Anil Dash on what DOGE really means. Procurement Capture --- IMNSHO, extreme grifting.

[usonian]

We need to look no further than the simple corrupt backroom deals of strong men dictators around the world to see how the friends of leaders get sweetheart deals to sell their stuff at inflated prices (and, usually, inferior quality) while everyone else foots the bill.

https://www.anildash.com//2025/01/04/DOGE-procurement-capture/

Lots here but clearly spelled out.
4 paragraphs worth:

Tycoons don't like any game that's not rigged in their favor. And right now, government spending at the federal level is mostly controlled by an agency called the General Services Administration, which oversees procurement. Is it complicated? Sure! Sometimes the complexity is for the same reasons that processes are inefficient around the office at your job, and that's frustrating. But sometimes it's good, because they're trying to make sure nobody is buying $800 hammers. It's not perfect, and it's overly complex, but it is not totally captured by the richest guys in the world right now.

Now, imagine you were a tycoon who is also a defense contractor that is trying to sell hundreds of billions of dollars of military equipment to the government, and you know that the procurement process requires them to go with the lowest bidder. But, since you're a dude with hundreds of billions of dollars, it doesn't seem fair that the system isn't even more rigged in your favor. How would you "fix" this system? Well, you'd have to capture procurement, so that it was rigged to only buy stuff from you and your friends, at whatever price you guys want. And if it could screw your competitors along the way, and punish them for not kissing your ass? That would be a bonus.

Enter DOGE. This isn't new.
"Captured" buying processes aren't new, that kind of corruption has been common around the world for much of the last few centuries, though a lot of Americans may not be as familiar with it. The way it's usually worked goes something like this: Want to succeed as a farmer? Well, you better buy your tractor from Fearless Leader's best friend's tractor company.

Or it could be more like this: Say you're a government employee trying to figure out who to buy rockets from. Maybe it better be from the guy who runs the "department" that's in charge of deciding where money gets spent in the government! But what if you're that government employee and you're still trying to do things by the book, and follow the laws as written, and listen to the process that says you should go with the lowest bidder so you can spend less taxpayer money on things?

And it "helps" if the head of this "department" started mentioning individual government employees by name, and had a rabid army of followers who consistently targeted those employees for violent threats.



Read on at the link.

When is it not corruption when a government contractor is deciding, uhhhh "advising" to whom the government awards contracts?

[Blue_Tires]

1. Obviously...