this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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Summary

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s new "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) began recruiting "high-IQ small-government revolutionaries" willing to work 80+ hours per week with no pay to help slash federal spending.

Appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, the panel is tasked with recommending spending cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and agency restructuring by July 4, 2026.

Musk and Ramaswamy advocate for drastic measures, including cutting grants to nonprofits and potential mass layoffs.

(page 3) 48 comments
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago

Seems like something people would not want to do.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 15 hours ago

Sorry, I need to like, not starve to death.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Just to make sure I understand. Musk is going to run an orgination who will advise the federal government to cut regulations that are in the way of him making more money. And this is in no way a conflict of interest.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

high IQ

work for free

lmao, hard pass. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

Would you do that, Elon? No you would not. And you'd be tweeting unfunny mocking bullshit at someone who did in any other circumstances.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 17 hours ago

Earth to Elon: Time is money you rich prick.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

These people who get so incredulous about "soft" social sciences, (think critical theory) yet talk about IQ testing like it's Newton's 4^th^ law do not value, or do not understand the science. Even the serious people who defend IQ in good faith, speak of it with qualifications.

What is so attractive about a system to categorize and rank humanity? And what do the people who are attracted to it have in common?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 17 hours ago

Fascists love the notion of a natural order, because it gives them license to hold power over people "lower in the hierarchy." They'll use anything and everything to establish whatever "natural order" serves their purpose at any given moment, and IQ works quite nicely in a lot of situations.

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[–] [email protected] -3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, the panel is tasked with recommending spending cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and agency restructuring by July 4, 2026.

I don't know why all the people who defended Biden wasting two years of the House/Senate are so worried about trump having 2 years of the House/Senate.

According to them no one can get anything accomplished in 2 years, and historically trump won't hold onto both the House and Senate for midterms.

The big difference seems to be Trump's incoming admin isn't waiting till 1/6 to start thinking about stuff, so they've got a big headstart on Biden's admin.

It's going to be real fucking embarrassing for moderates if trump pulls off something they just spent four years claiming was impossible.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

According to them no one can get anything accomplished in 2 years

The difference is that it's a lot easier and faster to break things than it is to build or repair them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 16 hours ago

Not always.

Like, all the deportations, that would "break" our society, but to even attempt it would take huge amounts of money, planning, and competent people. Even to do it poorly.

Hell, even his threat to get rid of Department of Education, he can't just say "you're fired" and then everyone goes home. I mean, he could say that, he could order their pay stopped, he could even lock the doors and shut off all the networked IT.

But there would be a metric shitton of legal proceeding and resulting settlements for years.

It's just crazy to me that everyone thinks turning (at least the remnants of) a democracy into a dictatorship is just fucking declaring it like Michal Scott declares bankruptcy.

He's 100% going to try, I just don't know why people suddenly expect trump and his sycophants magically became competent in the last four years.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 17 hours ago

"If you're good at something, never do it for free."

[–] [email protected] 28 points 17 hours ago

Much like unpaid internships, this is also a method to prevent anyone who is not independently wealthy from applying, so they can fill the department with the same people already benefiting from the current system and allow them to design one that benefits them even further.

No one that this department is ostensibly built to serve can afford to work on it, so who is it really (clearly) for?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

i would consider signing up just to see how much shit i could irreparably fuck up before they notice

[–] [email protected] 12 points 17 hours ago

Anyone smart enough wouldn’t want to work for him.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

So, slavery will soon be making a comeback in 2025.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 17 hours ago

it never went anywhere

[–] [email protected] 24 points 17 hours ago

"high-IQ small-government revolutionaries"

No, "rich people," because nobody else can survive with no pay.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly, most of that headline should be in quotations.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

"Elon Musk's" "new department" seeks "super high" IQ "staff" for "unpaid jobs"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 18 hours ago

Staff it with rich fucks looking for relevence deep in that Musky sphincter and change it to "Department of Getting Eaten". Efficiency accomplished.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

“Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) began recruiting “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” willing to work 80+ hours per week with no pay to help slash federal spending.

