Tom Boggioni
RAW ST0RY
December 5, 2024
Steve Ratner on MSNBC (MSNBC screenshot
Reacting to Vivek Ramaswamy glibly claiming it will be "good for many of the [government employee] individuals when they make a transition from government service back to the private sector," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and "Morning Joe" regular Steve Ratner thoroughly dismantled the Donald Trump advisor's economic plans for the country.
Newly installed into Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), the tech entrepreneur, along with co-chair Elon Musk, have been making broad claims of eliminating trillions in government expenses without providing much in the way of messy details
On Thursday morning, host Scarborough introduced the clip of Ramaswamy speaking and, after admitting he is in favor of government cutbacks, bluntly said of the Trump's appointees proposals, "This is a scam."
"Steve, let's cut straight to this," Scarborough said to his guest. "I know you're going to go through these charts, but his is something that you want to hear these two guys talking about: how they are going to cut $2 trillion from the budget."
"It's a joke," he pronounced before adding, "And it's a joke because this is something you and I have been obsessed about for very long time, the national debt, getting the deficit under control. Just looking at your first chart here, people need to understand, Social Security and Medicare make up about 50 percent of what the government spends. You add defense and veterans benefits, that's another 20 percent, you are up to 70 percent. You then add debt, and how much it costs to service that debt, that's another 10 percent."
"So Steve, before they even start talking about cutting these so-called federal employees that are bankrupting us, the United States government has already spent 80 percent of its budget on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, vets, defense and interest on the debt," he added.
"I love some of these other numbers," he joked. "Again, forgive me for killing Hamlet in the first act here: let's cut law enforcement, that's 1 percent of the budget., but let's cut sciences and medical research, we spend too much on that they may be saving 1 percent of the budget.
"Transportation, those barrel projects is going to bankrupt us, it's only 2% of the budget," he jokingly exclaimed. "Again, I will actually let you explain this far better than I am right now, but this is a scam unless they are going to slash Social Security and Medicare and Veterans Affairs. They are never going to get the $2 trillion so they need to just stop pretending."
December 5, 2024
Steve Ratner on MSNBC (MSNBC screenshot
Reacting to Vivek Ramaswamy glibly claiming it will be "good for many of the [government employee] individuals when they make a transition from government service back to the private sector," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and "Morning Joe" regular Steve Ratner thoroughly dismantled the Donald Trump advisor's economic plans for the country.
Newly installed into Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), the tech entrepreneur, along with co-chair Elon Musk, have been making broad claims of eliminating trillions in government expenses without providing much in the way of messy details
On Thursday morning, host Scarborough introduced the clip of Ramaswamy speaking and, after admitting he is in favor of government cutbacks, bluntly said of the Trump's appointees proposals, "This is a scam."
"Steve, let's cut straight to this," Scarborough said to his guest. "I know you're going to go through these charts, but his is something that you want to hear these two guys talking about: how they are going to cut $2 trillion from the budget."
"It's a joke," he pronounced before adding, "And it's a joke because this is something you and I have been obsessed about for very long time, the national debt, getting the deficit under control. Just looking at your first chart here, people need to understand, Social Security and Medicare make up about 50 percent of what the government spends. You add defense and veterans benefits, that's another 20 percent, you are up to 70 percent. You then add debt, and how much it costs to service that debt, that's another 10 percent."
"So Steve, before they even start talking about cutting these so-called federal employees that are bankrupting us, the United States government has already spent 80 percent of its budget on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, vets, defense and interest on the debt," he added.
"I love some of these other numbers," he joked. "Again, forgive me for killing Hamlet in the first act here: let's cut law enforcement, that's 1 percent of the budget., but let's cut sciences and medical research, we spend too much on that they may be saving 1 percent of the budget.
"Transportation, those barrel projects is going to bankrupt us, it's only 2% of the budget," he jokingly exclaimed. "Again, I will actually let you explain this far better than I am right now, but this is a scam unless they are going to slash Social Security and Medicare and Veterans Affairs. They are never going to get the $2 trillion so they need to just stop pretending."
Ramaswamy hopes firing federal workers will be 'good' for them: report
Erik De La Garza
Ramaswamy – who along with fellow billionaire Elon Musk was tapped to lead the new agency known as “DOGE” – hopes to significantly slash federal personnel. But he said Wednesday that he hopes those cuts will be "good for many of the individuals who make a transition from government service back to the private sector,” Axios reported.
The comments came during a discussion at the Aspen Security Forum with Axios’ Mike Allen, where the failed presidential candidate said that the reduction in federal workers is not "really about saving costs," but tackling what he views as an "overgrown federal government that is doing things that were never supposed to be done by the federal government in the first place,” according to the publication.
In his remarks, Ramaswamy told Axios he believes that the “productivity” of the U.S. economy will improve once the workforce is cut "because I don't believe that the highest and best use of any of those talented people is what they're doing in the federal government today."
He added that because downsizing the workforce isn’t about cost-cutting, DOGE will have “a lot of latitude” to handle federal employees and their families "in a respectful way, in a way that doesn't leave them in a lurch, it might even be by private sector standards, generous in transitioning."
But, however rosy a picture Ramaswamy paints, “federal workers are unlikely to thank Ramaswamy for recommending they lose their jobs,” Axios noted.
December 4, 2024
RAW STORY
RAW STORY
Vivek Ramaswamy at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference.
Billionaire tech entrepreneur turned Donald Trump loyalist Vivek Ramaswamy is already making it known what he thinks needs to be done to improve the federal workforce even before the proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” has formed.
Ramaswamy – who along with fellow billionaire Elon Musk was tapped to lead the new agency known as “DOGE” – hopes to significantly slash federal personnel. But he said Wednesday that he hopes those cuts will be "good for many of the individuals who make a transition from government service back to the private sector,” Axios reported.
The comments came during a discussion at the Aspen Security Forum with Axios’ Mike Allen, where the failed presidential candidate said that the reduction in federal workers is not "really about saving costs," but tackling what he views as an "overgrown federal government that is doing things that were never supposed to be done by the federal government in the first place,” according to the publication.
In his remarks, Ramaswamy told Axios he believes that the “productivity” of the U.S. economy will improve once the workforce is cut "because I don't believe that the highest and best use of any of those talented people is what they're doing in the federal government today."
He added that because downsizing the workforce isn’t about cost-cutting, DOGE will have “a lot of latitude” to handle federal employees and their families "in a respectful way, in a way that doesn't leave them in a lurch, it might even be by private sector standards, generous in transitioning."
But, however rosy a picture Ramaswamy paints, “federal workers are unlikely to thank Ramaswamy for recommending they lose their jobs,” Axios noted.
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