With no evidence, Trump & GOP leaders use this phrase. They’re making shit up to justify Trump’s firing of honest public servants, stopping investigations into Musk’s business practices, and giving him more Gov’t contracts.
'Waste, fraud, and abuse" clearly define the ethos of Medicare Advantage programs, and how they are but stealth efforts to privatize Medicare and turn it into yet another "free-enterprise" scam to enrich the private sector while enshittifying our tax-supported medical care for seniors. Racketeering at its finest, but zero visibility in Congress.
If they feel so strongly about these claims they need to provide evidence in actual numbers and percentage of the total Medicaid budget. I’d guess it’s a lot less than the massive cuts they’re suggesting.
They know those tactics work with their base and don’t care that they don’t work on people who can still think critically. Among the things that are clear to us is - they only exist to serve their base and not all Americans!
They need to address waste, fraud, and abuse in Congress. Submitting bills to create a $250 bill with Trump's face, put his head on Mount Rushmore, rename an airport after him, make his birthday a federal holiday, and allow an exception so he can serve a third term is the epitome of waste and abuse when they're supposed to be making life better for the American people.
Excuse Me! Why isn’t anyone suggesting that tax cuts for the wealthy aren’t waste fraud & Abuse? Tell me how the tax cuts would
benefit our country. Don’t try the “trickle down theory”. That has never been successful for “the people”. Wealth does not mean power unless we accept & foster that concept. I will not ever concede to afford power to anyone that doesn’t earn it. The few wealthy individuals that would benefit from tax cuts can still get along quite nicely with tax increases. They could still buy groceries, pay someone to prepare it, clean up, etc. They could still afford healthcare without restrictions, their children wouldn’t be in danger of starvation or death. All this and more & still… they could retain their humanity with care & compassion & empathy for those not so fortunate. How much is enough? What does it take to be grateful for their good fortune? I do not resent or covet the wealth of others. None of it diminishes me. What is disturbing about wanting & thinking they deserve that benefit at the cost of helping those people who are on the edge of poverty, are living in poverty without means to improve their lot, not just in America but globally! I’m not wealthy but I share what I can, and I’m grateful that I’ve always had enough food on the table for my family & enough to share with people who need it. That brings me joy & moments of peace.
Apparently, there is no such thing as enough, even for those ostensibly on our side.
Look at Rachael Maddow for example.
She's been making 5 million a year for years now, and won't even let out a peep about MSNBC's racist firing of 5 prominent anchors and personalities, all of whom are people of color, abruptly fired this week.
Gee I'm not sure if I can comfortably retire with 20 million fucking dollars.
First, if Lester Holt made $10M a year, you can be sure Rachel makes more than $5M. And she did address that very subject the other night -- admittedly not as much as we would all like to see. It's very concerning to me that the media is pushing out good, informative shows led by people of color. Very concerning!
Thank you for clearly and logically explaining the process of how budget cuts are (theoretically and Constitutionally) applied. I'm a senior with mild cognitive deficit, and it sometimes drives me crazy
You're most welcome. I don't do social media so it's very strange to keep receiving newsletters I'd never heard of. No biggie. They were easy to unsubscribe from.
Then I received an email from someone asking why I'd unsubscribed and I realized that all this "spam" is from real people trying to do good in the world and I've just smacked them all in the face. I felt like Trump/Musk, randomly firing people without thinking or caring about the human beings whose lives they'd just upended. I wish I could remind Trump and Musk about empathy, but they were born without it and wouldn't understand what I was talking about.
Strange and alien world. I'm so glad you're helping us understand it.
US citizens have been brainwashed to believe the government is bad and wasting your money ever since Reagan and his welfare queen BS. The majority of people benefiting from social services are not criminals. Abusing the system is what FLElon (First Lady Elon 😂)is doing and is both evil and criminal.
