# DOGE; the department of Government Efficiency **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** elon-musk\ **Created:** [November 13, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227 "2024-11-13T23:28:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/341 "2025-02-18T21:29:37Z")
DOGE has two goals. 1. Slashing and burning enough to make room for trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the top 1% of earners in the country. 2. Personally giving Elon an unprecedented amount of data he can apply to his tech companies. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/342 "2025-02-19T06:06:46Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Personally giving Elon an unprecedented amount of data he can apply to his tech companies. This does appear to be a major goal. What’s he planning on doing with it? Blackmail? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/343 "2025-02-19T10:01:57Z")
Saw a news story yesterday that DOGE is going to start firing probationary employees at the DoD. If so, it means I am going to be fired soon. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/344 "2025-02-19T10:30:00Z")
Crap. Hoping for the best for you (, for others, and for us all). It doesn’t look certain, but neither does it look good: > **[DOGE is getting lists of the military's probationary workers from the Pentagon](https://apnews.com/article/doge-pentagon-trump-probationary-workers-military-414b369147fdd043af586c76c0b716c9)** > > U.S. officials say Department of Government Efficiency staffers were at the Pentagon on Tuesday and receiving lists of the military's probationary employees. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/345 "2025-02-19T12:22:09Z")
Looks like firing any/all probationary folk is the lowest hanging fruit for these idiots to pluck. Sorry, **Crafter Man**. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/346 "2025-02-19T13:16:34Z")
This group is pretty small (seven people), and I am the first “new” person they have hired in 17 years. I was hired because a couple people in the group are going to retire before the end of the year. I was hired on 15-Mar-24, and my probationary period is 1 year. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/347 "2025-02-19T13:26:34Z")
They gutted the US Forest Service in Montana Friday–fired something like 70% of the employees, and of course plans for seasonal employees or interns had already been axed. So that leaves 5 employees in Bozeman, which is surrounded by millions of acres of public land which among other things is known for burning. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/348 "2025-02-19T13:36:18Z")
Hopefully the five remaining will be out sweeping the forests once the snow is gone. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/349 "2025-02-19T13:58:21Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > This group is pretty small (seven people), and I am the first “new” person they have hired in 17 years. I was hired because a couple people in the group are going to retire before the end of the year. I posted earlier about how firing the probationary employees was part of a plan to destroy the departments’ long-term health, and this is exactly the kind of situation I was thinking about. Where I work went through a crisis like this back in the late 90s, where they hadn’t hired for a long time, and suddenly realized that a lot of their workers were about to retire. If they hadn’t started hiring when they hired me and my cohort of trainees, they’d have probably lost a lot of institutional knowledge in a very particular area. Now they’ve wasted the year they’ve spent training you, and any more years between now, and when this stupidity finally ends, and they can hire new people again. How much will be lost between now and then? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/350 "2025-02-19T14:07:40Z")
Yet another state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump already feeling the negative impacts of that decision. This sucks for me. These are the places we go to recreate and it’s not like the NF kept up on trail work previously. Also, we’ve already submitted lottery entries for a few overnight permits and I’m wondering if those will even be possible. Places like Mt. Rainier NP, Glacier NP, etc. Also, with all the unchecked wildfires that will ripping through the NW, I don’t expect the great outdoors will recover for a long time, if ever. I cannot believe anyone is cheering on this ravaging of the US. > **['Public lands will suffer': Idaho, home to seven national forests, loses...](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/feb/18/public-lands-will-suffer-idaho-home-to-seven-natio/)** > > Patrick Shea is worried about Idaho’s public lands. He’s concerned about the inconvenience of overgrown trails and dirty bathrooms, and the dangers and destruction of unchecked wildfires and floods. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/351 "2025-02-19T14:18:50Z")
Without checking, I expect that Idaho voted for Trump overwhelmingly. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/352 "2025-02-19T14:33:16Z")
Absolutely (that was my first sentence). 67% of the vote went to the guy now hellbent on destroying the US and it appears the world as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/353 "2025-02-19T14:55:11Z")
