There is a staggering cognitive dissonance around Federal government spending. The blue states generate the majority of the tax revenue, the red states get a disproportionate amount of the spending. That is very much a function of the military budget. Of course, the next place to look is agricultural spending and associated files such as biofuels.
This map doesn’t look that different than a lot of elections. Once you control for retirees taxed in their retirement state, not their last state of residence, Florida switches and Texas is closer to break-even.
Remember that movie from the 90s, ‘Dave’? When he brings in his accountant friend to look over the budget?
It’s going to be like that. Just without giving money to homeless shelters and cutting on defense contracts bit. And his friend is a billionaire.
This thread is a great illustration of the value of basic science and the return on investment that it can lead to that people ignore when they mock it for appearing to have silly outcomes.
Government funded basic research is the foundation of many novel commercial applications. You don’t get something like Tesla without the government funded research in physics that allowed the technology to be viable. The government has no interest in competing with companies like Tesla, and in lots of sectors will often have programs to stand up early movers in those segments to help make the commercialization of the research they funded become viable.
There have long been discussions on how to better acknowledge the government’s funding of research that make new products viable (e.g. how many 10s of millions did the NIH and NSF have to put into mRNA research for Moderna to be able to even consider an mRNA vaccine as a possibility?). That really blew up in and around covid because of the vaccines, but a big part of this is not about the government getting their financial cut. It is about making more apparent to the general public the criticality of the government funding of the foundational research these products are built on so these “can you believe we funding studies of rats getting wasted…the government is so dumb” takes can be more easily addressed.
Well let’s see how this plays out. I suspect stupendously ridiculous expenditure will be uncovered. Some of the stories from twitter might have a legitimate basis but that certainly does not mean that paying for drag acts in other countries is anything but insane.
Logical consistency is not your strong point, but the cost is absolutely the point if we’re talking about a new government program designed to improve the federal budget by eliminating wasteful spending. Spending administrative effort to root out a 20k diplomatic grant for something you are ideologically opposed to does nothing to address your supposed goal.
Yeah, they are just being stupid. So stupid it looks almost performative. Musk has stated a goal of reducing spending an amount greater than we actually spend. This is not about government efficiency. It is about this https://x.com/themaxburns/status/1856500507444982225
Someone else can find the infographic, but Musk’s companies are currently subject to about 10 separate investigations from various government agencies. Im sure he will conveniently find lots of “waste” in those agencies that when removed cripple their ability to undertake such investigative actions.
I have probably commented on discussions we have had about leaving Florida as neither of us have any real ties to here and both work remotely, and some of that has considered going abroad as neither of us were born here, both have family in several different countries and have 4 different passports between us. But it would be a mischaracterization to say I have ever said that if Trump wins I am out. And I know mischaracterization of what someone has said to make a petty point is beneath you…
