Lots of cogent dialogue here about inflation, debt, etc. but I fear we're missing the crux of this.
I'm referring to activity by a certain billionaire that's been sanctioned by the executive branch with an apparent carte blanche allowance and no oversight. There are reports that a cadre of 20-somethings on his "team" have been tasked with vetting (and dismissing) career Treasury workers, reviewing code, lord knows what else. There is a total lack of accountability surrounding what exactly they are doing in these critical, delicate, decades-old systems.
I worked at a major healthcare company that housed medical records for tens of millions of Americans. We had very strict procedures and oversight for access, use, and (certainly) modification. There were serious consequences for breaching protocol. Surely we agree that UST systems are right up there with DoD in terms of being mission critical for operating the United States.
What's being reported at the U.S. Treasury should be profoundly concerning to anyone who values data integrity, as well as our government's commitment to paying for things that have been sanctioned through legitimate approval processes.
In short it's not the place of any individual - and certainly not an unelected crony of the president with a very visible personal bias - to unilaterally review, filter, and reject these commitments. Searching for opportunities to improve efficiency is a laudable goal, but this is not how it should be done by a long shot.
