trumpcession was created by one man.
Edit to add:
Trump did not attend the transfer of 4 soldiers who died in Lithuania
Trump golfs as the stock market crashes
Former allies are organizing to be free from U.S. influence
It’s good to see Glenn voice his concerns around tariffs and deportations. I’m curious what his expectations were on these two policy points though. These were the two biggest promises of Trump’s campaign. How did Glenn see this playing out?
Glad to hear that McWhorter is concerned about the arrests, he had been so disdainful of the student protesters at Colombia that I feared he would wholeheartedly approve. Speaking of Colombia, which has more Israeli students than any Ivy League school, and Israelis, male and female, are required to do military service at age 18, is it plausible that they are so fearful of antisemitism at Colombia when they have had military and arms training already?
My father was killed in WWII. I was just walking well. My mother remarried a Army friend of my father a year later. My stepfather was the only father I ever knew. He did not adopt me out of respect to his friend, my father. He said that when I got old enough to make my own decisions that he would be proud to adopt me and have me use his name but it should be my decision, not his.
In those days, having a child with a different last name generated questions. My mother got tired of answering them. So, I was known by my stepfather's name. Both names were Scottish, easily confused anyway. "Mac" something or other. Made life easier.
For the most part, whenever anything that mattered came up, my mother would see to it that the correct name was used. This worked until I got into my teens, when a few things came off the rails. At about 14, I got a real job that needed a SS number. I went down to the SS office and got one--under the wrong last name. "Not to be used for Identification".
I paid in under that name until about age 17 when I decided to use my own name. No biggie--no problems.
I paid in under my stepfather's name for about three years. Then, for the next 45-50 years, under my own name. Same number. Applied for benefits, the direct deposit into MY account. No problem.
Then, I was hired as an adjunct professor at a local tech college. They had to see my actual SS card--which I hadn't actually seen in probably 30 years. So--I had to get a new one.
These days this is done over the internet, of course. I could have got one under the "wrong" name with a click of the mouse. But, I have NO ID under that name, basically never did have.
Finally get through to an actual person. Explain that I had never been adopted, my name had never been that on the card. He said: "No problem, just send us a copy of the court order changing your name". Me: "I just explained that there never had been an order. The name on the card was an alias. During times when I had a security clearance, I listed it as an alias. This CANNOT be unique--there are probably at least half a million war orphans. I personally know of a couple that went by a stepfather's last name without being formally adopted. You accepted my payments for 45-50 years under that name and have been paying me under that name for half a dozen years."
Him: (after a couple more go around's on the court order): "I have no solution"
Me: "You mean I am now unemployable (legally, at least)"
Him: "I have nothing." ; The obligatory "Have a good day."
On a whim, I decided to go down to the local SS office. Explained I needed a new SS card. the nice lady set out to issue me one under the AKA name. I said: "It has to be under the correct name". She: "Oh, we can't do that here. We will have to send it to you." Me: "OK, how long". She: "About a week".
About a week later, it came in the mail. I guard it with my life.
I'm glad that Glenn is harboring some realistic doubt about at least some of the administration's actions. However, I am disappointed that he is willing to give any credibility to the 40% fraud figure manufactured by J.D. Vance. There is no evidence cited for this. The actual number may be closer to 0.0025%.
The only way this number could be less believable would be if J.D. Vance said 200% - but even then, I bet a lot of people would still not question it.
I haven't located a source for 0.0025% yet, but 0.00625% is attributed below:
WASHINGTON - The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, on Elon Musk’s statements during his interview on FOX News last night:
“Using comments that tracked those of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Elon Musk repeated the Trump administration’s lies about Social Security. He made the absurd claim that 40 percent of the over 78 million Americans who call Social Security’s 1-800 number every year are ‘fraudsters.’ Like Lutnick, he said that those ‘who scream the loudest’ are ‘the fraudsters.’
The truth is that Social Security has a fraud rate of 0.00625 percent, far lower than private sector retirement programs. It is Musk and DOGE who are inviting in fraudsters. Scammers are already rushing in to take advantage of the confusion created by DOGE’s service cuts.
Glenn, I perceive a willful blindness to government malfescense (bloat, in John's words). At a glance, I can point to scandalous fraud in the state of CA, the $2 billion that disappeared from homeless programs, the high speed rail boondoggle, in the tens of billions, the 50% of every tax dollar going to teacher's unions, plus the state lottery profits. My sense is that an economist like you could do a report, from the headlines alone, to answer critics charges that DOGE is going WAY too far. I expect politicians to steal 1 dollar of every 3. With all the cash sloshing around after trillions in Covid grift, I expect them to see it as an opportunity to get greedy, taking 2 of every three dollars of tax money for their slush funds. I expect them to grab as much as they think they can get away with. But, there's a new sheriff in town, TEAM DOGE!
My subscription is finally coming to an end tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for this for a number of months. I have nothing but respect and admiration for Glenn, but I just cannot take any more of John ever since he called for the assassination of a presidential candidate. It’s sickening, and amoral, and I can’t take the man in good faith as an intellectual anymore as a result.
I’m sure neither Glenn nor John will give a crap about one insignificant person leaving, life goes on.
Glenn thinks DOGE will be an ultimate good. In the short term they are screwing up Social Security. Kamala Harris would not be this incompetent Biden would not be this incompetent.
https://www.rawstory.com/social-security-trump/
If Kamala Harris was this incompetent, Conservatives would be shouting about DEI. The white boys are given a pass because of WEI (White, Entitled, and Incompetent). Conservatives set a race based double standard.