It's so interesting, as mentioned by Harper Thorpe, that most of the "waste, fraud and abuse" we see is actually in the private sector, not in government. Musk, Bezos, and others should be under the microscope. Civil servants are necessary to keep us safe in so many ways, and to make the government run. Maybe they could temporarily put a freeze (with pay) on the folks responsible for paying our Members of the House and Senate. Even better, make them pay for their own health insurance. Probably a good amount of savings there, given how many of them there are. Unless they, personally, feel the pain (and sometimes, even that doesn't work), they're going to keep on kowtowing to Trump and Musk.
Congress has one of the best health plans ever,we just want what they have. Or maybe take that away from them & let them pay out of pocket. An throw in term limits.
Make that "Trump and President Musk". Trump is more than delighted to have the Muskrat doing the work of dismantling the government while he plays golf, parades around race tracks, and poses for photo ops.
If they are want to find "waste, fraud & abuse" they should definitely start with the military contracts. Maybe I've been brainwashed over the years hearing anecdotal evidence, but that's literally the 1st area that comes to mind that could use some real review. Of course they won't though because the defense industry spends lots of $ lobbying & they don't know how to spin the optics of cutting military spending. To start they may not even need to cut anything, they just need to stop giving increases & force them to analyze spending priorities (and I don't mean Elon should be doing that).
Trump owns Truth Social and Musk owns Twitter and they both will turn these two social media platforms into banking and payment apps that's why they are getting rid of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau because it regulates these things, all of this profit goes right into Trump and Musk pockets just like most of the stuff they are cutting. They have not put anything in writing about no tax on tips or no tax on senior's social security so we will never see one dime of this. Just sayhing
I’ve said this a zillion times: government shutdowns suck, but there’s a clear choice here: shut it down and suffer a bit or don’t shut it down and be screwed for a lifetime.
Oh, we know some of the GOP senators are concerned... That's not the question. The question is - are ANY of the GOP senators in possession of their spines to actually DO anything about their concerns?
What about the concerns of “we the people”? Since they do not appear to interact with constituents, or have town halls, or get phone messages or letters, how do they know what we want? I’ll go first. A REVISED AND FAIR TAX CODE ESPECIALLY FOR THE WEALTHY. 💰💰💰 Matters most when you have none after working your entire life for the security and peace of a few years of retirement before the next pandemic or climate catastrophe lands & your time is up.
Just wrote a letter to my do nothing (I'm fighting waste fraud and abuse) congress critter. Not that it will do any good, but my feelings are know. He's a fraud. Can't even hold an open meeting and meet with his constituents.
I suggested he start with all those defense contractors at the DOD, since that department can seem to balance anything. I'm sure that will fall on deaf ears.
thank you for writing your congress critter. Writing and calling congress critters is a great idea! We cannot be silent! Otherwise they will think we agree or do not care while they dismantle the democracy. If we are silent we are complicit to their BS. Keep up the good work. I keep a daily list of the latest outrageous thing happening and first try to call. If that does not work, I email. I contact my three congress critters three or four times a week.
Love the closing: "Good luck in your senior year" . . .
The Dems need to be VERY loud and continuously in front of any media they can find to counter the endless lies being spewed by the GQP scum. There is NO WAY to meet the budget outlines WITHOUT cutting Medicaid/Medicare deeply, and simply pushing it off on the states (which will likely be the next lie the GQP slime will come up with) will devastate people in the Red States since those states typically can't (or won't agree to) afford it.
PRO TIP: “Waste, Fraud & Abuse”
With no evidence, Trump & GOP leaders use this phrase. They’re making shit up to justify Trump’s firing of honest public servants, stopping investigations into Musk’s business practices, and giving him more Gov’t contracts.
'Waste, fraud, and abuse" clearly define the ethos of Medicare Advantage programs, and how they are but stealth efforts to privatize Medicare and turn it into yet another "free-enterprise" scam to enrich the private sector while enshittifying our tax-supported medical care for seniors. Racketeering at its finest, but zero visibility in Congress.
If they feel so strongly about these claims they need to provide evidence in actual numbers and percentage of the total Medicaid budget. I’d guess it’s a lot less than the massive cuts they’re suggesting.
