this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
513 points (98.3% liked)

News

23284 readers
5472 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] DankDingleberry@lemmy.world 6 points 29 minutes ago

feels like im playing plague inc. and these are all joke news

[–] Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world 1 points 4 minutes ago

This is fucking hilarious! More proof, maybe the best proof, of how much of a dumbass Muskrat is.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 27 points 1 hour ago

Smart people don't work for the bad guys for free Jack.

[–] Eiri@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 hour ago

The US are just a bad parody of themselves at this point.

[–] sibachian@lemmy.ml 18 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

do "high-IQ" individuals even exist on the republican isle? why would a lefty want to get involved in this shit, especially unpaid? what idiot would accept unpaid labour under a multi-billionaire?

[–] laserm@lemmy.world 13 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

High IQ individuals definitely exist on the republican side. The only thing is that they are the most selfish kind (hence why they are republican) and hence they won't work for free.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 15 minutes ago (1 children)

I would imagine there's a few high IQ people willing to be exploited because they get to work with their heroes: Shit Bag #1 and Shit Bag #2.

[–] problematicPanther@lemmy.world 2 points 14 minutes ago

if those are their heroes they aren't "high-IQ"

[–] itsJoelle@lemmy.world 2 points 22 minutes ago

(They mean folk indoctrinated into their ethonationalist world view, usually white.)

[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 hour ago

There are gonna be lots of applicants from the Intelligence Institute of Texas...

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 10 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

There are only two types of "Super High-IQ" people who will go for an unpaid job working in politics for the likes of Musk:

  • Very naive young things, hence very inexperienced and who are going to do all mistakes in the book and then some for the next couple of years as they learn the ropes. By the time they know enough about the job they'll be burned out from working for a guy like Musk not to mention knowing enough to know they're better of elsewhere.
  • Grifters looking for making maximum money from being in politics. Since they're not getting paid, that means corruption, lots and lots of corruption.

Also, even amongst the "very naive young things", in my own personal experience, the high intelligent types with the personality to be real believers of far right stuff, are at most above average intelligence but below genius level IQ (which is 120) and hence not really "super high"-IQ (which would more 160+) - I once worked with a guy like that who thought himself very intelligent and in his new job ended up working in an office with two genious level colleagues and he was very entertaining because of his "buttons" were so obvious and he was so easy to give the run around.

Super-high IQ people are often the very opposite of street smart, but one thing they aren't is stupid and at most fall into the first part of the saying "you can deceive most people some of the time, or some people all of the time, but you can't deceive most people all of the time" - they can be swindled but they'll figure it out faster than most.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Also, most actual intelligent people understand that IQ is incredibly flawed at best, and put little stock in it.

But I guess if your goal is "anti-DEI" or whatever, then of course you're cool with intelligence tests that make white people seem smarter.

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 12 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (2 children)

I'm a guy with a high "test IQ", and my sister, who is in the normal range is way more succesful that me in most aspects of life. You don't want high "test IQ", you want "smart people" not the same, and far more difficult to measure. High IQ basically means you are good at solving certain types of puzzles

[–] Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world 1 points 2 minutes ago

And smart people don't often work for free. Unless it's at gunpoint or similar. Though that might be in the plans of fascist assholes like Elongated Muskrat.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 hour ago

Exactly. Yes, I can tell you the chronological order of these images very quickly, but good luck getting me to do it.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 29 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (4 children)

Ok, get this. You elect politicians to "help slash federal spending".

What the hell is Musk even doing and why is he outsourcing this job to unpaid idiots, when politicians already get paid to do this?

