Musk’s company announced last month it would partner with Visa to offer a mobile payments service called the “X Money Account” that would be regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now, NPR’s Bobby Allyn writes, the CFPB is one of the next agencies set to be essentially dismantled by DOGE. Acting Director Russ Vought ordered employees to halt nearly all work, as Musk posted “CFPB RIP” on his X account last week. It’s one of many examples that highlights how Musk’s extensive business with the federal government through his private companies could conflict with his aggressive dismantling of federal agencies on behalf of President Trump.“
Imagine, if you can, why Musk might want to dismantle an agency whose mission is to protect consumers. Why would Musk want to regulate the regulators? Same reason he would want fire this guy?
Felix:
“He’s hungry. He wants to gobble up Canada and Greenland and Panama and now Gaza. But he’s insatiable. He’d still be hungry if he gobbled up the world.”
That would be contradicted by the fact that he is eager to grant Russia and China their own sphere of influence.
The Gaza plan is an unfathomable thing. I can only imagine it is part of the art of the deal and he is trying to get some form of involvement from Egypt and Jordan vis a vis the Palestinian leadership - or something. He is not going to be able to deport all Palestinians (even though Britain is seemingly willing to house some - I am against continued mass immigration into Europe but I say good for them I saw in this case…) and he knows this, he is obviously not a dumb guy. It remains a mystery.
As for the Panama Canal, he doesn’t want Panama (typical fact-bending) but he wants control of the Panama Canal. Which the US created, so it isn’t random greed. Besides control of that thing costs a lot of money. He just wants the Chinese out of there. And that is the same reason as is behind his desire for Greenland. I feel for the Danes in that case, it is not a nice thing to claim a piece of land like that. But given that the Chinese are increasingly patrolling the arctic, you can see where he is coming from. It is not irrational hunger, in the cases of Greenland and the Panama Canal evidently, it is just the will to security. Good or Bad, the Don is anything but irrational. That may make him seem so crazy to overly modern eyes.
As for Canada, it seems to me there ought to be at least several states made out of it. But seriously this seems to be rather in the same order as the Gaza plan than the Greenland plan. It’s not possible given the will of the population. Whatever is behind it, it is clearly just rhetorical. He is playing a game of cards. Some claims are bluff, others are real. Canadians seem to be coming together against Trumps actions by the way, good for them. Trump may have misplayed this hand but I have no idea what the long game is.
Will a triumvirate of autocrats divy up world? Is this the new “Axis of Evil”. What does history tell us about the lasting power of such arrangements?
Trump’s just getting started. Winning to Trump is a strictly zero sum game. I predict he will grab power until he is stopped. He’ll never stop willingly or admit defeat. He’s the Id incarnate like Ravenna in the Ramayana.
Actually America’s Secretary of Defense Hegseth and Vice President Vance were just Germany on a “Make Putin Happy” cheerleading tour conceding much of Ukraine to Russia before negotiations even started and announcing that Europe’s real enemy is not Russia or China but the “enemy within”. Sounds like the Trump team would like to divide Europe against itself. Why do you suppose they would want to do that? If Trump succeeds in dismantling democracy here, NATO is toast. How much of it will fall under “sphere of influence” of the new
I know someone who works for a debt collection (or something of that sort) agency that takes complaints from the CFPB - she said they get a lot of frivolous complaints from people that are trying to avoid paying their bills rather than be financially responsible. It’s not that they need protection. It’s that they are avoiding accountability. They abuse the system.
I can see how that could weigh on the economy. Just like making a bunch of money and sending it back home to family that doesn’t live in the United States.
That’s why in his last term Trump made it difficult for people to prosper IN the U.S. by taking their business OUT of the United States. Don’t ask me how he did that. It’s just some vague thing I remember.
In case you’re wondering why they’re doing what they’re doing. It’s not some huge mystery. They want to bolster the US economy.
Unfortunately, they deal with mostly poor leeches (unless by “poor,” you compare it to Third World poor), and not the wealthy ones. There is definitely a conflict of interest there.
I’m beginning to feel really gross ‘cause I sound like a far right conservative.
It’s pretty stupid that the left have to demonize people rather than just say it how it is. “People” don’t take them seriously because they’re just ridiculous.
But the moral of the story is this: If you want to provide “people” financial protection, don’t teach them how to be parasites—wealthy or poor ones.
While stealing or “buying” other people’s lands through brute force has been the rule throughout history, that doesn’t mean we should condone it today. Trump wanting to take over other countries, without consent of the people already living there, is simply immoral. There is no way around that.
As for Doge, I can’t imagine it is having no good impacts. We all know the federal government is WAY too big, spending WAY too much money. Medicaid itself is so deeply full of waste and fraud, and I have seen this with my own eyes working within healthcare systems that are directly medicaid-funded. Not talking about medicare for the elderly, they have (usually) earned support in their retirement stage of life. But to simply pay people so much money and benefits because they are poor or because they have some kind of disability, is madness. The “disabled” “poor” I worked with were being paid 10x a year in total income and benefits what I was making as a full time salary to work for them. To put that in numbers, and this was many years ago: I made about $30k a year, their average total benefit was $300k a year or more. When you include everything they were receiving: free housing including all utilities and internet, free medical care including primary doctor and a psychologist and a psychiatrist, free emergency room hospital visits and ambulance rides, free food every day, free cell phone and service plan, free medications, free home nursing visits, free 24 hour staff support in their home, free transportation services, and a monthly free stipend of cash to spend (about $100 a month). On top of all that, the “non profit” companies running these places are being paid a rate of $500 a day just to keep them there and they don’t even pay property taxes on these homes they operate.
