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danforth

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Monday, April 28, 2025

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, says it has saved $160 billion through its push to root out wasteful or fraudulent government spending. But that effort may also have come at a cost for taxpayers, with a new analysis from a nonpartisan research and advocacy group estimating that DOGE's actions will cost $135 billion this fiscal year. read more


Monday, April 21, 2025

In the latest example of altering figures on the agency's website, staffers at DOGE seemingly updated its claimed savings overnight on Tuesday, erasing approximately $962 million, according to NOTUS. read more


Wednesday, March 05, 2025

Elon Musk has called Social Security a "Ponzi Scheme", unwittingly admitting he doesn't know the definition of "Ponzi Scheme" read more


Comments

"A common misconception arises from projections for 2027, where the Tax Policy Center noted that the top 1% could receive up to 82.8% of benefits..."

That's certainly where I got the 83% for the top 1% I've claimed. "At fruition" is the phrase I've always used.

"...if individual tax cuts expire, leaving corporate cuts that favor high earners."

That's exactly what happened.

"However, this applies to the top 1%, not the top 0.1%, and is a future scenario, not a current reality"

That must be an old publication. The tax cuts for workers expired. The tax cuts for corporations were made permanent. EXACTLY what was warned.

"No studies specifically claim over 50% for the top 0.1."

Okay, let's do the math. 83% for the top 1%.

The top .1 of 1% IS INCLUDED in that group. It takes roughly $800K/yr to qualify for the world's wealthiest 1%. It takes $2.8 million a year to qualify for the top .1% . But we know $3 million is peanuts to A LOT of billionaires, and there aren't small-dollar differences at this level: someone can make $1 billion, or $2 billion, and they're still in the .1%.

So, regarding the tax cuts, they get the largest chunk, of course. The wealthiest .1% get 60% of the top portion...60% of 83% is right around 50%.
Now add that to THE BACK END of the equation, where INTEREST is paid on that debt. The stated cost of $1.8 Trillion is more like $2.3 Trillion with interest. I believe the world's wealthiest gain the most on that side of the equation as well. Add it all up, and the top 1/10th of 1% got over half the cost of the TCJA tax cuts.

Here's a question for all to ponder: If you're running a deficit budget, and you either write new, or renew expiring tax cuts, does 100% of that represent newly borrowed money?

And since it does, is the total cost the upfront cost only, or the cost of the loan AND the interest to pay it back?

I stand by my math.

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