Future headline : “Department of Government Efficiency still completely without staff as those meeting the high requirements to take the job are smart enough to have zero interest in doing the job under those conditions"

Alternate future headline: "Department of Government Efficiency plagued by yet another scandal as its 45th employee is charged with fraud for attempting to personally gain financially from fraud they were perpetrating in the government".

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

SpoilerLot's of people are gonna apply, cause the payment is the chance for grifting

[–] [email protected] 38 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

So you need to be rich enough to not need the salary, morally flexible enough to work for Elmo, and stupid enough to brag about your IQ.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 17 hours ago

People who boast about their I.Q. are losers. —Stephen Hawking

[–] [email protected] 3 points 17 hours ago

….. while not understanding the percentiles they gave you on the online IQ test.

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[–] [email protected] 278 points 18 hours ago (10 children)

No high-iq individual will work 2 weeks per week with no pay in a society that requires money to live.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago

Evil ones will.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

This isn't aimed at the idiots who would line up around the block and work for free to be called high IQ by Musk. Doesn't really matter though, it's all performative

They already know exactly what they want to cut, and billionaires don't need a salary to realize profits from deregulation.

The job being "no salary" isn't indicative of how cost effictive a volunteer public servant could be - it is a dinner bell for the wealthy

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Can you think of any other types of people who might be financially able to volunteer their time here....?

Maybe those who have a vested interest in any number of outcomes that may result from their work there...?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 16 hours ago

Or those willing to be paid in order to influence recommendations to the highest bidder

[–] [email protected] 95 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

No they won't... but rich people who can afford to support themselves while indulging in their love of making poor people suffer will be lined up around the block.

Making a position unpaid is a classic tactic to keep out the poors.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

It's disappointing so many aren't getting this...

It's the same as "unpaid internships" being advantage to rich kids who can afford to work without pay.

Like, there is an inordinate amount of rich assholes that would love to spend 80 hours a week finding way to cut taxes, regulations, and the social safety net.

If you're rich enough to begin with, this could pay a hell of a lot better than anything else you would spend your time on. Couple hundred million in the bank or stock market, and it would be more profitable than any actual job.

And let's be honest, Musk and Trump aren't judging IQ by the freaking Wechsler exam, when rich idiots talk about IQ, they mean zeros in a bank account.

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[–] [email protected] 174 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

That's a common tactic in scams. You want to weed out the actual intelligent people as early as possible lest they disrupt your scam. That's why scam emails tend to have misspellings and grammatical errors. Smarter people instantly ignore that. Dumb people click on through.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (2 children)

So you're saying we all should apply?

So that we can disrupt this shit

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[–] [email protected] 114 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (3 children)

This dipshit thinks he can save the country 2 trillion dollars by firing government workers.

Even if he fired every single government position in the entire country, he couldn't make up 2 fucking trillion dollars out of that. The budget for payroll is, what? Like 15% of the total spending?

[–] [email protected] 106 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

He doesn't genuinely think that's true. It's all a grift.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (3 children)

D epartment

O f

G rifting

E veryone

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I mean, it's good but "E for Everyone" is also available.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (2 children)

D epartment

O f

G overnment

E xploitation

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

I had to look up what an "endomorph" is; sounds like it's the "built like a tank" body type. So I mean, c'mon man. I know the kinda people you're aiming for, but you hit a bunch of other people in the process. Not judging you too hard, I've done the same thing (and will probably continue to make the same or similar mistakes), but... Yeah.

Edit: to explain my discomfort, based on what I've read, "endomorph" is a body type that could be described as stocky. Not fat, not obese or stupid or a meathead, but just stocky. I've known people like that, and none of them were the kinda people who'd get fooled by Trump. They weren't stupid, they were in very, very good shape, and they were kind people. The implication in the post, however, is that people who have that body type are easily grifted by Trump & Co.

(Also, fat shaming isn't a very nice thing to do. You might think obese people are ugly or gross, but they're still people and they still have feelings. Don't be a dick.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 54 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

So... if I apply for a super high IQ job that's unpaid, does that prove I'm under qualified?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

He really believes it’s real.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

Oh it's real. It may not be a cabinet position but it can still be a committee.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 18 hours ago

Tragedy or comedy? Why not both?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 18 hours ago

Well, if nothing else it's efficient 😬

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