‘A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon ...

...you're talking real money." - Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen

I shouldn't be shocked, but I still am, about how cavalier Democrats and especially progressives seem to be about other people's money. Over Christmas, I had a polite disagreement with a progressive relative over homelessness in California. Progressives have framed their arguments to make opponents seem small and petty, and here was no exception. We talked about homeless urinating on public transportation - both of us have encountered that. His response was, "As disgusting as that was, I had to think how bad off that guy was." We then talked about how after spending millions, if not a billion dollars, to fix homelessness in California, homelessness increased rather than decreased. His response: "I don't think it is too much to expect the 6th largest economy in the world to spend a fraction of that on homelessness." My counterarguments: 1) A basic role of government is to maintain public order and infrastructure, and urinating in trolley cars is not acceptable. Progressives fail at the basic functions of government; 2) I don't care what fraction of California's GDP it represents, we spent a lot on homelessness and got nothing in return. Why would you double down on failed approaches?

Trump is in office because progressives fail at the basic functions of government. And DOGE was implemented because they clearly are not good stewards of the public trough. The exact same argument that my relative used has been emanating from my TV on a regular basis. From Jessica Tarlov on Fox yesterday to the various unhinged rants from the left: $10,000 for transgender comic books? $150,000 for a hospital in Vietnam? A million here, a billion there. In a country with a budget in the trillions, how can you be so selfish to care that these "small amounts" are going to these worthy causes?

Setting aside the worthy cause arguments, what has shocked me is their view of other people's money. I have come to think that they are truly ignorant of the wealth of nations and where it comes from. Just as Thomas Sowell accuses the left of caring about hypothetical people instead of real people, they seem to deal with hypothetical money sources instead of real ones. Real ones are me and you and businesses and entrepreneurs. To many of us, $10,000 is a great deal of money that could be put to productive use - to build our businesses, invest in our homes and families or fund our retirements. To everyone, 1 million and $1 billion is a great deal of money. Never mind percentages, in absolute terms you can do a lot with these amounts. Opponents of DOGE throw these numbers around as if they were chump change, but it is not to me, nor, I suspect, to many of us. If it can't be spent productively, then it shouldn't be spent. And for the most part, I want it spent to support the basic functions of government.

I have also heard many minimize the work of DOGE to date, on both the left and right, saying it has only identified $150 million in waste, fraud and abuse so far. Compared to our deficits and debt, that is a drop in the bucket. Even as I write that, some Dem on Fox is saying exactly that. But that is the same type of argument as above. It may not solve the debt problem, but that is 150 million dollars that is going to waste. That is 150 million dollars that in the hands of other entities could be put to better use. Again, when you get down to the level of real taxpayers and real people, 150 million dollars is a great deal of money.

So to make it real, perhaps Elon and others, in addition to listing the wasteful and ridiculous purposes to which the money was put, should also list what $10,000, $1 million or $1 billion in your hands could do.