They always keep a "boogeyman" word/phrase/acronym in their back pocket to ensure that their base is always pissed about something.
"Fake news"
"Woke"
"CRT"
"LGBTQ+"
"Illegals"
"Trans"
"Ideology"
And now it's "waste, fraud & abuse."
A month from now, it'll be somethin else. It's just non-stop bullshit with these heauxs.
If anyone should know about fraud and abuse, it's going to be the Republicants and their Billionaire leader.
Oh and Dumpty, too. Almost forgot.
They know those tactics work with their base and don’t care that they don’t work on people who can still think critically. Among the things that are clear to us is - they only exist to serve their base and not all Americans!
Can't forget "agenda".
They need to address waste, fraud, and abuse in Congress. Submitting bills to create a $250 bill with Trump's face, put his head on Mount Rushmore, rename an airport after him, make his birthday a federal holiday, and allow an exception so he can serve a third term is the epitome of waste and abuse when they're supposed to be making life better for the American people.
Excuse Me! Why isn’t anyone suggesting that tax cuts for the wealthy aren’t waste fraud & Abuse? Tell me how the tax cuts would
benefit our country. Don’t try the “trickle down theory”. That has never been successful for “the people”. Wealth does not mean power unless we accept & foster that concept. I will not ever concede to afford power to anyone that doesn’t earn it. The few wealthy individuals that would benefit from tax cuts can still get along quite nicely with tax increases. They could still buy groceries, pay someone to prepare it, clean up, etc. They could still afford healthcare without restrictions, their children wouldn’t be in danger of starvation or death. All this and more & still… they could retain their humanity with care & compassion & empathy for those not so fortunate. How much is enough? What does it take to be grateful for their good fortune? I do not resent or covet the wealth of others. None of it diminishes me. What is disturbing about wanting & thinking they deserve that benefit at the cost of helping those people who are on the edge of poverty, are living in poverty without means to improve their lot, not just in America but globally! I’m not wealthy but I share what I can, and I’m grateful that I’ve always had enough food on the table for my family & enough to share with people who need it. That brings me joy & moments of peace.
Hear, hear!
Apparently, there is no such thing as enough, even for those ostensibly on our side.
Look at Rachael Maddow for example.
She's been making 5 million a year for years now, and won't even let out a peep about MSNBC's racist firing of 5 prominent anchors and personalities, all of whom are people of color, abruptly fired this week.
Gee I'm not sure if I can comfortably retire with 20 million fucking dollars.
First, if Lester Holt made $10M a year, you can be sure Rachel makes more than $5M. And she did address that very subject the other night -- admittedly not as much as we would all like to see. It's very concerning to me that the media is pushing out good, informative shows led by people of color. Very concerning!
Mike Johnson: “Medicaid is hugely problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse. Everybody knows that; we all know it intuitively.”
How do you know? Because Rick Scott told you? 🙄
Good one!
Thank you for clearly and logically explaining the process of how budget cuts are (theoretically and Constitutionally) applied. I'm a senior with mild cognitive deficit, and it sometimes drives me crazy
Thank you for reading!
You're most welcome. I don't do social media so it's very strange to keep receiving newsletters I'd never heard of. No biggie. They were easy to unsubscribe from.
Then I received an email from someone asking why I'd unsubscribed and I realized that all this "spam" is from real people trying to do good in the world and I've just smacked them all in the face. I felt like Trump/Musk, randomly firing people without thinking or caring about the human beings whose lives they'd just upended. I wish I could remind Trump and Musk about empathy, but they were born without it and wouldn't understand what I was talking about.
Strange and alien world. I'm so glad you're helping us understand it.
fraud, waste, and abuse are found by forensic auditors and accountants--not by un-vetted teenage & twenty-something coders and hackers.
US citizens have been brainwashed to believe the government is bad and wasting your money ever since Reagan and his welfare queen BS. The majority of people benefiting from social services are not criminals. Abusing the system is what FLElon (First Lady Elon 😂)is doing and is both evil and criminal.
