Latest news with #Muskian
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California doesn't need DOGE, but there's plenty of wasteful spending and bureaucracy to cut
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, known shorthand as DOGE, launched under President Trump in January and since has sent shockwaves through Washington and the rest of the country. As California's former chief data officer, I've watched this experiment with a mix of alarm and reluctant admiration. DOGE's methods — unilateral power grabs, reckless data access and a cavalier disregard for legal boundaries — are a masterclass in what not to do. Yet its core aim, slashing wasteful spending and forcing accountability on a bloated bureaucracy, is a goal no serious leader can ignore. California, with its $322 billion budget and perennial fiscal crises, desperately needs a similar reckoning. Any candidate for governor in 2026 must embrace this challenge — not with Musk's sledgehammer, but with a scalpel guided by data and transparency. DOGE's rollout has been a circus. Shutting down entire agencies like USAID overnight, seizing control of Treasury systems that hold sensitive taxpayer data, and wielding AI to slash budgets without congressional oversight isn't reform, it's chaos. Lawsuits piling up from unions and states underscore the legal quicksand Musk has stepped into. California cannot afford such recklessness. Our state's challenges, such as wildfire recovery, housing shortages and Medi-Cal expansion, demand precision, not a billionaire's blunt force trauma. But let's not kid ourselves: California's government is rife with waste. As a state data official, I saw firsthand how departmental silos obscure spending, how outdated systems hide inefficiencies, and how fraud festers in a budget so vast it defies comprehension. The Legislative Analyst's Office routinely flags billions in questionable allocations, yet we rarely see follow-through. DOGE's aim to save taxpayers money resonates here, where taxes soar and deficits loom. The idea of a top-to-bottom audit of every department isn't radical — it's overdue. What California needs is a smarter playbook. We can look to Maryland, where then-Gov. Martin O'Malley implemented StateStat nearly two decades ago (now called the Performance Improvement Office), or Washington with Results Washington — both data-driven systems that tracked the performance of agencies in real time. From crime rates to infrastructure delays, these platforms create accountability, cut costs and delivered results, without burning the house down. California could build its own version: a government-wide dashboard exposing spending, outcomes and inefficiencies for all to see. Pair that with a full audit — independent, rigorous and public — and we'd have a blueprint to root out waste and fraud without Muskian theatrics. The 2026 gubernatorial race is the moment to demand this. Candidates can't just tinker around the edges with feel-good promises. Our budget isn't just gigantic — it's a labyrinth. Medi-Cal alone, at $161 billion annually, begs for scrutiny. Are we overpaying providers? Are duplicated services draining funds? What about the California Department of Transportation, where highway projects balloon past deadlines and budgets? A StateStat model, backed by an audit, could answer these questions and potentially save billions of dollars that we could redirect to schools, housing or tax relief. Critics will cry that this is austerity in disguise. It's not. Efficiency isn't about slashing services — it's about ensuring every dollar delivers. When I oversaw California's data strategy, we uncovered redundancies that could've funded entire programs if redirected. Fraud, too, isn't a victimless crime; it siphons resources from the vulnerable. Any governor who ducks this fight is complicit in the status quo. DOGE may be a cautionary tale, but its ambition should wake us up. California's next governor must wield data, not headlines, to tame our sprawling government. A full audit, a StateStat-like system and a relentless hunt for waste aren't optional — they're the price of leadership in a state stretched to its limits. Voters should settle for nothing less. Zac Townsend is the CEO of Meanwhile. He was previously the inaugural chief data officer of California under Gov. Jerry Brown and the chief technology officer of Newark, New Jersey, under then-Mayor Cory Booker. This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California doesn't need DOGE, but there's plenty of waste to cut
Telegraph
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Sir Keir slays NHS England, the King of Quangos
Another week and another escape into the lives of real people by the Prime Minister. Westminster's zoo keepers are really due a performance review. This time Oinky had not gone to market but to Hull, there to accuse the public sector of being 'over-cautious', 'weak' and 'intrusive'. Physician, heal thyself! Today the PM was introduced by a woman with an unplaceable transatlantic accent who spoke almost entirely in managerial platitudes and acronyms. People were there, she said, 'to power the self-care movement within our company'. Quite how being dragged out of your coffee break to watch a man who'd been poured into a blue shirt to talk about civil service reform is meant to boost 'self-care' is anybody's guess. It was more like they'd been dragged in to witness an act of self-abuse. Sir Keir thanked the LinkedIn-personified woman and did his standard shirt sleeves-up, random hand-gestures opening. 'This must be an incredibly exciting place to work!' he said. Well it was, until about two minutes ago. After a long preamble about waiting lists and Ukraine, he finally got to the meat of the policy. His aim for the British state was something called 'maximum power'. He made this sound like a particularly advanced form of dishwasher tablet technology. You could see the people in the row behind him thinking: 'Cor, him off the Cillit Bang adverts has aged a bit!' Clearly, unlike so many of these set-piece moments, it appeared that Sir Keir might actually be about to unveil something of genuine import. You could tell an announcement was imminent because the PM suddenly began inserting all sorts of caveats. 