America - take over

[littlebilliie]

There is a LOT going on in America today

From Washington Post

"Billionaire Elon Musk’s deputies have gained access to a sensitive Treasury Department system responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments after the administration ousted a top career official at the departmentt_, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe government deliberations."

Independence is not a synonym for selfish avarice.

Seriously, you're being very uninformed, either wilfully or through ignorance. There's lots of information out there. The Washington Post, The New York Times, The FT, even the Wall Street Journal have lots and lots and lots of well-sourced, carefully-reported articles about what's happening.

USAID is only the tip of the iceberg, and it seems, based on your comments, that your don't even really understand what's happening around that. Why don't you spend some time informing yourself? Then, agree or disagree, it would be worth having a discussion.

Caveat: no information off of X unless it's from a link to an actual reputable source.

@Ohgodohgod I suspect this will be of little interest to you, and no doubt you will argue that the 90 day freeze on aid is all about reviewing the situation on the ground, but the impact of even a three month freeze would be enormous.

It's also becoming very apparent that few people are prepared to speak out against Musk for fear of retaliation, lest he send his Twitter army against them.

www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/making-foreign-aid-work/what-do-trumps-proposed-foreign-aid-cuts-mean/

I’ve read plenty of news stories and none have stated that a permanent stop has been placed on medical aid to developing countries, only that USAID is under investigation and its functions are likely to be absorbed or redistributed. If there are loads out there stating what you say I look forward to a link.
The trapped astronauts aren’t SpaceX astronauts — Musk didn’t send them up there, NASA did. Musk has just said he’ll bring them back.
I didn’t say billionaires were benevolent. No socioeconomic category comprises entirely of benevolent people. I said it doesn’t it and of itself make him a bad person.
Musk has never been an illegal immigrant and denies ever having worked illegally in the US. He now has citizenship, so far as I know.
SpaceX technology counts as the highest category of weaponry so Musk will have required some security scrutiny to run it, so regardless of whether the Trump administration has subjected him to additional scrutiny on the same level as similarly positioned civil servants it is not the case that no due diligence has been done at all.
On efficiency: I dunno? Tesla is one of only a couple of US car firms that hasn’t at some stage gone bankrupt and I recently read that Twitter/X is more profitable in net terms now than under previous ownership.

Thanks — this looks really useful. When it comes to Oxfam I will admit to having reservations ( sex scandals aside I’ve heard unfortunate things from previous employees about the way money is spent and the level of bureaucracy) but this looks like it addresses precisely the points raised. Really appreciate it. Will read now.

It’s Space X failures that have left them up there that long. It was precious ‘efficiency savings’ that means NASA doesn’t operate rockets anymore Space X does (and Bezos will shortly).

And again, it’s not just USAID. It’s all agencies. Employees being let go or ‘encouraged to leave’ because they were DEI hires (so anyone who’s not a white straight man). All reference to LGBT removed from all government websites (even ones of historical record that don’t imply value judgement). The ‘teams’ he’s brought in range in age from 19-25. They do NOT know what they are doing. They are all acting like this is a game to win over the ‘Libs’. It isn’t. This is people’s lives!

Is it hysteria? Or is it serious concern about very shocking things happening?

Twitter is worth less than it was when he bought it. Tesla is tanking internationally.
The original tech was nothing to do with him it was before he took it over. The cyber truck is a dangerous joke that doesn’t pass European safety standards. But hey, Trump has just signed an order that will reduce the ability of government agencies to enforce safety standards so that doesn’t bother Trump (US standards are already more lax than similar countries - hence the levels of industrial accidents and low food standards).

I'm very curious as to what stories you're reading, since you seem to not understand the full picture.

Musk (and his team) do not have security clearance for the things they are now doing as the Trump administration has done away with critical vetting and clearance.

He, and his team of youngsters (none of whom have security clearance, one of whom was briefly fired for astonishingly racists posts but has been reinstated) now has access to private citizens' private financial data and records. Musk, who has deep conflicts of interest due to his relationships with China and Russia, among other things, has access to any and all classified secrets. He has access to the databases that include information on investigations into safety issues at his companies, but the administration has said he will 'police himself'. Musk openly wants no regulation. Trump wants to give him, a private citizen, control over the air safety infrastructure in the US.

The conflicts of interest are numerous, unprecedented and exceedingly dangerous and if you think it's just going to affect the US you're deluded.

