Noise #194: Killing it! (but it's already dead)
Music inspired by cruelty and incompetence in the name of efficiency.
The New York Times reports that DOGE is claiming credit for killing government contracts that died naturally—twenty years ago—while George W. Bush was president.
Governance and federal contracting are extremely complicated. And the Merry Band of Young Geniuses ostensibly tasked with streamlining the federal government appear to be blindly dismembering it instead.
From the Times:
“It’s obvious that they don’t understand,” said Eric Franklin, the chief executive of the firm Erimax, who advises the government on contracting procedures. His own firm was the subject of one of the errors on DOGE’s “wall of receipts.” Mr. Musk’s group claimed it had saved $14 million by canceling one of its contracts — which had ended in 2021.
Data errors happen, but DOGE’s cruel incompetence is on a different level. Real people are getting really hurt and, if this continues, more unnecessary suffering will follow.
When you listen to Noise #194, you’ll be hearing a sense of melancholy that reflects my feelings about people in power lacking the foresight, empathy, and will to truly see the human impact of what they’re doing.
Here’s Noise #194:
Wishing you peace,
Michael
(Noise #194 by Michael Gallant. Copyright 2025 Gallant Music LLC. All Rights Reserved.)