'Of course,' he said, 'I'm not questioning the dedication or the effort of individual civil servants.' (Thus spake a man who had never been on hold to the DVLA.) We can take comfort in the fact that when a politician says they're not doing something you can be pretty certain that that is precisely what they are doing. Finally we got to the big moment. NHS England was to be scrapped, the King of all Quangos slain in one fell swoop. Goodness knows I find the Prime Minister's tone and manner deeply irritating. A sort of auricular scabies. And I think most of his policies – from his malevolent hatred of farmers to the Great Chagos Robbery – are borderline suicidal for the nation. However, if we can finally ignite the bonfire of the quangos, about which the Tories talked and talked but never acted for 14 years, then he will have done Britain a serious favour. Perhaps while we're on a roll, the PM may even find time to take his Muskian chainsaw to the £9.5 billion energy quango run by Ed Miliband, the Office for Value for Money, and others among the 27 arm's-length bodies set up by... one Keir Rodney Starmer since last July. Still – there is more joy in heaven over a sinner that repenteth. Whether there'll be joy in Whitehall is another matter entirely.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Donald Trump and Elon Musk inspire passions feared by America's Founding Fathers
American politics has become deeply erotic. Often, this manifests as love — as when Elon Musk recently tweeted, 'I love Trump, as much as a straight man can love another man.' In his recent address to Congress, President Donald Trump said: 'People love our country again, it is very simple.' He extolled the 'faith, love and spirit' of the American people, who 'will never let anything happen to our beloved country.' To say that Trump is an erotic leader does not mean he is 'sexy.' Rather, the point is that he provokes. Trump inflames the emotions — whether you love him or hate him. He is the kind of person about whom it is nearly impossible to remain indifferent. He arouses rather than enlightens. Opinion The erotic element shows up in various ways. Fealty and devotion of the Muskian sort are obviously forms of love. Nepotism and cronyism are erotic ways of distributing power to faithful friends and family members. In such arrangements, it does not matter whether things are fair or reasonable, nor does it matter whether people are good. Rather, what matters is love and connection. Trump's currency is making American politics a game of seduction and power — a spectacle driven by passion. Part of this is public performance. As Trump was berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the other day, he said, 'This is going to be great television.' The play of passion is enthralling and compelling: you can't look away. In a comment on the Zelenskyy episode, Canadian novelist Stephen Marche suggested we are witnessing 'rule by performers,' and what he calls 'histriocracy,' the rule of the 'histrionic,' — the melodramatic, theatrical or emotional. Indeed, Trump is a master of spectacles, and he knows how to keep us watching. The erotic art of arousal can be useful in business and in politics. But it is quite different from a more sober-minded or rational approach to the world. The distinction between the erotic and the rational is as old as Plato, who worried that unbridled eros (sexual love or desire) would destroy a good city, and that passion would undermine justice. He warned that when eros rules a city (or a soul), it is like being drunk or mad. The rule of the erotic leads to lawlessness, frenzy and tyranny. Plato hoped rationality could control the passions, but he knew that eros was a powerful force. Sober-minded folks view political discourse as an earnest discussion of justice, virtue and truth. Rational politics is sincere, honest and moderate. In the Platonic government, careful thinkers would deliberate using logical arguments that rest upon a bedrock of first principles and unassailable truths Passionate politics is different. It values histrionic performances that elicit emotional responses. Here, the participants seduce and cajole with the goal of achieving popular acclaim — which is, after all, a kind of love. The erotic approach rejects sedate sincerity in favor of impassioned public displays of power and affection. Erotic politics is more interested in glory than in goodness, and it encourages inspiring fantasy rather than dull deliberation. Political eros is chaotic and unreasonable. Sometimes, it even becomes vulgar and obscene. The risk that passion will become excessive is part of what makes it exciting and fun. That's why sober-minded rationalists don't understand its allure and worry that the excitement of eros will lead to dangerous excess. John Adams once warned about the 'overbearing popularity' of 'great men.' He said, 'Ambition is one of the more ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable.' Adams and the other Founding Fathers created a system of checks and balances to restrain the erotic element. Rationalists like Adams think that laws should rule, rather than love. They view passionate personalities as dangerous, and in need of restraint. Eroticism sees such sober rationalism as boring and shallow. Typically, devoted lovers remain enamored of their charismatic champion — despite their flaws and lawlessness — and because of his passion. Indeed, those flaws may make this figure more beloved. In erotic politics, people are wedded to the person of the leader, warts and all. This astounds sober-minded defenders of virtue and the rule of law. But in erotic politics, it makes perfect sense to remain devoted to the beloved, since love is love, no matter what. Andrew Fiala is the interim department chair of Fresno State University's Department of Philosophy.
