Gyroscopic Investing

Department of Government Efficiency on X: "Today, @NIH cancelled the following grants:
- $620K for “an LGB+ inclusive teen pregnancy prevention program for transgender boys”
- $699K for studying “cannabis use” among “sexual minority gender diverse individuals”
- $740K for examining “social networks” among “black and" / X

Weekly Credit Card Update! Pilot program with 16 agencies to audit unused/unneeded credit cards. After 3 weeks, >200,000 cards have been de-activated. Great progress this past week by @HHSGov @Interior As a reminder, at the start of the audit, there were ~4.6M active government cards

"The Inter-American Foundation, an agency whose primary action was to issue foreign grants ($60M budget), has been reduced to its statutory minimum (1 active employee). Examples of grants that were cancelled in the process:

$903,811 for alpaca farming in Peru - $364,500 to reduce social discrimination of recyclers in Bolivia - $813,210 for vegetable gardens in El Salvador - $323,633 to promote cultural understanding of Venezuelan migrants in Brazil - $731,105 to improve marketability of mushrooms and peas in Guatemala - $677,342 to expand fruit and jam sales in Honduras - $483,345 to improve artisanal salt production in Ecuador - $39,250 for beekeeping in Brazil

In 2020-2021, SBA granted 5,593 loans for $312M to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan. While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used an SSN with the incorrect name.

In 2020-2021,
@SBAgov
issued 3,095 loans, including PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan), for $333M to borrowers over 115 years old who were still marked as alive in the Social Security database. In one case, a 157 years old individual received $36k in loans.

CANCELLED: $600,000 grant to study “menstrual cycles in transgender men”

I take umbrage at the defunding of the alpaca farming.

Can't wait until they get to the Defense Department budget and identify all the waste in providing all the jobs programs for the constituents of those in Congress and the Senate.

Spending that would go away if not the desire to provide these needless jobs programs.

That is where the REAL money is. Not the relatively minor amounts cited in the initial post of this topic.

Those are funny to laugh at but not the real money.

Reminds me of one of the things I read years about in the Peter Principle book (I believe it was there).

The board of a company would approve these huge amounts as presented to them by management. They'd spend little time discussing each one, mainly because they lacked the understanding to do so. But when the discussion came to toilet paper? Whoa!!!! Everyone knows and can relate to toilet paper and the discussion would be endless over this relatively trivial matter compared to all they'd prior barely discussed and quickly approved.

Don't get caught up in the distractions. Let's see DOGE make the real, necessary cuts. Not the ones that appeal to the emotions only.

I'm waiting for them to get to the bottom of the beneficial relationships between govt officials and NGOs. I have to think there will be people from both parties exposed.

yankees60 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 11:00 am Can't wait until they get to the Defense Department budget and identify all the waste in providing all the jobs programs for the constituents of those in Congress and the Senate.

Spending that would go away if not the desire to provide these needless jobs programs.

That is where the REAL money is. Not the relatively minor amounts cited in the initial post of this topic.

Those are funny to laugh at but not the real money.

Reminds me of one of the things I read years about in the Peter Principle book (I believe it was there).

The board of a company would approve these huge amounts as presented to them by management. They'd spend little time discussing each one, mainly because they lacked the understanding to do so. But when the discussion came to toilet paper? Whoa!!!! Everyone knows and can relate to toilet paper and the discussion would be endless over this relatively trivial matter compared to all they'd prior barely discussed and quickly approved.

Don't get caught up in the distractions. Let's see DOGE make the real, necessary cuts. Not the ones that appeal to the emotions only.

They might not be starting with the biggest fruit, but they are finding the low hanging fruit. These cuts are extremely popular with the public.

I Shrugged wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 6:15 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 11:00 am Can't wait until they get to the Defense Department budget and identify all the waste in providing all the jobs programs for the constituents of those in Congress and the Senate.

Spending that would go away if not the desire to provide these needless jobs programs.

That is where the REAL money is. Not the relatively minor amounts cited in the initial post of this topic.

Those are funny to laugh at but not the real money.

Reminds me of one of the things I read years about in the Peter Principle book (I believe it was there).

The board of a company would approve these huge amounts as presented to them by management. They'd spend little time discussing each one, mainly because they lacked the understanding to do so. But when the discussion came to toilet paper? Whoa!!!! Everyone knows and can relate to toilet paper and the discussion would be endless over this relatively trivial matter compared to all they'd prior barely discussed and quickly approved.

Don't get caught up in the distractions. Let's see DOGE make the real, necessary cuts. Not the ones that appeal to the emotions only.

They might not be starting with the biggest fruit, but they are finding the low hanging fruit. These cuts are extremely popular with the public.

Yes. You stated it concisely far better than how I was attempting to say it.

If it leads to greater cutting and getting to the major core problems then great. However, if it basically just ends there ... then not so great.

As satisfying (salacious?) as some of the reported DOGE findings are, in terms of materiality they are the equivalent of fingernail clippings.
It remains to be seen what effect Trump will have on the overall budget, not just in terms of expense management, but also in terms of the revenue side of the picture under his Administration.
Tax cuts will hurt revenue, so we are betting on making it up with increased economic activity, GDP expansion and theoretically, tariffs that would be paid by US importers.

Going by Trump's first term, his track record with deficit management was not great in comparison to Biden. Ironic because most people have it in their head that Biden spent like a drunken sailor in comparison to Trump whom they regard as fiscally frugal. The numbers indicate otherwise. Let's see if Trump 2.0 proves to be different.

glennds wrote: ↑Thu Mar 13, 2025 9:26 am As satisfying (salacious?) as some of the reported DOGE findings are, in terms of materiality they are the equivalent of fingernail clippings.
It remains to be seen what effect Trump will have on the overall budget, not just in terms of expense management, but also in terms of the revenue side of the picture under his Administration.
Tax cuts will hurt revenue, so we are betting on making it up with increased economic activity, GDP expansion and theoretically, tariffs that would be paid by US importers.

Going by Trump's first term, his track record with deficit management was not great in comparison to Biden. Ironic because most people have it in their head that Biden spent like a drunken sailor in comparison to Trump whom they regard as fiscally frugal. The numbers indicate otherwise. Let's see if Trump 2.0 proves to be different.

Well stated and supported!