Put-up-or-shut-up time for MAGA, DOGE & the GOP

The news about all of the stuff uncovered by Elon Musk and his minions is fantastic.  All the right people are squealing like stuck pigs and screaming bloody murder.

The real question we need to face is: What do we do with all that has been uncovered?

We are about five weeks away from yet another continuing resolution (CR) to fully-fund the government, allowing it to limp along to yet another deadline and another threatened government shutdown.

Republicans have dependably caved to all of the squealing and hollering by Democrats and their comrades in the legacy, drive-by media.  *Oh, we can’t allow the government to shut down.*

If congressional Republicans put up yet another CR fully-funding the government as-it-stands, they’ll be funding all of the stuff Donald Trump and Elon Musk have just IDed as waste and fraud.  

We’ve given our congress-critters (Rs & Ds) plenty of second-chances to cut spending, the budget deficit, and the national debt.  (Our current national debt is bigger than the entire value of our current national economy. )

They – the congress critters –  let us down every time.  Sure, they talk the good talk about being good stewards of our tax dollars.  But they keep aiding and driving the growth of the economic disaster facing this country.

One of global finance’s true wise men has a stark warning for leaders in Washington and for the American people:

Hedge fund titan Ray Dalio issued a fresh warning about the U.S. economy, warning of dire consequences if the Trump administration does not cut the country’s debt.

“It’s like if I was a doctor and I was speaking with you about your condition, I would say to you, this is now very, very serious. All of these are major problems,” Dalio told CNBC’s Dan Murphy at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. “What you need to do is cut your deficit from about 7.5% of GDP to 3% of gross domestic product, and you can do that. There are certain things that you can do that cut it in a certain way that’ll make it much healthier, so the real problem is a political problem.”

The U.S. gross national debt stood at approximately $36.22 trillion as of Feb. 11, with $28.8 trillion of that as debt held by the public in the form of securities owned by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, Federal Reserve banks, foreign governments, and other entities outside the U.S. government.

High debt means the government spends more on interest payments and is more economically vulnerable in the event of future economic crises. It also leads to higher inflation and creates a burden for future generations

“I want to alert people. I want to alert government officials,” the billionaire Bridgewater Associates founder said. “I want to help, you know, and so I feel like the doctor, and then I would say everybody, politically … if this doesn’t happen, and we have the equivalent of, you know, an economic heart attack, or a heart attack of the bond market, then you know who’s responsible, because it can happen.”

“So it requires the same kind of discipline as if I was to say to you, OK, you need to change how you eat, you need to change your exercise routine, and you need to do these things.”

Dalio stressed that governments are responsible, and that leaders should make a pledge to reduce the U.S. budget deficit from 7.5% to 3% of its GDP or resign.

When asked what his message was to the Trump administration, Dalio replied:

“I think they recognize the problem, and then in the actions that are being taken, how do you cut costs? How do you raise productivity? … Make sure that you really know what you’re doing and you’re practical, and do it on … the conservative side, because you know, how much can the cutting actually be? We’ll see, and what are the consequences of the cutting and each one of those. So you better take a sharp pencil and be conservative.”

Dalio also warned of debt in private credit, saying a “debt death spiral is that part of the cycle, when the debtor needs to borrow money in order to pay debt service, and it accelerates, and then everybody sees that, and they don’t want to hold the debt. That’s where we’re approaching.”

Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates is one of the world’s largest hedge funds. It had $171.7 billion in assets under management as of September 2023, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[…]

It’s nice to hear all of North Carolina’s GOP congressional delegation — despite their liberal voting records – cheerleading for DOGE and other belt-tightening efforts at the federal level.  But they need to back their talk up with serious, conservative votes in committee and on their respective chamber floors.

When the government funding measure comes up in late March, the stuff DOGE has IDed has to be cut out.  Once that is dealt with, the Congress needs to get back to actual budgeting — a constitutionally mandated duty they have neglected for far too long. 

Smart guys like Dalio know our country is in a precarious state.  Politicians in both parties have both worked to put us in this position.  It’s time for the current in-office batch to move dramatically away from self-interest and toward national interest.  It’s time to get serious about saving our economy and our country.  

Don’t let the political class B.S. their way out of this one.