All Federal Aid Halted; Who Fails First?
Well folks, this one is big.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti, Michigan (2017), Photo: White House
Waking up on what is (I think) the 8th day of President Trump’s sweeping assault on constitutional norms and precedents, I have learned that as of 5 p.m. EST today all federal financial aid will be stopped in the United States.
Now, this is no small matter. All in all, we are talking of upwards of $3trillion (by 2024 metrics) which will be stopped dead in its already established and legislated course; a flood of money which is crucially needed in all sectors of the United States from healthcare, education, and transportation, to personal aid via umbrella organizations, small business grants, and local governments.
Make no mistake, while the memo circulating from acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Matthew Vaeth, states explicitly its aims to reduce the “waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve” by targeting the alleged advancement of “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies” happening across the country, it is also a sneaky way in which the Trump administration intends to enrich his loyal subjects for their continued support.
The next days and weeks will see organizations scrambling, frantically searching for carve-outs and subtly shifting their institutional frameworks to more closely align with what will largely turn out to be arbitrary criteria and expectations. It will be a nightmare for any who have spent time investing in their communities and building out great orgs which legitimately supply a source of good in a world which looks increasingly dark by the hour.
The firings will be quiet, but they will begin; slowly people will be forced out by pressures both internal and without, many will ask how they can continue to work in companies which will suddenly be willing to endure most humiliation for the chance at short-term survival. Like the many companies who have been quick to pull the plug on their supposed DEIA programs following the fall from grace of that particular PR campaign, it is about to become crystal clear just how much respect your boss has for you now that their feet are in the fire and federal handouts are off across the board.
Following the “comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders,” the administration will quickly find those which do align more with the ongoing slew of executive orders flying out of the Oval Office for the last week. The floodgates will open as $trillions suddenly flow back into the economy. The fastidious little beavers of the American Reich will have damned up all the waterways which once flowed to their ideological “enemies” and, one by one, they will begin to die out. Meanwhile those who were quickest to shift, who were able to clear the ad hoc hurtles as they were presented or were already predisposed to the preferences of the administration, will see an enormous windfall of wealth and opportunity.
And what does this mean for the average person? After all, you may not be explicitly involved in any organization such as these, ones who may be targeted through the “comprehensive review” process because of their involvement in “woke” issues such as housing, food , or healthcare assistance/access. How is this going to affect the small-medium enterprise, the first-time entrepreneur or family shop who, frankly, don’t have the wherewithal, time, or desire to be involved in any of these “politics.”
But at the end of the day, politics spares none of us. For the millions of US business owners who depend on selling morning coffee to the people who work in that tall building on the corner, knocking out haircuts in the neighborhood salon or barber or selling used trucks to the new construction crews, the politics has come to you and of 5pm this evening, you have now been dragged into the game. Where, after all, do you think much of this money goes when it is distributed to organizations across the country? Straight into the local economy.
Shops will stock less going forward as sanctions, tariffs (import taxes), and customer entropy begin to sink in; employers who once could reliably support ten, fifteen, or even twenty workers will now be forced to reduce to half those numbers. Those that remain, will be given extra work, pick up the slack, for the employer will layoff your peers beyond whats needed for the sake of repairing short term losses and shoring up new profits. Meanwhile, wages will remain stagnant, those of your cut-loose peers going straight into the pockets of the boss.
Things are about to get worse, folks. The checks will stop flowing and belts will get tighter as Trump continues to shift the limited social welfare we had to begin with to those who best serve and support him alone. Tens of millions of US citizens and residents have just been targeted in the most sweeping attempt yet at enforcing the woke ideology of the triggered Right.
Thanks for reading and please subscribe! All I do here is 100% reader-supported, so if you can spare a few dollars, it really helps me keep working on the stuff I love!