And that is just on the front end of services. Imagine the over-charging, the skimming, the outright fraud and double billing and theft and faked invoices and all that also occurring.
That being said, Doge doing some good things is probably a mask for the other, more real reasons why it was made. Its legal mandate under Trump’s EO was to improve efficiencies with new technologies and softwares. The impetus is directly technological and AI-focused, not really even about slashing budgets and firing federal workers. It is more about a longer-term goal of replacing human governance with AI governance. And the kickbacks and new government contracts to Tesla and others, well of course that is the standard corruption that should be illegal under common sense anti-conflict of interest laws. Apparently however, no such laws actually exist.
BOSTON (AP) — Protesters against President Donald Trump and his policies braved frigid temperatures in parts of the U.S. Monday, shouting “No kings on Presidents Day” in East Coast cities and attempting to enter the Arizona Statehouse to oppose a bill that would bolster fast-changing federal immigration enforcement.
In Florida and California, local media outlets reported on hundreds of protesters carrying out “Not my Presidents Day” protests. The “No Kings” theme was orchestrated by the 50501 Movement, and marked the second set of protests criss-crossing the nation in less than two weeks. A similar nationwide event on Feb. 5 drew participants in dozens of cities. Both sets of rallies denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, a government organization designed to slash federal spending.
Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting “Elon Musk has got to go” and other slogans. The temperature was below freezing, with wind chills in the teens.
Boston protesters, some dressed in Revolutionary War-style clothing, carried signs saying such things as “This is a Coup” and “Cowards Bow to Trump, Patriots Stand Up.” One sign had a depiction of Uncle Sam saying “I Want You to Resist.”
I predict that demonstrations like these will grow to record breaking proportions as people lose jobs and essential services because of DOGE illegal cuts to federal agencies.
No, I am for following the US Constitution, which gives the power of appropriating funds to Congress not to the Executive branch. The Trump administration is circumventing the law. Trump made it official when he tweeted “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” If and until he is stopped the US has a de facto dictator.
Those protests are happening in state capitols around the country. My neighbors and I participated in those protests at Florida’s capitol. We are genuine American citizens who are exercising our Constitutional rights to free speech and free assembly.
Outside of America, nobody believes that the Trump protests are genuine[ly instigated from a place of caring, because if it was they would care that billions of taxpayers’ money is being saved, for better use.
That “better use” will be for another bigger tax cut for the wealthiest class than the one he gave them during his first term. It’s called greed. That’s why they helped him get re-elected. Don’t take my word for it. Just follow the money. You’ll see.
Written when there were hardly any people in the country, and the point of it was to give the same rights to former slaves. Obvioulsy the Constitution has been changed over the years or it wouldn’t have ‘amendments’.
Three weeks after a January 28 memo titled “Fork in the Road” encouraged federal workers to accept “deferred resignation” and leave their positions—and one week after a union-backed demonstration held at the Capitol—federal government union members are holding demonstrations in cities across the country on Wednesday, February 19. Organizers are calling the coordinated events Save Our Services Day of Action.
Bill Gates says if U.S. foreign aid spending doesn’t get back on track soon, millions of lives are at risk. He added it could also present an economic problem as aid presents a gateway for diplomatic and economic conversations with foreign nations.
While the end result of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting crusade through government remains to be seen, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has warned millions of people could suffer in the meantime.
The philanthropist warned that if aid funding out of the world’s largest economy continues to dwindle, millions of lives will be on the line, and he hopes that some of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) measures will be rolled back.
Do you think this will make any difference to Trump/ Musk? I see them as lacking in empathy and compassion. So I doubt it.
I say this in all seriousness: The bigger, more powerful, more fraudulent and expensive and wasteful the government is, the happiner dems are. They sleep better at night knowing big daddy gubment is out there, larger and more powerful than ever, laundering and stealing and wasting money by the trillions. It means, in the mind of a dem, that they are close to the fountain of wealth guaranteeing their security in life. The bigger and more wasteful and corrupt that fountain is, the better they feel about being closer to it.
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I noticed that the majority of the protestors that Felix shared were Boomers, the ‘greed is good’ gang.
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You bet that they and their families are integrated into the USAID handout system… hence their onslaught of demonstrations.
That was an idea Musk floated. Has it actually been promised? If it were, how will people feel, indeed how will they survive on $5000 if their Medicaid healthcare coverage is cut off? Do you have any idea what an overnight stay in the hospital costs in America today?
According to recent data, the average cost of a hospitalization in America today is around $17,500based on a typical hospital stay length, with the average daily cost being approximately $2,883 per day; however, this price can vary significantly depending on the type of treatment, location, and insurance coverage
On the other hand, $5000 might pay for your bare bones funeral cost if your cremated. Maybe that’s what Musk had in mind for poor Americans.
Stocks retreated on Thursday following two days of all-time highs for the S&P 500 as investors dumped some popular names in the wake of a lackluster forecast from retail giant Walmart that prompted questions about the outlook of the economy.
Dow member Walmart dropped 6.5% after the company said it expects fiscal-year sales to grow between 3% and 4%. The company’s fiscal 2026 earnings outlook, meanwhile, was below analysts’ expectations. The weak guidance overshadowed fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that topped estimates.
Inflation in the U.S. sped up more than expected since Trump took office. Prices of gasoline, homes — including rent — and groceries also ticked up. The consumer price index increased by 3 percent last month compared to a year ago, according to the Labor Department, an increase from 2.9 percent in December.
“Inflation is back. No, think of it: Inflation’s back,” the president told Fox News’s Sean Hannity during an interview alongside tech billionaire Elon Musk that aired Tuesday night. As usual, Trump denied any responsibility. “And they said, ‘Oh, Trump,’ and I had nothing to do with that.”
