The Witness Chronicles, 1/29/25
There is no cost cutting going on
The Dollars Simply Don’t Add Up in Trumpworld
His rapidfire decisions are going to be crazy expensive
They claim they are transforming the federal government to cut unnecessary spending, making a lean and efficient machine, while removing bloat. But, and it’s a huge but, we are not hearing about the actual cost of these changes.
Two of many examples. Latebreaking news is that all federal workers were sent an email today, Jan 28, offering the equivalent of 8 months of severance pay if they will quit by February 6 of this year. Next week. But, as is usual with all these proclamations and actions, no mention is made of how they will pay for this.
Over 1150 immigrants were taken into custody, just today, to be deported. The estimated cost per immigrant is $10,150 to bring them in and send them out of the country. Ten grand each. That’s over $11 million just for today’s raids and they are accelerating their daily numbers and claiming they will eventually deport 11 million people. That’s $111,650,000,000. $111 billion.
And that does not take into consideration the related economic impacts related to scaring away essential workers. For example, fruit on trees ready for harvesting and the usual workers have disappeared. Those crops could be a total loss. And that is happening across multiple business sectors.
Food, hospitality, and a host of service businesses are big business and big money and they will be crippled by this pogrom. And the cleanup of toxic waste after the LA fires and storm damage across many red states? That’s another area where immigrant labor comes in.
In the federal employee offer we find a similar situation. A lot of civil servants are very worried about their futures and may just decide to take them up on their offer. The effect on the government would be immediate if there is a mass exodus in just the next week.
These people throwing these executive orders in front of Trump do not seem to understand why the government is big and expensive. This is a physically huge country with over 330 million people, massive infrastructure, and scary potential enemies requiring constant investment in military people and technology. It requires a lot of Trump’s reviled bureaucrats and a lot of money.
The reality is that men like Stephen Miller, who is the advisor behind much of this, are on a mission from God. I’m not sure what God, but Miller is a man whom his own family considers a danger. He is not concerned with the future of the country, nor is Donald Trump. And nothing about any of this is about money, big government, or some ideal. It is basically racism and greed.
We are not talking about European immigrants here. And that offer to federal employees is designed to weed out anyone who thinks they may get purged by Trump eventually. On some deranged level, it is genius. Kick out the people of color and ensure the myth of their inherent criminality, and get rid of any federal employee who might disagree with the emperor.
This is the reality we are dealing with and the most disturbing thing about it is that my fellow Democrats seem to barely understand what we are dealing with. They still seem to think that they can fight this by pretending these people care anything about process or Congress or decency, or anything once considered normal.
It’s a failure comparable to the appeasement offered to Adolph Hitler by the British in 1939 in a desperate attempt to reason with a maniac who had their number. That led to the worst war experienced by mankind. And these kinds of actions are how that history begins.
In a country built by immigrants, we have made the term a derogative, implying criminality and degeneration when those using that hateful term represent those qualities themselves. Shame on us for ever letting this shit happen in America and shame on those with the power to fight it, for looking away and enabling a man who cares nothing for anything or anyone.
Look in the mirror and ask yourself what being an American citizen means and if you are one. I’m serious, do it. Whatever the definition of citizenship and decency is, this is not it.
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Thank you,
Martin Edic