Vox
24-02-2025
- Business
- Vox
DOGE, please go to sleep. For your health.
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) underlings are powering his takeover of the government with a 'hardcore' work ethic that sacrifices sleeping for around-the-clock grinding. Musk boasted that they are working long hours, even over weekends because their 'opponents' take that time off. They moved sofa beds into the Office of Personnel Management and other government agencies. One seller of trendy 'sleep pods' generously sent their product to Musk and his team, hoping to help them catch some precious zzz's. It is an old-school Silicon Valley mentality, which values an absolute time commitment above everything else. The image of Musk hunkering down in a federal office building evokes the tales of him sleeping on the Tesla factory floor. The hustle culture of Silicon Valley is replete with these legends of company founders and their minions sleeping at their desks for days on end trying to crack an important problem on their way to glory. This is a culture that has sought for years to 'hack' sleep — something they view as a woeful inefficiency — by, for example, the practice of breaking sleep into bite-sized portions throughout the day rather than one big chunk at night. Some House Republicans have suggested that Capitol Hill, the entire federal government, and the country in general have something to learn from this zealous work ethic. The pandemic-driven heyday of remote work is over; corporate executives across different industries are increasingly pushing workers to recommit to coming to the office and generally prioritizing work above all else, a more Muskian ethos. But the fetishization of this hardcore, no-sleep mentality chafes against what the vast majority of research advises: We need more sleep — not less. The modern world makes it hard to get a good night's rest. A lack of quality sleep affects not only our short-term cognitive and physical capabilities, but also the longer-term prognosis for deadly diseases like heart disease and cancer. The medical research here is clear: We are not better off subsisting on five or six hours of sleep while we grind away — we need more. The challenge is figuring out how to get those eight hours, no matter whether you are overhauling the federal bureaucracy or just trying to be your best self. The modern eight-hour standard took shape in parallel to the Industrial Revolution, when more people started working clearly delineated schedules, i.e., the famous 9-to-5 shift. Electricity also became more common, untethering people from the sleep schedule that had been dictated by natural light. Medical professionals began to recognize the value of a long, consistent sleep. More recent research has added some nuance, indicating that some people get enough rest from seven hours of sleep and others may need more like nine because of natural genetic differences. But the standard had been set. And that naturally left an emerging group of sleep scientists wondering what happened if people did not get enough rest. William Dement started recording brain patterns during sleep in the 1950s, unlocking the approach that has allowed researchers to see the changes in brain activity that could explain why sleep and its absence had different effects. He attended an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most time spent without sleep in the early 1960s (it was for 11 days). As the head of the first professional medical society dedicated to sleep science, he oversaw foundational studies that evaluated sleep deprivation and the behavioral changes that it caused. Dement helped to identify REM sleep patterns and their value, as well as sleep apnea, or periods of interrupted breathing that can disrupt sleep. He and other scientists began to document that people who were sleep deprived would slip into what later became called 'microsleeps' — brief periods of unintentional sleeping that contribute to workplace accidents and errors. Here in the 21st century, researchers have discovered the biological mechanisms that could explain these effects. Studies have shown that lack of sleep causes reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex (which is responsible for decision-making) and the hippocampus (where our memories are stored). One small study of novice software engineers found their coding suffered with less sleep. A physician who ran a mobile clinic for tech workers told Fortune