A Coup Against the Middle Class

There's no vaccine for this.

In early November of 2024, post-election day, I wrote regarding the future of this newsletter (such as it occasionally is), and said the following:

The scope of review for ONSN is expected to expand in the near future, as we anticipate that the pending dictatorship of the President-elect will constrain the options of state governments, particularly in three crucial areas:
a.     Health care and crisis/disaster management.
b.     The economy, taxation and so-called “entitlement programs.”
c.     Constitutional issues, particularly in regard to the Bill of Rights.[1]

How am I doing so far? May I say, in the immortal words of Leslie Nielson, in his role as “Dr. Rumack” on the movie Airplane – “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.”

We’ve already seen a taste of item a: the man comes to North Carolina and threatens to end FEMA (Oh, sir, oh sir – Thank you! the MAGA weep) and then it’s off to California where – all, the hell with it. He’s the disaster that follows the disaster after you’ve let down your guard, just like every disaster movie ever.

Today, I want to address item b., above, with a nod to item c. While many are focused on the latest economic misstep by our Criminal-In-Chief, there is more important mischief afoot. The tariffs against Canada and Mexico – which the Wall Street Journal, in an unexpected show of clarity and common sense, labeled “the dumbest trade war in history” – are not a mere distraction, but they are distraction, nonetheless.

While our attention was turned, we experienced what probably amounts to the first real coup in the history our country. The fact that it was instigated by a South African immigrant with no elected position in government is beyond irony. The fact that it was accomplished entirely by control of the ethernet, without a shot fired, is testament to how times have changed.

Elon Musk has taken control of the checkbook.

He and several teenagers in his employ, with the full force and support of the White House, has taken control of the U.S. Treasury’s payment system. This, from the New York Times (to which I no longer subscribe)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to the federal payment system late on Friday, . . . handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.
The new authority follows a standoff this week with a top Treasury official who had resisted allowing Mr. Musk’s lieutenants into the department’s payment system. . .. The official, a career civil servant named David Lebryk, was put on leave and then suddenly retired on Friday after the dispute, according to people familiar with his exit.
[2]

Yes, Elon Musk is now in charge of the Treasury’s payment system. In his first hours and days in office, the alleged President tried to obstruct the Congress from continuing to fund programs already in place, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Thwarted in his efforts by injunction and restraining order, Trump was presumably more than happy to let Musk take the lead in a brazen and beyond-illegal end-around on the laws that are intended to prevent the President from interfering in matters that are under Congress’ jurisdiction. The term for this, you may recall from your 6^th grade civics class, is “separation of powers” among “three co-equal branches of government.” (As contemplated in the Constitution, see item c., above.) Now, instead of “impoundment,” which is illegal, we have “theft” – also illegal, in some circles.

If you’re a government contractor, you would rightly be very nervous right now. In the name of getting rid of alleged “fraud and waste,” e.g., anything that stands in the way of the oligarchs profiting for themselves, Elon Musk is posed to cut of funds for, well, just about everything. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and SSI are now under Musk’s control. Note the important fact that Musk is Not an Elected Politician – he and his cronies are insulated from any threat at the ballot box, the so-called political third rail that protects against attacks on “Entitlement programs.”

While he may not move immediately to reduce or eliminate these programs, note that he now has access to all that data: who you are, where you live, what you’ve done in life, everywhere you’ve ever worked and lived, your income, your tax situation, dates of birth, social security numbers, credit card and bank accounts – it is slowly dawning, isn’t it? This is perhaps the most massive hack in U.S. history, and no code needed to be broken: It was all handed to Musk by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, nominated by Trump and confirmed by his rubber-stamp Congress.

You think Musk won’t cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security? Why would you think that? He’s promised to eliminate 2 trillion dollars in “fraud and waste” – i.e., money not in his own pocket – from the Federal coffers. He can’t get there without slashing entitlements, and more to the point, he doesn’t want to.

I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret. These guys don’t give a shit about DEI and immigrants – that’s all smoke for their low-informed voters. What they really want is into the pockets of middle-class Americans and their businesses. Retirees and the middle class, with their property equity, business assets and savings accounts, are the next great gold rush for the broligarchs of Silicon Valley and their enablers.

Welcome to the “find out” portion of our program.

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^[1]

Our Editorial Policy

^[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/elon-musk-doge-federal-payments-system.html#