Again, lots and lots of information available.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/opinion/usaid-spending-trump-musk.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vU4._Ovr.jc0b6A5HY1dS&smid=url-share

This isn't a bad summation, actually

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/feb/08/elon-musk-politics-doge

Alt National Park Service is a good account to follow on BlueSky.

"We need to call out the blatant lie being pushed by the Trump administration—that Elon’s staffers have only “read-only” access. It has been confirmed across departments that they have “administrative” access to computer systems."

It’s an excellent and worrying account. Started following it last time.

@Ohgodohgod
I think future sales of Tesla have plummeted in Europe.

I also read somewhere that a Tesla owner said someone did a Nazi salute as he was getting out of his car.

Prices of second-hand Teslas on Autotrader are low.

A lot of this is new information to me, so thank you. Some of it I think is inaccurate, partial or based on hearsay (Nazi salutes getting out of a Tesla are Musk’s fault?! Come on — Musk doesn’t want to start wars or commit genocide, he’s not a Nazi and we all need to be a lot more serious in our use of that word) but some of it I clearly need to read about. Super interesting.

He is supporting AfD. They are a fascist party. And if you believe his excuse about his ‘gesture’ the other day then I really don’t know what to say to you.

Check out this Tesla thread on Reddit. People are buying stickers!

www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/s/1bgrXfDnUY

It wasn't a Nazi salute getting out of a Tesla, or hearsay. It was at a Trump election night event. Videos are available all over, but imo that's neither here nor there. It's doesn't matter whether he believes it or whether he's just trying to stir the pot (his re-hiring of the guy who tweeted some over the top racist shit is pretty telling though). It's what he's actually doing that's the issue.

In the interests of balance, though, I’m still at a loss as to why the failure of a NASA developed Boeing Starliner is meant to be Musk’s fault. NASA wasn’t sending their own rockets up there until Musk somehow stopped them: they appear to have been using Russian flights for transport previously and contracting to Boeing and Starlink is an attempt to get out of that potentially problematic arrangement.
on Musk’s links with Russia and China: maybe valid? I need to know more. But I’d love to know where those concerned about this stand on (for instance) the current Chagos arrangements given that the judges on the court that made the non-binding ruling were (in two cases) appointed by Putin and Xi. On privacy: our own Labour government is demanding Apple engineers a solution allowing them to access private information not just of U.K. citizens but, in effect, globally. Does any of this mean Musk is a-ok? No. I’m looking forward to reading some of the different viewpoints above. And I concede that this is, to an extent, ‘whataboutery’. But I’m disturbed by the extent to which we worry about these issues when it is ‘the other side’ apparently misbehaving or compromised, but give a free pass to ‘our own’.
I’d also note that Musk advocated for giving extremely generous severance payments — 2 years pay in the interview I heard — to government employees losing jobs. That strikes me as essentially humane.
anyway, signing off now because I have kids to look after but thanks for the links and the debate!

@Ohgodohgod
One of the USAID employees forced on admin leave (from Bluesky):

I can see a photo posted of that text. Which has concerned me slightly.

I think Mumsnet have now installed some sort of detection software but photos take a while to upload after you post. Didn't realise this!

I disagree that a lot of it is hearsay. And if you don't think Musk's gesture at the inauguration was a Nazi salute, then I'd like to see what you think is. In fact, if you're so relaxed about it, perhaps you should replicate it in your own workplace?

People are serious about the word Nazi. A lot of people speaking up against his behaviour know one when they see one.

I believe it wa 8 months severance pay and for the employees in foreign locations, to vacate within 30 days, including telling them they were going to be locked out of the IT systems within days. It's completely batshit.

Many of these programs have food that's going to be left to rot, medications that will never leave ports. The waste is extraordinary. They have locally employed staff that will suddenly be jobless (they are not included in the severance). A lot of these aid workers have sacrificed to live all over the world, have no home base in the US, have families, the spouse may have a local job, children in education in the midst of a school year, pets that will take more than 30 days to clear for immigration. On a personal level, it's disruptive and hugely expensive and just all around cruel, to both the employees and the communities they're serving.

I didn’t say billionaires were benevolent

No, but you did say he was completely independent. Bollocks to that. If you think he is acting out the goodness of his heart, I suggest you read up on him more!
Decimating six federal agencies will be of benefit to him. Tesla is his biggest income stream and China contributes greatly to that. He operates his plants there without a Chinese partner which is unheard of. There are government incentives for a chinese individual to purchase a Tesla. But they will want something in return and China will twist Musk's arm for classified information. They have the upper hand. There is a huge conflict of interests. He's a dangerous man and FFS he is unelected!