Peeling the Onion - Doge Style

It brings a tear to my eye

image credit=the spruceeats

This morning over our coffee we talked about the things that were already being uncovered by the “DOGE” team. Of course neither of us was in any way surprised by the scandal at USAID. We were also not the least surprised at what one friend called the “silly spending” that was taking place. It has been a given for many decades that the government wastes money on nonsense. In fact, both sides of the political spectrum have known about it, decried it (in private anyway) and called for reform. It was mostly a joke to most. An “oh well, boys will be boys” and “politicians always waste money” so it’s no big deal! Good joke, eh? It’s kind of like we all still joke about voter fraud in Chicago by referring to the dead still voting and other unfunny gags.

Another excuse given commonly, usually spoken by the big spenders and recipients of government largesse, was the “compared to the size of the budget, it’s not a hill of beans” refrain. Okay, rational people knew right away that was BS, but those who love big government (no matter what) latched on to it and changed the subject as quickly as possible.

Anyway, after our little coffee klatch bitch session toned down, I got to bloviating about how to fix the real problem. Namely, everlasting, real time forensic audits on every single nickel that any government spends on anything.

A moment later I started reading the latest column (2/9/25) by John Kass on his website. It is a great column and worth reading. (BTW, I highly suggest that people subscribe to his site so they can help support independent journalism now that corporate media is moribund.)

While reading the comments he made, some of them concerning the insane programs allegedly being supported by USAID, I decided to make a point in the comment section following the article. This short essay was inspired by the thoughts I had over coffee and how they related to most of the news stories about the DOGE examinations. The main focus of most of them usually being the “silly” spending in those programs. For the record, Kass’ column did not focus on that aspect.

My comment* was,

“While others spend their time (correctly and understandably) focusing on the insane places and purposes that the money is being sent, my time will be mostly spent campaigning for a continuing peeling of the onion on a permanent basis. Hopefully by permanent legislation.

That is to say, I would be past shocked to discover whether ANY of the money (or at least how much) being sent to these pretend places actually arrived there. And I'd like to know who received it and whether it was actually spent on these insane projects.

How much is being syphoned off and by whom? In other words, a forensic audit of every nickel of government spending, nose to tail, of every single branch of government. Every single program from the defense dept to the dog catcher, I want it on an ongoing and permanent basis from now on, forever.

Not just an audit, ongoing audits used as the onion peeler. Did even a single Taliban troglodyte ever pull a condom onto his unmentionable before looking for a date? I don't think so.

So there are my thoughts on this subject and why I think this whole topic may actually end up being something of a fundamental turning point in the whole mess our government has become. Aren’t you glad you asked?

* I quote myself even though that may be a goofy thing to do. After all, who quotes themself? Me I guess. Pretty rude and egotistical, but I did it anyway. Some light editing was done to my comments to make them more appropriate to this newsletter.