Posted on 02/13/2025 7:14:14 AM PST by MtnClimber
The U.S. deficit is $1.83 trillion for 2024. That’s a lot of money. USAID, which is all the news lately, accounts for only around $63 billion or so of that money. The fact that our deficit is so high really underlines why USAID needs to go away, of course, but it’s clear it’s not the totality of our overspending.
No, there’s a lot more.
Currently, a fight is brewing about whether DOGE will get access to necessary data at the Treasury Department, and there’s a reason why it’s important that they do.
An insane amount of what is clearly fraud in the Social Security system.
$50 to $100 billion a year, that is how much has already been identified by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency through a review of Treasury payments as likely fraud. This amount is nothing more than identifying how much is paid monthly to recipients who don’t have a Social Security number or other government identification attached to their files.
In a world of cartels and other foreign government criminal enterprises, it is not surprising that very smart, organized attacks have been made to steal from the American taxpayer. After all, it is as simple as Willie Sutton’s answer to the question of why he robbed banks, “because that’s where the money is.”
DOGE head Elon Musk has already estimated, based upon work done to date, that there is approximately $1 trillion in fraud, waste and abuse in the system that can be identified and prevented. It took two weeks of analyzing the government payment systems to make this incredible pronouncement.
It is surprising that the various systems that are in place to ostensibly prevent fraud failed so spectacularly, and it is fair to wonder if some of those in charge of them were part of the steal? After all, the question of valid identification in our election systems has been a hot button issue for at least a decade, it never occurred to those outside of government that the payment system did not require valid identification to receive government benefits. Who decided to not worry about requiring ID to receive a government check?
Why is anyone without a Social Security Number getting Social Security? If this is happening—and based on what else we’ve seen DOGE dig up, I’m inclined to believe it—then the system is well and completely screwed.
And it’s hard not to look at Democrats’ resistance to uncovering this fraud and addressing it as anything but a potential indication that they’re in on the scam.
Think about it for a moment.
If we could save the Social Security system $100 billion a year without impacting anyone who is actually entitled to Social Security, that’s a good thing, right? We reduce operating costs, address the deficit, and don’t impact a single law-abiding American.
Yet instead, they try to throw up roadblocks to keep that from happening.
Trump Derangement Syndrome may account for at least some of it, maybe all of it, but it still feels like the simplest solution is that they’re benefitting from the scam.
And the battle at the Treasury Department is far from the final clash. We’re likely to learn of waste, fraud, and abuse everywhere in the United States government, hence that $1 trillion figure.
That would take a massive chunk out of the deficit, all without impacting a single program that benefits American citizens.
Couple that with some strategic cuts elsewhere in the budget—I can’t wait to see how much ending DEI is going to save us—and we may well find that we can eliminate the entire deficit and maybe be able to start paying down the national debt for a change.
The problem with growing debt is that it keeps growing. It becomes more and more difficult to address it as time marches on until it becomes such a massive problem that there’s no recourse.
This is true in personal finances and it’s true of governments.
If we can take it down significantly just by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, then we should. It should be a non-controversial point of discussion.
And, largely, it is. It’s an easy sell to the American people.
But Democrats are still doubling down, which is why it’s hard for me to accept this as just TDS and not them benefitting from the fraud directly.
Who knows. That might be what DOGE pulls up down the road.
For democRATs, the fraud is just an easy way to become a millionaire.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d really like to start seeing some people go to jail for bilking the taxpayers.
save medicaid, medicare, social security for last... optics would be better...
trump knows this and the savings will be more than the interest on the debt and the last deficit... i am sure of that.
With any luck, D.O.G.E will pin names to numbers soon.
There’s supposed to be a presser today about this. Looking forward to it.
And that's just a superficial look into the payments
Imagine what they will find in a "deep dive "
Me too !
A million dollars of $100. bills is 40 inches. A billion dollars would be .63 miles. A trillion dollars would be 631 miles.
Let’s say as a kid you got caught stealing $20 from your dad’s wallet. How effective would it be to argue that it was “only” twenty bucks?
And then to whine that your brother Elon who witnessed it is the one who should be punished?
$22 million for climate change on Mars!
https://x.com/TheOmeg55211733/status/1887117943626191328
There’s another chance to break out your 😱 face!
Thanks for that insane mental image!
Really puts it into perspective!
The left is trying to seize the narrative. I hope Pres. Trump does a special address to the nation about DOGE, its mission, its findings, and its opposition. Then let the left try to keep on defending fraud, waste, corruption.
bkmk
Interest on the debt last year was $881 billion, Discretionary spending was $1,590 billion, and the deficit was $1,800 billion.
DOGE cuts can make a dent in that, but can’t come close to offsetting it. If you cut discretionary spending to zero, you still have $200 billion deficit. Plus Trump wants tax cuts.
Understandably. no one wants to talk about it, but healthcare and Social Security need major reform to get out of this mess.
The wishful thinking scenario is to hold spending, and grow out of it. The likely scenario is inflate our way out at some point, and we all get a lot poorer.
Jail? Nah. They’ll still be taking taxpayer money. If they can repay the money, well and good, though they’ll still be blacklisted, and never receive another dime of public money.
For those that can’t, they still get blacklisted, assets over a certain level get seized, and their wages can be garnished, either until they make up the difference, or they die.
I’d really like to start seeing some people go to jail for bilking the taxpayers.
**************
That would be a good start for sure......
I’d like to see the gov’t start blocking the illegals
coming and taking jobs or getting free money. Blocking
them would do a lot for the USA today, imo.
That would work for me, too!
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