Spending OPM

Pop Quiz

What politician said: “The greatest danger facing our nation isn’t terrorism, global warming or the energy crisis. It is out-of-control, unbridled government spending.”?

What 20th century political figure said: “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”?

What satirist said: “It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.”?

Which Founding Father observed: “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”?

What American philosopher said: “[T]he more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer . . . [taking] away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence of somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health for support in age and sickness.”?

Answers at the end of this post.

DOGE has commenced the process of draining the swamp and so far the signs of success include a fulminating AOC, hysterical USAID dispensers of Other People’s Money (OPM) and an increasing putrification attacking the olfactory organs of tax payers from coast to coast.

Your tax dollars at work: $37,673,957 was paid to the WITS Health Consortium, wholly-owned by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Purpose: HIV epidemic control in South Africa including “sex workers” and “Transgender people”. Missing data point: Any even tangential US interest.

From the Noah Webster Department: Bureaucrat: An expert on spending OPM without oversight or accountability. Note that our rabidly incurious media are laser focused, not on what the DOGE team has discovered, but rather on how it was uncovered…and doxxing members of Musk’s “secret police”.

Your tax dollars at work: In 2022 our USAID team, as part of a “family planning program”, purchased and shipped 65 million condoms, 9.8 million injectable birth control products and 334,000 IUDs, not to Kansas, but to foreign countries. This was promoted in documents as…have your blood pressure monitor standing by… “a climate change solution”. Note that these vital materials were, more often than not, sent to countries occupied by people of color…perhaps as part of a eugenics policy.

Wagon circling has been raised to an Olympic level sport. When it was revealed that USAID, the global Left’s ATM, had paid Politico, the Charlie McCarthy of the Democrat Party, the media ginned up a string of needle threading explanations as to the innocence of the transactions. Here’s a thought exercise to challenge your left wing acquaintances…substitute Fox News for Politico in the story and watch the switch flip from “no story here” to “Joseph Goebbels call your office.” Hypocrisy writ large.

Your tax dollars at work: $10 million sent to Kazakhstan to “combat disinformation”. Might this money have been helpful in rebuilding Pacific Palisades, California?

Back to our friend Mr. Webster: Accountability: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions. Identify three members of Congress who have demonstrated accountability in the last 150 years. Most recent non-example, Senator Robert “gold bar” Menendez sentenced to eleven years in prison for corruption denying his guilt to the end.

Your tax dollars at work: USAID sent $16.8 million to a recipient in Viet Nam to support “inclusion”. How about inclusion of Jewish students at Ivy League colleges?

Our National debt in 2024: $34,600,000,000.000

This week the ever befuddled Maxine Waters led a bevy of two digit IQ Democrats (redundancy alert) on a field trip to the, soon to be closed, Department of Miseducation. Their purpose was to repel the DOGE infiltration team. But in the end the DOGE team was inside and the Waters posse comitatus was barred from entering. Who says Trump isn’t making a difference?

Your tax dollars at work: USAID dispatched $20 million to Iraq to develop a new Sesame Street show called “Ahlan Simsim”. Did they consider developing a new show to replace Rachel Madcow on MSDNC?

Team Trump has created the biggest and best whack-a-mole game in the history of Western Civilization. The Democrats cannot keep up with the daily deluge of Executive Orders, pardons and hiring of adults to manage the American Leviathan.

Your tax dollars at work: $1.1 million was sent to Sri Lanka to help local journalists avoid “binary gendered language”. Could these funds be better used in helping the victims of Hurricane Helene?

Trump removed Biden’s security clearance and canceled his daily briefings. They are sending coloring books to Wilmington, Delaware instead. The felonious 51 “intelligence” officials who initiated the disinformation campaign regarding the Hunter Biden laptop lost their clearances also. John Brennan, serial prevaricator, was not at all happy. They have all learned a valuable lesson, to wit: actions have consequences.

Your tax dollars at work: There were 85 DEI related contracts, involving over 25 federal agencies, totaling $1 billion and they have been summarily canceled. Maybe they will initiate an MEI policy across the entire federal government…Merit, Excellence, Intelligence. That might trigger a tsunami of furloughs.

For the first time in decades we have true leadership in the executive branch. People who can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others towards accomplishment of specific (i.e. MAGA) goals. Marco Rubio has taken charge with clarity and authority. Pam Bondi is the most qualified Attorney General since the mid-twentieth century (and the most attractive since Janet Reno)…a strong confident leader, you know the type Trump is afraid of. Scott Bessent will look good no matter what as Janet Yellen set the bar incredibly low. Non-Mayor Pete Hegseth has hit the ground running. Tulsi Gabbard, Robert Kennedy and Kash Patel will be confirmed shortly and will not disappoint. The questioning of the nominees was petulant and akin to a series of staged hissy fits. Any semi-intelligent question stood out like a Mensa member at a DNC meeting. The business of making America great again is in full swing.

Your tax dollars at work: We sent $3.9 million to the Western Balkans, $5.5 million to Uganda and another $6 million to “priority countries around the world” to support LGBT causes. Strangely no such funds went to Muslim controlled countries.

And a special mention of Susie Wiles, daughter of Pat Summerall, who flawlessly manages the entire White House team.

The nominee for Director of National Intelligence has written a splendid autobiography entitled For Love of Country which is an excellent read. Here is a great quote from the book: “They (the Democrats) are so blinded by their arrogance and desire to be God that they believe they can outlaw truth or reality.”

Answers to the pop quiz:

What politician said: ‘The greatest danger facing our nation isn’t terrorism, global warming or the energy crisis. It is out-of-control, unbridled government spending.”? R Lee Wright

What 20th century political figure said: “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”? Ronaldus Magnus

What satirist said” “It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.”? The irreverent P.J. O’Rourke

Which Founding Father said: “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” James Madison

What American philosopher said: “[T]he more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer . . . [taking] away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence of somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health for support in age and sickness.”? Benjamin Franklin, applicable to what we are doing with our international payments