But the IRS is like that because of laws and to help make tax preparers more viable. You have to remember a lot of the waste is a goal, see why they cut its workforce even though that reduces government revenue.
Efficiency is not always a desirable goal, in fact it is rarely so. Take large healthcare organisations like the NHS, they've been subject to many efficiency drives over the years, but they suffer from predictable periodic overcrowding issues, in large part due to efficiency measures cutting any buffers for busy periods like flu season. I am personwlly of the opinion that any workgroup or section should be working at 80% capacity when fully staffed and at normal operating levels. It's not efficient, but it gives you a good buffer for unforseen events or extreme events.
So the USA is like a dead Henry VIII. And like Henry VIII, it'll be hard to find a coffin big enough to fit the body.
OK, here's my prediction for Congressional elections 2026:
We don't often get protracted periods of wintry weather and so when we do we sometimes run out of salt/grit for the roads and have insufficient snowploughs to clear all roads in a timely fashion. When this happens, people complain and pressure local government to spend more on winter provisions.
Look, it's very reasonable: all the public wants is to have absolutely perfect services with zero waste and all supplies to exactly match demand through completely accurate prediction of the future, and for all of that to be cheaper than free. Also they should win prizes for participating. And it wouldn't kill you to thank the public for receiving these services, would you?
Sounds good. Maybe we'll have a search function to locate this post in Nov '26? That should be a seperate bet.
we will happily let people die to save a few pennies, so long as we don't have to accept responsibility for it
I've been availing myself of the bookmark function. Also, when I'm looking for a specific post from a while ago, I've had a little bit of luck doing a Google search.
Resilience and efficiency are usually conflicting objectives. However, in the case of hospital beds, I believe there is evidence that aiming for close to 100% occupancy (i.e. perfect bed efficiency) actually increases the spread of diseases, reducing hospital efficiency and meaning a more resilient hospital system (i.e., aiming for bed occupancy less than 100%) would also have better overall efficiency.
See also, Just In Time manufacturing. Super efficient and cost saving...until there is any disruption at all in the supply chain.
The ultimate result would be 67 Dem senators, a super majority allowing immediate impeachment and removal of Trump and Vance, followed by prosecution for a variety of crimes already committed. Also a number of White House staff could be prosecuted and jailed, starting with Muskrat and Bannon.
I'm sure they would all take with them lots of classified documents and sell them to fund their "retirement."
Suppose Democrats do take control of Congress, and do as you suggest. Who's going to enforce the removal of Trump and Vance? Are Congresspersons going to walk into the White House and drag them out? Fight off the Secret Service? The DOJ belongs to Trump. Nobody will prosecute, nobody will be hauled into courtrooms or jail cells.
If Tramp is impeached and convicted, he leaves the WH immediately.
Why? Again, who will actually make him leave if he doesn't want to? Will the Secret Service turn on him? Will the local DC cops taser him? Will Vance summon one of Thiel's robot guards? If Congress orders one thing and the president orders the opposite, who will the SS, the FBI, the DOJ, the military obey? Will they choose sides as agencies? Will each individual make a choice? Will agencies and individuals decide they aren't going to obey either and wait for clarification from somewhere else?
If he is impeached and convicted, he is no longer President and the Secret Service and DOJ will make him leave.
Just like DOGE can not have people removed from their rightful place of work and seize private records as they see fit. Except of course that they totally did those things to US Institute of Peace. So please be clear why you think they would enforce such a thing.
Why, because they're supposed to? Where have you been for the last eight years? People haven't been doing what they're supposed to.
They kicked Trump out in 2021, they'll do it again if the law requires it.
As I recall:
Literally everybody. Those in power are not brave people. Guys like Enripue Teabagger or whatever his name is concern me. They stand up and throw down. They are dangerous. The Secret Service and the military have that Constitutional thing that allows them to defy orders, and (color me optimistic, here) will do so after a certain point, and will double down when others stand up with them. They know what the penalty is for treason, and no amount of MAGAmania will have them toeing that line.
When the Constitution was being debated in the 1780s, a lot of the delegates were wary of adding impeachment. They feared it would be wielded as a political weapon. the way the proponents like Hamilton convinced them to support is was to ask what if the president used his office to extract favors from foreign governments. That got them to flip.
He's ignoring court orders, trying to impeach and remove judges who rule against him, intimidating the press, threatening to jail them . . . who's going to stop him? With the military in his pocket, SCOTUS, an FBI loyal to him, who's gonna stop him.
The punishment for the kind of treason that Trump is in favor of is ... nothing!
FTFY
Yes, if he is faced with actual resistance that he can't use the military, the police and/or his MAGA minions to strike down, he will.
I know. I said "guys like him" concern me. I worry about the muscle more than the mouth.
Law enforcement and security persons (for the most part) are authoritarian-minded and will follow orders given by those they percieve as above them in the chain of command. A judge's orders are outside of that chain and so they'll ignore judge's orders. They'll often ignore law, as long as they were ordered to.
According to the Presidential Succession Act, the Speaker of the House becomes president in this case. If the Dems have a 67-plus majority in the Senate, it is also very likely they will hold Congress too. In which case the new Democrat president is Commander in Chief of the military, DoJ, and the Secret Service, etc. As noted here, many of these organisations respond to whoever holds their leash. So the answer to your question is: the US President and his/her legitimate authorities.
