Diane Ravitch's blog

By dianeravitch

February 1, 2025 //

Categories Education Reform, Musk, Elon, Privatization

40 Comments Post your own

Henry St. Maurice says:

February 1, 2025 at 12:57 pm

This news that Musk et al. are changing the locks at Treasury Department has led me to surmise that he and Trump are making gigantic transfers to their secret accounts while using DEI as a smoke screen for robbing the US Treasury. The facts that they have put their own people in charge of all the government offices, including the Inspectors General, Secret Service, DOJ, Defense, and FBI, along with Trump’s having already gotten a blanket immunity from SCOTUS, makes the whole thing look better planned than it probably is.

We need to whistleblowers as we did in 1973 when we had attentive Frank Willis and implacable Judge John Sirica.

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Catherine King says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:02 pm

What do you mean “whistleblowers.” How about the Police with their guns and handcuffs? Can’t the staff just call whomever they would call if they caught an intruder with a smaller bank account? CBK

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- MD says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 8:17 pm
  
  unfortunately, the appointed head of treasury gave them the keys willingly
  
  it would take a lawsuit against treasury for someone damaged by the access to get them to stop – but no one even knows who is implicated or who should really be sued and who has standing to sue to get it to stop
  
  I guess we will find out from some lawyers soon – but everything is moving faster than the system can react to shut it all down
  
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Steve Ruis says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:14 pm

Musk has no official position in the government, other than working for a department that does not exist, and so is a private citizen. He should be arrested.

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- Catherine King says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 1:20 pm
  
  Musk is apparently working under Trump’s coverall imprimatur/approval. Even in other situations, obviously he has no regard or respect, but only contempt, for the laws of any country where his infantile desires and actions are already illegal and certainly unwanted. CBK
  
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- bethree5 says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 2:59 pm
  
  DOGE has been converted to a govt agency via an EO renaming the US Digital Service “DOGE,” and directing it be established within the Executive Office of the President. USDS was created a decade ago to modernize the govt’s approach to technology. It is said to have a range of legal problems, and a number of lawsuits have been lodged.
  
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- MD says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 8:19 pm
  
  they did rename an official executive department for DOGE so it does have some legal standing unfortunately
  
  its established mission is modernizing government technology
  
  they are misappropriating that mission for doing whatever they want since all departments have tech
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 2, 2025 at 10:43 am
    
    Trump cannot unilaterally create a Department. Such an action require Congressional approval.
    
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ladyfair says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:17 pm

Who you gonna call? A team of Musk Busters !

I would like to thank all those people who did not vote for this.

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- Catherine King says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 1:21 pm
  
  Yes: “Muskbusters”: AKA The GOP Congresspeople. CBK
  
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And, in Missouri says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:18 pm

Republicans have been played. Congress is scared to speak. Democrats (well, finish that one…) Media can only cover so much. This is worse than we could imagine. Step back and see the whole board.

What do all the events of the last two weeks have in common (this is a systems issue).
- Vengeance motivation
- Accessing protected and private information. Speculation vs. fact.
- Broken norms and broken highly sensitive (top secret) protocols and information
- Control information access to new leaders, employees, and dissidents – or fire them.
- ONE PERSON empowered to make a decision, unchecked, with staggering implications.
- Control the media
- Labeling and scapegoating,
- Appointees are puppets. The American people are pawns.
Worst fears and those that seemed to conspiracy-theory like ARE coming to light with NO CHECKS and BALANCE.
- Musk says and does what he wants because no one elected him, he has no interest in a participatory democracy, he has no affiliations or partners. He’s a lone wolf. So hacking and using private information is fair game for him – means justifies his ends. If it breaks a norm or law, he could care less.
- Trump and January 6. Put the pieces together. He is ERASING THE EVENT. Denying it for 4 years. Brainwashing and gaslighting. Buying loyalists to support his statements. Erasing the crimes of 1,600 people. Harassing and potential firing of 1,000s of civilian hires who did their jobs as directed. Controlling the media and soon, the TEXTBOOKS. HE WANTS January 6 ELIMINATED FROM OUR MEMORY
- Unqualified, incompetent, outrageous cabinet appointments 50-50 votes but a 1 vote margin is a mandate to them. Their job description (one even said so) “What the President wants.”
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quikwrit says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:22 pm

Musk has exercised what historians will label “The Computer Coup”, emasculating Trump’s White House staff.

He who controls the government’s computers controls the government.

And Musk now controls the government’s computers.

What price in terms of power will Musk extract from Trump and his minions in order for allowing them at least limited access to the computers? Musk will want far, far more than merely an office in the West Wing that Trump’s staff dismissively denied him. Far more.

Behind the scenes, it is now “President Musk”.

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powerful8e0c1364a2 says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:31 pm

So how can we stop Musk? He was not elected to anything!!!

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ECE Professional says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:33 pm

Where is Congress? People might need to go to court ASAP to stop this, just like they did to stop the funding freeze! Who initiated that in court?

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ECE Professional says:

February 1, 2025 at 1:47 pm

Where is the source of this post from ALT National Park Service? The font is so huge I have great difficulty reading it and I don’t see a link nor anything about this when I look for it with a search engine.

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- FLERP! says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 2:25 pm
  
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/31/elon-musk-treasury-department-payment-systems/
  
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 2:29 pm
    
    Thanks, FLERP! I wish I could read the entire article. I don’t subscribe to WaPo, but it’s a start.
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 2:38 pm
    
    That helped me find stuff about this free at other sites, such as reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 2:47 pm
    
    Plus this: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/senior-us-treasury-official-david-lebryk-leave-agency-soon-wapo-reports-2025-01-31/
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 2:57 pm
    
    Even better, I found this at The New Republic: “Trump and Elon Musk Just Pulled Off Another Purge—and It’s a Scary One” (Yep, scary as all hell!)
    
    https://newrepublic.com/article/191014/trump-elon-musk-treasury-purge
    
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- Duane E Swacker says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 8:38 pm
  
  Go to https://www.reuters.com/ to find out what is happening
  
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 8:49 pm
    
    I just found something in Newsweek indicating a Democrat IS taking action, Rep. Ron Wyden of OR. See: “Lawmaker Demands Answers To Reports Musk Seeking Treasury Payment Access
    
    https://www.newsweek.com/lawmaker-demands-answers-reports-musk-seeking-treasury-payment-access-2024751
    
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speduktr says:

February 1, 2025 at 2:39 pm

Okay, Congess, step up and act like you are part of the government. Time for all lackeys to support the Constitution or resign. Musk has absolutely no legitimate authority to access these files. I can’t sputter enough.

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- Catherine King says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 3:04 pm
  
  speduktr: Crickets. CBK
  
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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

February 1, 2025 at 4:54 pm

This morning when I first heard about this in an e-mail, I fact checked it. None of the major US news media sites were reporting on it. The first hit I got was from Reuters, the huge European news agency.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-3

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- ECE Professional says:
  
  February 1, 2025 at 6:35 pm
  
  Yes, and I want to underscore this from that article:
  
  “MUSK INFLUENCE
  
  A team including current and former employees of Musk assumed command of OPM on Jan. 20, the day Trump took office. They have moved sofa beds onto the fifth floor of the agency’s headquarters, which contains the director’s office and can only be accessed with a security badge or a security escort, one of the OPM employees said.
  
  The sofa beds have been installed so the team can work around the clock, the employee said.
  
  Musk, a major donor to a famously demanding boss, installed beds at X for employees to enable them to work longer when in 2022 he took over the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.”
  
  So he’s acting like our government is another company that he owns. Why would he and his staff be given security badges and/or security escorts? Do they all have security clearances? