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That's because it was never intended to do anything they said it was going to do. It was always about getting access to the government's data and butchering regulatory bodies that must personally did not like. In that regard it was a magnificent success.
It's almost like it was never about reducing spending, it was about getting rid of people who got in the way of or otherwise displeased the oligarchy, and finding new creative ways to funnel more taxpayer money into their pockets.
displeased the oligarchy
Musk himself in particular by shutting down the investigations into his multiple crimes.
also giving the data to palintir and putin.
Nah, I'm pretty sure they actually believed they could make things more efficient.
Yes, they also wanted to steal some data and tidy up some dissenters, but they did think they could achieve their stated objective.
No.
They have no interest in any of that. A smaller government is more easily corrupted, that's it. That was always the actual reason for going on about "efficiency".
Well, that's a whole other thing really.
"Small" Governments outsource lots of work to consultancies - usually owned by the wives of elected officials.
What "while other thing".
That's...a prime example of exactly what I'm talking about...?
"whole" other thing. It's a phrase. In this meaning you raise a valid point but it doesn't detract from what I'm saying.
Didn’t they have to rehire most laid off and they had to pay lost wages, court fines/fees etc?
Some, yes, and many of the vacancies took the defeated resignation program where they were paid normal salaries to not come to work for the rest of the fiscal year. So they were still paid through September
In terms of the soft power lost by disbanding USAID I'm sure it's actually a much, much higher figure over the long term.
It was about two things: dismantling offices that were investigating Musk (while putting fear of retribution in others planning to do the same), and weakening the US govt, because a weaker and less organized govt is easier to control. Then there's the suspected download of all the data of every US citizen from the Social Security database - which further assists Musk and plutocrats in gathering personal details for any investigators that cross them.
It was all for personal gain, and the Republican morons who cheered it on will never understand it.
And he will face exactly zero consequences because everything is awful.
It wasn't meant to decrease spending. We all knew that.
Wow it's almost like Elon is an idiot fascist con man or something, who has no fucking clue what he's talking about, regarding basically any topic.
And we got fewer services and worse operations to boot. Task failed successfully.