Occupy Mars, Elon, or Repatriate to South Africa

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The world's richest human, Elon Musk, seems to be attached, at least at the wallet, to the incoming President.  Musk, a native of South Africa who allegedly began amassing his obscene fortune while living in the US on an expired student visa, donated somewhere north of $277 million to the President-elect's presidential campaign, making him not only the largest individual donor in this year's election cycle, but also giving him near total access to the man who will be controlling the government that pumps so much money into Musk's businesses.

And the incoming President, a man who takes care of himself first and then spreads the leftovers from the feast around to those who bolster his ego and his bottom line, rewarded the cagey billionaire with an appointment to head a new White House-centered effort to weed out waste and inefficiency in government.  

Elon will have the ear of the Big Man with the long red tie when it comes to cutting programs and eliminating positions.   Many fear that he will propose cutting programs and benefits to the working poor and those on fixed incomes, such as retirees, while keeping in place or enhancing those that feed into the bloated corporate welfare system.

There will be several billionaires directly involved in our government during the next administration, but none will have anywhere near the proximity or level of access to the boss that Elon Musk seems to be currently enjoying.

But it is still December and while Elon is busy fetching drinks and giving foot-rubs at Mar-a-Lago, Congress (well, some of Congress) is trying pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep government open.  Without the CR the government will shut down this Friday night - just five days before Christmas, laying off thousands of federal employees during the holidays and interfering with untold amounts of government services.

Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, has put forth a resolution that will keep the government operational for three months at which time the new administration can handle the mess, but Johnson, a Republican, is facing stiff opposition from his own party in Congress and will need a lot of Democratic support to get his plan enacted - and he may not be able to come up with enough votes to keep the government operational.

Enter Elon Musk, a man who believes he has just purchased a presidency.  Elon issued an opinion today stating that the CR should be rejected and Congress should pass no more bills until his President takes office on January 20th.   That would be a full month of the federal government being shut down.  Elon could certainly live with that, but could we?

Elon probably sees a long-term shutdown as being a nice fit with the austerity measures that his new, freshly created, position with the government will entail.

Of course he does.

Give Americans a good taste of hard times, and then when he and his sidekick, Vivek,  really start slashing it won't be such a shock to the system.

A billionaire buys a position in government where he can promote his own self-interests while curtailing programs that only help normal people - things like education, health care, housing, and social security - the social safety net - and we're supposed to be fine with that?

Not at my house, we aren't!

Occupy Mars, Elon - or at least go home.  If you want to be a political player, go play in South Africa.  I hear that Pretoria is lovely this time of year!