XPost: alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism   
   From: nospam@ix.netcom.com   
      
   Despite the howls of outrage and already-launched lawsuits from the left,   
   Team Trump’s pause on federal spending on most grants, loans and more is a   
   wise, perhaps necessary, move to ensure Americans’ tax dollars are well   
   spent and to keep up the battle against Bidenflation.   
      
   The freeze doesn’t impact affect programs that provide direct benefits to   
   recipients; Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps are all   
   exempt.   
      
   Yet the outlays now frozen pour into almost every corner of society and   
   accounted for up to $3 trillion of federal spending in 2024.   
      
   No way was every single dollar of that well-spent or properly overseen;   
   how much if any was even necessary?   
      
   Federal programs and grants typically start because they seem like a good   
   idea, but almost never end even if they flop; the endless proliferation   
   guarantees significant waste and misuse.   
      
   And when the unfunded spending growth goes on steroids, as it did these   
   last four years, Americans get hit by inflation.   
      
   The memo itself, from the Office of Management and Budget, makes clear why   
   the freeze is happening: “The American people elected Donald J. Trump to   
   be President of the United States and gave him a mandate to increase the   
   impact of every federal taxpayer dollar.”   
      
   And while national Democrats like New York’s Chuck Schumer and   
   Washington’s Sen. Patty Murray are letting out their usual apocalyptic   
   cries, while New York Attorney General Letitia James and her peers in   
   other states are suing (and indeed a federal judge temporarily blocked the   
   freeze late Tuesday), this is a crucial opportunity to put certain   
   government outflows under a microscope and find out which are really   
   necessary.   
      
   Just the thing to excise federal bloat and potentially save hundreds of   
   billions (or even more) and so help drive inflation down.   
      
   Is this approach coming into the admin via Elon Musk and the techie   
   philosophy that underlies DOGE?   
      
   Certainly, it resembles zero-based budgeting (a fiscal strategy popular in   
   the startup world) for Uncle Sam.   
      
   Under ZBB, past spending isn’t automatically assumed to be justified   
   during forward budgeting; instead, every dollar slated to be spent   
   requires an actual reason.   
      
   I.e., just because the Antiracist Systemic Justice Center for Progress got   
   $37 million last fiscal year doesn’t mean it gets $37 million this year,   
   or even $1. (Agencies have until Feb. 10 to justify their spending.)   
      
   Regardless, the memo and the out-of-whack response are strong reminders:   
   Those trillions do not belong by rights to nonprofits or defense   
   contractors or research universities.   
      
   They belong to the American taxpayer.   
      
   And the government these taxpayers repose their trust in has not only the   
   right but the duty to see that the money’s spent well, in a way that   
   doesn’t end up hammering everyone’s pocketbook.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2025/01/28/opinion/trumps-federal-grant-freeze-is-   
   great-news-for-americas-taxpayers/   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)