Readers' faith in publications and writers relies on a belief that the information provided is true and accurate to the best of the writer's knowledge. When I get something wrong, I owe it to you to correct myself. Today, I have that unpleasant task. For years, I have argued that the idea of balancing the budget by eliminating government 'waste, fraud, and abuse' was a canard. In 2020, I wrote that 'there really isn't that much waste, fraud, and abuse in the system.' In 2024, when President-Elect Trump announced the creation of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, I said that the phrase was a meme with no real substance to it'Trump claimed DOGE would save money in part by weeding out fraudulent uses of social services, an unrealistic strategy based on an exaggerated problem. Politicians invoked the phrase waste, fraud, and abuse because no one could possibly be against those things, but for the same reason, those things would have been eliminated long ago if they were...
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