that he had found many of his patients had biological ages decades beyond their actual age, which could be linked to the grind lifestyle. People who don't get enough sleep are also worse at controlling their emotions, have worse moods, and are less capable of relating to others, according to research published over the past decade. Neurological exams have found that there is increased activity in the amygdala (which processes emotion) when people are sleep deprived. The rest of your body also needs the rest. Medical researchers have linked heart disease to insufficient sleep. When I interviewed oncologists last year to hear their best hypotheses about why more young people are developing cancers, several of them cited lack of sleep as a risk factor that needed to be better understood. In general, we already know a lack of sleep makes our immune system less efficient. Elon Musk himself acknowledged that those infamous sleep habits weren't good for him and said he was trying to get more like six hours a night these days because his old routine gave him 'brain pain.' Unfortunately, his reported use of drugs, including ketamine, which is associated with bad sleep, and his tweeting patterns give us reason to doubt he is suddenly getting more sleep. The grind continues, now in DC. For a crew that boasts about their sleep schedules, it's fair to wonder if that's having an impact. DOGE's 120-hour work week literally does not leave enough time for eight hours of sleep. Whether it's incompetence, fatigue, or something more nefarious, other outlets have already reported sloppy operational security, the inadvertent disclosure of classified information, and the firing then quick rehiring of critical government staff who were working on issues as important as nuclear safety and the bird flu crisis. In one laughable case, DOGE claimed to have saved $8 billion for the American taxpayer when they had actually saved $8 million — all because of what should have been an easily caught mathematical error. The DOGE crew is seemingly stacking the deck for further risks to ensue. The latest? The Trump administration is laying off thousands of IRS workers right as tax season kicks into gear. Bringing a bunch of sleep pods into the White House was, in a way, an admission that a long uninterrupted sleep cannot be hacked. Think of the name of the AI-powered sleep pod company — Eight Sleep — that provided $4,600 beds to Musk and his team. Eight hours of sleep is still the goal. Mark Zuckerberg and life hacker extraordinaire Bryan Johnson are also fans of those pods. Jeff Bezos, who has also nudged closer to this inner circle of Trump tech bros, has long advocated for good sleep as an important ingredient to success. It's telling that this culture that once thought it could take a shortcut around a full night's sleep is evolving instead to simply try to achieve those eight hours as efficiently as possible. And these pods have also, I should note, received a rave review from my colleagues at the Verge: 'Smart sleep is worth the cost.' Because sleep is really that valuable. It's harder than ever now to get those eight hours on our own, which is the problem the pods are trying to solve. The light pollution from our devices makes us sleep worse; that artificial light disrupts our circadian rhythms. The doomscrolling we tend to do on those devices is also bad for our sleep. What a surprise. That is not to say we all need to buy a $4,600 bed, though. There are simpler steps you can take to achieve a better night's rest. Develop a set routine — which should include putting your device away well before you try to close your eyes. Don't eat or drink too much before bed and definitely avoid any stimulants. We've even got tips on buying a mattress here at Vox. And recently, Jonquilyn Hill spoke with Jade Wu, a sleep psychologist, on the Explain It To Me podcast. Wu emphasized in particular committing to a set routine as being important to getting quality sleep and, in the morning, trying to expose yourself to lots of light to start your circadian clock. People of all ages should also be mindful of sleep apnea and check with their doctor if they have any risk factors or other reasons to suspect apnea is disrupting their rest. Your wearable might even be approved to track whether you are showing signs of apnea. Companies are developing less and less intrusive devices to manage that condition and reduce both the long- and short-term risks that it presents.
