Mike’s Musings: Dose of DOGE needed to curb government spending

Maybe DOGE has a good thing going. DOGE, the acronym for Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has been charged with eliminating waste and inefficiency at the federal government level.
I have been a big proponent of eliminating government waste, and like the last few years, I would like to tell you about several wasteful programs as outlined by Sen. Rand Paul in his annual Festivus Report. The report is 41 pages long and provides us with a whopping $1 trillion plus in government waste.

Here are a few of the highlights:
DOGE talks a lot about empty government buildings. Sen. Paul claims the federal government spent over $10 billion in 2024 maintaining, leasing and furnishing these entirely empty buildings.
Many businesses received pandemic funding from the federal government. Many smaller businesses did not. I received a small amount but was told I couldn’t get more because the fund was depleted. Here’s one reason why. A Florida man stole $8 million in COVID relief funds to buy his own private island. A failing trucking company received a $7 million COVID grant.
Unbelievably the Department of Health and Human Services spent $420,000 to study if lonely rats seek cocaine more than happy rats.
The Department of State awarded $2.1 million to Paraguay for border security. I find that strange. We don’t much care if our border is secure, but we will fork over money to secure an obscure South American country’s border.
Speaking of other countries, the Department of Agriculture is spending $20 million to advance the use of fertilizer in Pakistan, Vietnam, Colombia and Brazil.
Elsewhere abroad, the Agency for International Development is spending $20 million on creating a new Sesame Street show for Iraqi children.
American taxpayers have provided $174 billion in aid and military assistance to Ukraine, however the Department of State felt it was a brilliant idea to drop an additional $4.8 million to the influencers it KYIV, Ukraine public affairs. Now we can view more Ukrainian propaganda on Instagram and Tik Tok.
Again, from the endless coffers of the State Department, they doled out $3 million to a girl-centered climate action organization in Brazil.
Since 2022, Dr. Fauci, longtime leader of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases approved a 2.24 million grant to study whether cats can contract and transmit COVID-19. The answer was “yes,” and those that were infected were slaughtered.
Cats and experiments seem to be synonymous. Nearly $11 million was spent by the Department of Defense funneled to the University of Pittsburg to force the felines to defecate marbles via electric shock.
It’s only $10,000, but its still our money, and the National Endowment of the Arts, awarded
It to the Bearded Ladies Cabaret so that they could perform a cabaret show on ice skates focused on climate change.
Of course, the biggest waste of money is the interest we are paying each year to support our national debt. Would you believe $892 billion? Next year we are expected to hit the trillion mark and in 10 years we will be at $1.7 trillion. That’s just interest, folks. And you complain about your credit card interest? At least you are somewhat fiscally responsible. Those that distribute our tax monies have been irresponsible for decades.

I believe a dose of DOGE is just what the doctor ordered. Hopefully they can complete their mission.