It's so interesting, as mentioned by Harper Thorpe, that most of the "waste, fraud and abuse" we see is actually in the private sector, not in government. Musk, Bezos, and others should be under the microscope. Civil servants are necessary to keep us safe in so many ways, and to make the government run. Maybe they could temporarily put a freeze (with pay) on the folks responsible for paying our Members of the House and Senate. Even better, make them pay for their own health insurance. Probably a good amount of savings there, given how many of them there are. Unless they, personally, feel the pain (and sometimes, even that doesn't work), they're going to keep on kowtowing to Trump and Musk.
Congress has one of the best health plans ever,we just want what they have. Or maybe take that away from them & let them pay out of pocket. An throw in term limits.
Make that "Trump and President Musk". Trump is more than delighted to have the Muskrat doing the work of dismantling the government while he plays golf, parades around race tracks, and poses for photo ops.
Dunno, Bambi...looks like don-old has been trump-ed by President musket !
And thank you for properly spelling "kowtowing!"
Thanks for providing such clear descriptions of what’s going on.
It’s time for one of the progressive economic think tanks to put out an interactive budget tool.
I say let them shut it down on 3/14.
The Ides of March will be interesting if they do . . . .
I'm getting less and less fond of the word "interesting" every day that goes by.
100%
If they are want to find "waste, fraud & abuse" they should definitely start with the military contracts. Maybe I've been brainwashed over the years hearing anecdotal evidence, but that's literally the 1st area that comes to mind that could use some real review. Of course they won't though because the defense industry spends lots of $ lobbying & they don't know how to spin the optics of cutting military spending. To start they may not even need to cut anything, they just need to stop giving increases & force them to analyze spending priorities (and I don't mean Elon should be doing that).
And all of the "Private Contractors" (i.e. mercenaries).
Trump owns Truth Social and Musk owns Twitter and they both will turn these two social media platforms into banking and payment apps that's why they are getting rid of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau because it regulates these things, all of this profit goes right into Trump and Musk pockets just like most of the stuff they are cutting. They have not put anything in writing about no tax on tips or no tax on senior's social security so we will never see one dime of this. Just sayhing
The thing with tue no tax on tips is a trap. Wait until the wall Street guys classify their bonuses as tips and get away with it.
I’ve said this a zillion times: government shutdowns suck, but there’s a clear choice here: shut it down and suffer a bit or don’t shut it down and be screwed for a lifetime.
Oh, we know some of the GOP senators are concerned... That's not the question. The question is - are ANY of the GOP senators in possession of their spines to actually DO anything about their concerns?
What about the concerns of “we the people”? Since they do not appear to interact with constituents, or have town halls, or get phone messages or letters, how do they know what we want? I’ll go first. A REVISED AND FAIR TAX CODE ESPECIALLY FOR THE WEALTHY. 💰💰💰 Matters most when you have none after working your entire life for the security and peace of a few years of retirement before the next pandemic or climate catastrophe lands & your time is up.
Just wrote a letter to my do nothing (I'm fighting waste fraud and abuse) congress critter. Not that it will do any good, but my feelings are know. He's a fraud. Can't even hold an open meeting and meet with his constituents.
I suggested he start with all those defense contractors at the DOD, since that department can seem to balance anything. I'm sure that will fall on deaf ears.
thank you for writing your congress critter. Writing and calling congress critters is a great idea! We cannot be silent! Otherwise they will think we agree or do not care while they dismantle the democracy. If we are silent we are complicit to their BS. Keep up the good work. I keep a daily list of the latest outrageous thing happening and first try to call. If that does not work, I email. I contact my three congress critters three or four times a week.
Love the closing: "Good luck in your senior year" . . .
The Dems need to be VERY loud and continuously in front of any media they can find to counter the endless lies being spewed by the GQP scum. There is NO WAY to meet the budget outlines WITHOUT cutting Medicaid/Medicare deeply, and simply pushing it off on the states (which will likely be the next lie the GQP slime will come up with) will devastate people in the Red States since those states typically can't (or won't agree to) afford it.