Okay, I'll do a few suggestions for free:

  • Stop subsidizing companies. All of them.
  • Tax the rich to boost the federal income.
  • Legalize all immigrants so they can be tax paying citizens.
  • Crack down on employers using illegal underpaid illegal immigrants.
  • Provide universal health care. Sick people don't work.
  • Cut down on police force spending.
  • Cut down on car infrastructure spending.
  • Cut down "defense" spending in artificial oil wars.
  • Help Ukraine to defeat Russia, so Russia will have to surrender and disarm their nukes, so that USA can also cut down on cost for maintenance of nukes.
  • Expand renewable energy. It's free energy yo, and it creates jobs for tax paying citizens.
  • Stop mining fossil fuels. It will cost more to clean that shit up than is earned.
[–] Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world 1 points 1 minute ago

I want YOU to be POTUS. Right now.

[–] KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 42 minutes ago (1 children)

I just wanted to add some context for one of these bullets.

The US is upping the amount it spends on nuclear weapons maintenance and production because China has reentered the game as a major player. They'd been stable at 300-350 warheads for decades but is expected to ramp up to producing 100+ per year by 2030.

So one major adversary has just been replaced by another. Everything old is new again, including the cold war arms race.

[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 1 points 19 minutes ago

How are they making them? Just fuel reprocessing? You can make them pretty cheap as a side effect at scale of you want to. US can't though.

[–] sibachian@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 hours ago

my bingo card is almost full, just missing universal basic income - people with money, spend money, supporting businesses and thus "the economy".

[–] wildcardology@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Undocumented immigrants paid $96 billion in 2023, they don't benefit from them but imagine if all of them get to pay taxes.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 16 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!

--Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 hours ago

Hell yeah, clever and lazy all day

[–] umbraroze@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago

Ah, this will be the Department of Dunning-Kruger. The workers are idiots who think they are supergeniuses. Led by an idiot who thinks he's a supergenius.

During Trump's first term, this was just a metaphor, suggested by random comedians. Now, life will imitate art to its full extent.

[–] JPSound@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

"High-IQ" aka boot lickers who agree with everything Musk says or does and are willing to do so for no compensation. And let's consider those who have the financial means "work" for free. The over privileged fundees who think they earned their wealth by hard work even those its all daddy's money... Rining any bells? Unpaid positions are exactly what we don't need to help with combat our economic woes anyways.

[–] ATDA@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

So a golf club?

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 23 points 6 hours ago

Fun idea: Flood their contact addresses with fake applications and fake credentials like certificates with high scores on made-up IQ tests or Mensa membership cards.

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I don't know about you all but as soon as Trump was elected I immediately resolved to cut my personal spending by as much as humanly possible. I've already canceled many of my subscription services and I have reduced my use of Amazon and other online purchases to absolute zero. I'm going to work on paying down every dime of debt I owe as soon as possible and save every penny. Because shit's going to get fucked in the next 4 years with these clowns in charge. It's gonna be a light Christmas in my household this year.

I highly recommend you all do the same. Don't be the last one holding the bag when the music stops and reality sets in. For example, look at the people in the UK after Brexit.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

The UK was shit before Brexit, it was 14 years of austerity policies (read: cut health services, cut benefits, cut social housing, deregulation of services, legalisation of toxic dumping, I can go on...) by a right-wing "fiscally responsible" government who has left the current one with a sizeable financial black hole.... that has brought the country to its knees.

If we had Brexit but still maintained public services, there's a good chance the country would have been fine.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 hours ago

If we had Brexit but still maintained public services, there's a good chance the country would have been fine.

It's almost as if you couldn't...

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 hours ago

Why pay down the debt?

[–] WorldwideCommunity@lemm.ee 4 points 5 hours ago

Maybe he should ask Trump since everything he does is the best and has never been done better or before.

[–] auzy@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

High IQ people only wanted to do paid work for SpaceX because going to space is amazing.

I'm fairly sure none are working because of him though

Even paid work for any other Musk jobs would be an act of desperation. Fortunately, I suspect the unemployment rate will grow with Trump in charge.. Because it is likely more profitable to beg than make minimum wage (and he won't be increasing it). So maybe he will find people.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

lol good luck picking candidates among highly intelligent incels and maga members

load more comments
view more: next ›