Republicans are destroying the idea that they are better on the economy. The limp response to the use of social media to discuss classified information sends a message that other governments cannot trust the United States to handle sensitive information. Finally, RFK Jr cancelled the meeting to set the targets for the flu vaccine to deal with the fall flu season.
There is a book “Uncharted” that contains allegations that Biden was in mental decline. Similar allegations are made in another book “Fight” by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes. Modern day Conservativism is such a clown car that many would prefer a supposed mentally impaired Biden surrounded by competent people to Trump advised by the the incompetent sycophants currently in the administration.
The Trumpcession was created by one man.
Edit to add:
Trump did not attend the transfer of 4 soldiers who died in Lithuania
Trump golfs as the stock market crashes
Former allies are organizing to be free from U.S. influence
Yet the Conservative cult still supports Trump.
The cult is based on anger and bigotry
Destroy education
Destroy Black history.
It’s good to see Glenn voice his concerns around tariffs and deportations. I’m curious what his expectations were on these two policy points though. These were the two biggest promises of Trump’s campaign. How did Glenn see this playing out?
Glad to hear that McWhorter is concerned about the arrests, he had been so disdainful of the student protesters at Colombia that I feared he would wholeheartedly approve. Speaking of Colombia, which has more Israeli students than any Ivy League school, and Israelis, male and female, are required to do military service at age 18, is it plausible that they are so fearful of antisemitism at Colombia when they have had military and arms training already?
A Social Security story.
My father was killed in WWII. I was just walking well. My mother remarried a Army friend of my father a year later. My stepfather was the only father I ever knew. He did not adopt me out of respect to his friend, my father. He said that when I got old enough to make my own decisions that he would be proud to adopt me and have me use his name but it should be my decision, not his.
In those days, having a child with a different last name generated questions. My mother got tired of answering them. So, I was known by my stepfather's name. Both names were Scottish, easily confused anyway. "Mac" something or other. Made life easier.
For the most part, whenever anything that mattered came up, my mother would see to it that the correct name was used. This worked until I got into my teens, when a few things came off the rails. At about 14, I got a real job that needed a SS number. I went down to the SS office and got one--under the wrong last name. "Not to be used for Identification".
I paid in under that name until about age 17 when I decided to use my own name. No biggie--no problems.
I paid in under my stepfather's name for about three years. Then, for the next 45-50 years, under my own name. Same number. Applied for benefits, the direct deposit into MY account. No problem.
Then, I was hired as an adjunct professor at a local tech college. They had to see my actual SS card--which I hadn't actually seen in probably 30 years. So--I had to get a new one.
These days this is done over the internet, of course. I could have got one under the "wrong" name with a click of the mouse. But, I have NO ID under that name, basically never did have.
Finally get through to an actual person. Explain that I had never been adopted, my name had never been that on the card. He said: "No problem, just send us a copy of the court order changing your name". Me: "I just explained that there never had been an order. The name on the card was an alias. During times when I had a security clearance, I listed it as an alias. This CANNOT be unique--there are probably at least half a million war orphans. I personally know of a couple that went by a stepfather's last name without being formally adopted. You accepted my payments for 45-50 years under that name and have been paying me under that name for half a dozen years."
Him: (after a couple more go around's on the court order): "I have no solution"
Me: "You mean I am now unemployable (legally, at least)"
Him: "I have nothing." ; The obligatory "Have a good day."
On a whim, I decided to go down to the local SS office. Explained I needed a new SS card. the nice lady set out to issue me one under the AKA name. I said: "It has to be under the correct name". She: "Oh, we can't do that here. We will have to send it to you." Me: "OK, how long". She: "About a week".
About a week later, it came in the mail. I guard it with my life.
I'm glad that Glenn is harboring some realistic doubt about at least some of the administration's actions. However, I am disappointed that he is willing to give any credibility to the 40% fraud figure manufactured by J.D. Vance. There is no evidence cited for this. The actual number may be closer to 0.0025%.
The only way this number could be less believable would be if J.D. Vance said 200% - but even then, I bet a lot of people would still not question it.
I have not seen a source for the 40 percent. Nor the 0.0025 percent
Here's some clarification from SSA:
https://blog.ssa.gov/correcting-the-record-about-social-security-direct-deposit-and-telephone-services/
The original statistic states that 40% of the fraud involves a call to SSA, and in response SSA requires stricter ID checks.
However, this 40% number was subsequently repurposed by Howard Lutnick, Elon Musk, J.D. Vance and others to assert that 40% of calls were fraudulent.
I haven't located a source for 0.0025% yet, but 0.00625% is attributed below:
WASHINGTON - The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, on Elon Musk’s statements during his interview on FOX News last night:
“Using comments that tracked those of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Elon Musk repeated the Trump administration’s lies about Social Security. He made the absurd claim that 40 percent of the over 78 million Americans who call Social Security’s 1-800 number every year are ‘fraudsters.’ Like Lutnick, he said that those ‘who scream the loudest’ are ‘the fraudsters.’
The truth is that Social Security has a fraud rate of 0.00625 percent, far lower than private sector retirement programs. It is Musk and DOGE who are inviting in fraudsters. Scammers are already rushing in to take advantage of the confusion created by DOGE’s service cuts.
I invoke Carlin's First Rule on all of this.