DOGE and DICE

I First Wrote About Elon Musk in Mid-2006

At the time, he was merely a billionaire with his own space program. Now look! He's still a billionaire with his own space program, he's being characterized as "co-president," and is having far too much fun. Oh yes, add "richest man in the world" to the list.

I've written about his other exploits, too. Holes in the ground around the Las Vegas Convention Center. Holes in the atmosphere, hopefully on the way to Mars. And, of course, the cars, Powerwalls and solar roofs.

Now that he's in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, one hopes he can expand his seemingly infinite bandwidth to run that along with his business exploits. But what about DICE?

DICE is Complementary to DOGE

I don't believe I'm being presumptuous here. I've received no criticism of USDUC, my United States Department of Unintended Consequences, whose mission is far less benign and valuable than that of DICE. DICE, the Department of Individual Citizen Efficiency, can do as much for the American People as can DOGE!

Think of all the wonderful opportunities one has to interact with our government! We register our vehicles. We pay our taxes. We "renew" our various licenses, we apply for benefits and emoluments. How much of this commotion is necessary on an annual basis, or even necessary at all? Just one example where DOGE and DICE can cooperate to save billions of dollars:

Make Tax Day Biennial

We "do our taxes" every year. People with predictable income such as wages and other income typically reported on the 1099-INT form have little to "do." Their taxes are withheld at the source, and at the end of the year they owe or are owed a small percentage of the amount they have paid. Does this really have to be reconciled with the IRS every year? Why not every two? Wouldn't that cut the processing workload of IRS in almost half and that of the tax payer in half? All those hours wasted put to better use!

Have you seen the picture of trucks lined up at the border, sometimes for as much as a day, just to clear customs? How much of that is necessary? Maybe half of them could be given a "get out of customs free" pass at random. Maybe more than half! Which would cut the waiting time of the other half immensely.

(Arizona has the right idea with auto registration. You can "renew" for anywhere from one to five years!)

There are so many activities that the government commits that are either unnecessary or too frequent that Mr. Musk and whomever is appointed to run DICE have a target-rich environment with which to work. Perhaps most importantly, at least from the DOGE perspective is to ask a simple question: Is this bureau, activity, directorate, agency, or office something that needs to be done by the government or even done at all?

And More...

Here I must offer a personal example. Someone near and dear to me was, in a past life and only briefly, an insurance agent. When an insurance agent makes a sale, they receive a commission which can continue indefinitely if the same customer continues renewing that policy. As long as the agent retains her* "license" the freemoney saga continues. But what if she retires? Yes! It still continues, as long as the payment to the state insurance commission for licensure is paid on time. OK, a bit of a rake-off. But wait! One can't just renew a license: it requires "continuing education credits," not just a boondoggle for the continuing-education provider, but a total waste of time for the licensee, who has long ago retired and has better things to do that listen to insurance babble all day.

So many oxen to be gored!

The Politics of Electric Vehicles

I'm tempted to say there are none, but of course we all know better. If you're an environmentalist you might argue that everybody should be forced to buy one instead of a gasoline-engine vehicle. If you're politician of recent stripe, you might say otherwise because the previous administration is ruining the auto industry with their regulations and demands. The odd thing is there are good arguments for electric vehicles and good arguments against. So many arguments, in fact, that I decline to belabor any of them. Instead, here's Richard's seriously oversimplified Rule of EVs:

If you live in a sunny area and have solar power, consider getting an EV. I love my Tesla for any number of reasons, but that's a biggie. If you live in an apartment in a cold state and can't charge at home, consider not getting an EV.

Not a single political issue mentioned in my rule. You can love or hate Elon Musk. That shouldn't affect your decision!

Renewal Gone Right!

If you're old enough to remember printed magazines and were a professional in any of many fields, you qualified to receive trade journals for free. These were "controlled circulation" magazines, typically of low to middling value, but did I mention "free"? Because they were supported by advertisers who wanted to know what they were getting for their money,*** you had to fill out lengthy forms about how you spent your company's money—potentially on their advertisers' products—to qualify.

Now, these journals are still free, They keep the forests happy because they're largely digital, and the lengthy renewal forms have been replaced by a single check box: "Do you want to keep receiving this magazine." ___YES___NO. Even I have time to fill out the renewal forms!

A Surprising Observation

There are certain household activities I am mercifully permitted to ignore. I'm a jeans and T-shirt guy, anti-surprise of the decade given my TotD annex. One of those activities is the effectuation of the cleaning of garments by external contractors. I accidentally saw a bill from "the cleaners" and realized that for years we have been renting some garments instead of simply buying them. I'd be curious to discover the lifetime cost of a shirt with buttons, but I not only don't want to do the research, I'm scared.

Nada One

A song by the band Heart, mentioned in passing decades ago, popped into my alleged mind recently. It's one of my favorite Heart songs not just for the music but for the implication of the lyrics, which I "got" or at least thought I got almost instantly upon first discovery in 1978. Post-poppage, I was curious to see if others had the same interpretation and was surprised to find myself alone. I looked up the "song meaning" of Nada One and read a few interpretations on the internet. They were mostly pretty sappy—the usual love and loss sort of thing—and not even close to what I thought it was about. Sue Ennis herself has been publicly silent on the subject as far as I know, although her own web site requires a sign in!

Who's right? Do you know and love the song Nada One? My interpretation hinges on the meaning of the title. What's yours? (No, I don't expect a lot of email on this subject.)