New York Times
12-02-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Mr. President, Foreign Aid Does Put America First
President Trump and Elon Musk were entirely right that America's aid programs merited scrutiny and reform. Yet so far what these two billionaires have achieved is to crush the world's poorest children in a cauldron of confusion and cruelty. Having covered the United States Agency for International Development for decades, I reached out to my contacts around the world to get the real story of the Trump-Musk demolition. In Sokoto, Nigeria, toddlers are starving because emergency feeding centers supported by U.S.A.I.D. have run out of the nutrient-rich paste used to save the lives of severely malnourished children. Nearby warehouses have the paste but can't release it without a waiver from the agency — which is in such Muskian chaos that it can't issue the waivers. 'Thousands of children can die,' said Erin Boyd, a former U.S.A.I.D. nutrition adviser who told me about the situation there. An Ebola outbreak in Uganda has spread to three cities. The Ugandan government has pleaded with medical staff members previously paid by U.S.A.I.D. to 'continue working in the spirit of patriotism as volunteers.' A doctor on the scene told me that with U.S.A.I.D. absent, there is a greater risk that Ebola will spread — and maybe even infect Americans. It's a reminder that a robust U.S.A.I.D. is a first defense against epidemics and pandemics, whether involving bird flu, Ebola or other diseases. I cite those two examples because the former represents humanitarian values and the latter our national interest; U.S.A.I.D. is the agency that unites the two. Accounts of mayhem are flowing in from around the world. My Times colleague Stephanie Nolen reported that the effective closing of the agency abruptly halted 30 clinical trials, leaving patients stranded. In South Africa, for example, women had been fitted with experimental internal rings meant to prevent pregnancy and H.I.V. infection — but now the participants are on their own. Women and children are the main beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance, so they are the biggest victims of what is unfolding. The cutoff is causing some 130,000 women to lose access each day to contraception, according to the Guttmacher Institute (condoms are now in short supply in Zimbabwe). If the aid freeze continues for three months and family-planning access is not restored this year, there will be 4.2 million unintended pregnancies and 8,300 deaths of women in pregnancy and childbirth, the institute estimated. U.S.A.I.D. employees, who mostly joined the agency in hopes of making the world a better place, are in agony. 'We're just paralyzed,' an agency employee in Africa told me. 'No one is in charge.' If antifreeze runs in your veins, you may be thinking, Well, too bad about kids starving to death and moms dying in childbirth, but how else can we clean out all those 'fraudsters' Musk referred to in what he described as a 'criminal organization'? Unfortunately, Musk doesn't seem to have verified a single case of fraud so far. The only lawbreaking appears to be the Trump assault on a congressionally established agency that he had no legal authority to close; the destruction of U.S.A.I.D. may have violated a whole series of federal laws, not to mention the Constitution. In fairness, Republicans have cited several examples of what they call waste that do indeed sound silly, although most of their examples turned out not to involve U.S.A.I.D. at all. But sure, let's concede the point that some aid money was not optimally used over the years. In any case, Trump and Musk appear to have made the waste worse. More than $489 million in food aid has been left in limbo and is now at risk of rotting, the U.S.A.I.D. inspector general warned. It gets more serious. The agency's counterterrorism staff has been told not to report to work, increasing the risk that aid will be diverted to terrorist groups, the inspector general added. China has long criticized U.S.A.I.D., and the Chinese internet erupted in cheers at the agency's demise. That's because — as Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, observed in 2021 — agencies like U.S.A.I.D. are 'strategic instruments to beat China' in a global competition for influence. Another senator noted that the agency is 'critical to our national security' and a powerful tool to 'counter the Chinese Communist Party.' Update: That senator, Marco Rubio, has since been elevated to a position where he can fight for the agency if he stands by his principles. Above all, the demolition of U.S.A.I.D. is a human tragedy. One woman on the Myanmar-Thai border has already been identified as dead because of the cuts, because an agency-supported hospital could no longer treat her. And it's almost certain that the world's poorest are already dying because of decisions taken by the world's richest. In Kismayo, Somalia, a hospital serving 3,000 people each month has had to close its doors, an aid worker told me, with patients carried away on donkey carts or in wheelbarrows. In Gadarif, Sudan, I'm told, the only hospital in the region that can perform C-sections may now close within the month — which would mean that women in obstructed labor might die or suffer fistulas. I've had malaria and have seen countless people dying of it, so I had been delighted that Myanmar was on track to eliminate it. Without American support, malaria is expected to rebound, 'jeopardizing years of progress,' an aid worker told me. Pregnant women and children are the most likely to die. I suspect that the assault on U.S.A.I.D. is a test run for an offensive against a lifeline for poor people here in the United States — Medicaid. Some Republicans would like to slash it to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. That makes it particularly important that Americans speak up for humanitarian assistance internationally, for this is where our interests and our values converge. Readers keep asking me what they can do. I tell them to call their members of Congress and the White House to urge them to reform U.S.A.I.D., not disembowel it. And if you're motivated to write a check, I have three suggestions. First, Helen Keller Intl does an outstanding job combating malnutrition and blindness worldwide. Second, Muso Health is extremely cost-effective at saving the lives of children in countries where U.S.A.I.D. is now gutted. Third, a Sudanese 'lost boy,' Valentino Deng, who was settled in the United States and became the subject of the best-selling book by Dave Eggers, 'What Is the What,' returned to South Sudan to operate a school there through the civil war; I find his determination to use his good fortune to help others through his VAD Foundation an inspiring contrast to those who employ their wealth and power to gleefully grind the world's most unfortunate into ever greater misery.
