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Without Transparency, How will we know Whether or NOT DOGE "Recruits" are Rewarded with Finder Fees? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-19
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This is the “Help wanted Ad” Elon Musk blasted, to enlist Tech Bro opportunists, into his opaque workforce of Government Budget-cutting Believers:
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,” the so-called Department of Government Efficiency said on X. “If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants,” the post said.
[...] “Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero,” he wrote. “What a great deal!” www.nbcnews.com — Nov 12, 2024
Hmmm, what motivates a “super high-IQ” techie to “work 80+ hours per week,” when the “compensation is zero”?
Kind of seems like a contradiction of terms, does it not. Only a fool would sign up for that, especially considering working for Elon, would hardly be a ‘Job perk’.
Unless ... there were some ‘unadvertised’ agreements, made off-line, after the interview. Assurances from the DOGE visionary, saying he would make it ‘worth their while’ …
Surely, every TechBro worthy of that “top 1%” cut, would understand those alternate forms of payment. Nod, nod, wink, wink. Arrangements such as this:
A finder's fee (also known as "referral income" or "referral fee") is a payment made to an intermediary in, or the facilitator of, a transaction. [...] A finder's fee is a reward and thus a form of incentive to prompt business contacts and other resources to communicate the needs or opportunities of a company or organization to potential clientele or partners. While contracts are not required in such arrangements, structuring and agreeing to terms for finder’s fees can keep all parties in agreement on the scope of compensation that will be paid.
[...] Standard Fees The terms of finder’s fees can vary greatly, with some of those who pay them citing 5% to 35% of the total value of the deal being used as a benchmark. www.investopedia.com
All in an 24/7 days’ work ...
Cha-Ching!
What is 10% of a $100M “waste fraud, or abuse” budget line-item, miraculously discovered?
That would be a cool $10 Million dollars “reward” for matching “resource” with “partners” …
Not a bad incentive, if you can get it.
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And I can hear the Naysayers in the comments now:
That is pure speculation, and unworthy of even suggesting.
Not even Musk would stoop so low, as to bilk the Taxpayer like that.
Surely the Auditors (somewhere, like at the OBM) would balk at such an idea.
Where is your proof of such nonverbal payment agreements?
To which I reply, EXACTLY!
And refer you back to the Title of this “speculative” post:
Without Transparency, How will we know Whether or NOT DOGE "Recruits" are Rewarded with Finder Fees?
In brief, we can’t know . And the way things are going, we may never know …
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CNN attempted to get more info on the DOGE Team Members, concerning their Hiring details, their Security Clearances, and so forth — via Freedom of Information Act requests.
And Musk blocked their 1st Amendment “prying” dead in its tracks. And in the cruelest way possible too.
The Free Press shall NOT inquiry here. Do Not Enter. Do not pass go …
‘Good luck with that.’ Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing
(CNN) The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers [OPM], a move that limits outside access to government records related to the security clearances granted to Elon Musk and his associates, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. CNN was first notified of the firings at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in response to a freedom of information act request for records related to the security clearances of Musk and anyone from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) who has been granted access to sensitive or classified government networks. “Good luck with that, they just fired the whole privacy team ,” an OPM email address responded to CNN’s FOIA request. In addition to the privacy team, members of OPM’s communications staff and employees who handle FOIA requests were also fired, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
[...] www.cnn.com — Feb 18, 2025
For those playing along at home:
CCN, you file FOIA requests on the Musk DOGE “recruits” — his Musketeers.
And Musk orders the FOIA-processing staff at OPM, to hit-the-road.
Check, and Checkmate.
IOW ...
Screw your FOIA request CNN, “This is none of your damn business” anymore …
Now that Musk and merry band of “small-government revolutionaries” SHALL be granted extra-ordinary access, by Executive Order:
The executive order also said that agencies must give DOGE “full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.” www.nbcnews.com — Feb 13, 2025
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Without complying to the hard-learned principle of Transparency in Government — there is no telling, just what DOGE is doing. !?!?! What they will continue to do.
Nor exactly how those high-IQ DOGE Recruits — MAY or may not — be getting ‘rewarded’ …
Elon has left those questions wide open … left them up to the readers’ imagination. You see, Accuracy and Transparency do not rate highly on the DOGE “efficiency” Score Cards.
Neither does, telling the public the truth about their ongoing shadowy, find-and-seek operation.
Opaque and Fragile are two other adjectives for it.
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And if you want to know about how I really feel about their “trampling of American values” agenda — I go on that rant, here. (This post is the “subtler version” of that midnight screed.)
We are being warned, by their actions, with every new stonewalling day.
The best of America hangs in their keyword-search balance, FWIW.
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Wonder how much that IRS Data is worth? Wouldn’t you like to know?
Who is watching the Watchers?
Who is auditing the Auditors?
Who is minding America’s Constitutional store?
[END]
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