Well, the good people of Idaho should be happy to see Donald Trump fulfilling his campaign promise of eliminating the deep state at the US Forest Service. Soon he will do so at Veterans Affairs and perhaps those who help the agricultural interests in Idaho deal with issues like pests and diseases. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/354 "2025-02-19T14:56:25Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I posted earlier about how firing the probationary employees was part of a plan to destroy the departments’ long-term health, and this is exactly the kind of situation I was thinking about. Where I work went through a crisis like this back in the late 90s, where they hadn’t hired for a long time, and suddenly realized that a lot of their workers were about to retire. If they hadn’t started hiring when they hired me and my cohort of trainees, they’d have probably lost a lot of institutional knowledge in a very particular area. > > Now they’ve wasted the year they’ve spent training you, and any more years between now, and when this stupidity finally ends, and they can hire new people again. How much will be lost between now and then? There’s gonna be a lot of that. My group has been understaffed for at least eight years now. We have a couple of people currently eligible to retire, and I’ll probably retire in four years. A lot of knowledge is going to walk out the door before this is all over, and with nobody to hand that knowledge off to, it’s gonna be a mess when we go. ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/355 "2025-02-19T15:24:43Z")
As far as seniors go, it is DOGE that will hit us hardest. So putting my link to a blog in this thread. [Politics: a view from the prairie: Downsizing and Other Preparations](https://esapolitics.blogspot.com/2025/02/downsizing-and-other-preparations.html) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/356 "2025-02-21T18:58:47Z")
**Musk’s blitzkrieg is unnerving many of Trump’s senior advisers** > Top treasury officials have complained about disruption. The secretary of state has pushed back on staff cuts. Inside the Education and Health and Human Services departments, political appointees have been informed — not consulted — about canceled grants and contracts, sometimes learning about decisions from the media. > > Elon Musk’s aggressive tactics to reshape the federal government have irritated and blindsided many senior officials in the Trump administration, including those tasked with running Cabinet departments being squeezed by his U.S. DOGE Service, according to interviews with more than 30 current and former officials and their advisers, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. [MSN repost of Washington Post article] [https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/musk-s-blitzkrieg-is-unnerving-many-of-trump-s-senior-advisers/ar-AA1zx3xV](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/musk-s-blitzkrieg-is-unnerving-many-of-trump-s-senior-advisers/ar-AA1zx3xV) It sound like Trump needs to dump some of these people he just appointed–as they don’t realize that DOGE is running their departments–while their function is to just stand around and do some PR praising Trump and Musk… ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/357 "2025-02-21T21:05:03Z")
I seriously don’t understand how Dr Musk can be allowed to amputate limbs without a second opinion. If he’s found fraud, waste, and abuse, great. But that nazi shouldn’t be the last arbiter of what is or isn’t necessary. And yet Congress will, like clockwork, vote themselves a pay increase despite their lack of oversight, lazy fucks. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/358 "2025-02-21T21:34:58Z")
Congress hasn’t approved a pay raise in 15 years. > **[Congressional lawmakers almost got a pay bump this year. Then it crashed and...](https://www.npr.org/2024/12/27/nx-s1-5233140/congressional-lawmakers-no-pay-bump)** > > Lawmakers on Capitol Hill haven't had a pay increase since 2009, representing a 31% decline in their salary when adjusted for inflation. Before a Congressional pay raise takes effect, there must be always be an intervening election, so Congress can really only raise the pay for the next Congress. > **[Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-seventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution)** > > The Twenty-seventh Amendment (Amendment XXVII, also known as the Congressional Compensation Act of 1789) to the United States Constitution states that any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress may take effect only after the next election of the House of Representatives has occurred. It is the most recently adopted amendment but was one of the first proposed. > The 1st Congress submitted the amendment to the states for ratification on September 25, 1789, along with 11 ... ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/359 "2025-02-21T21:44:59Z")
I stand corrected. And glad. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227/360 "2025-02-23T16:19:42Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I seriously don’t understand how Dr Musk can be allowed to amputate limbs without a second opinion. Because he thinks his opinion is the only one that matters even if he has absolutely no idea what he is doing or has any expertise in that area whatsoever; witness Elon butting in on the Tham Luang cave rescue of a school football team, insisting that his unworkable solution of a submersible by SpaceX (which has no experience in this area) was the only way and literally accusing an actual expert consultant of being a pedophile. And the people who are utterly devoted to Musk and his narcissism-and-drug-fueled ‘visions’ will apologize, rationalize, and gaslight endlessly in support of him until they are finally caught in a capricious firing or radical shift in basic principles, upon which they wonder how they could have been caught up with such a cult figure. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_cZ7hN4f43Y/maxresdefault.jpg "I Survived ELON MUSK'S Company For 6 Years Here's What Happened") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cZ7hN4f43Y) Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doge-the-department-of-government-efficiency/1010227.md?page=19)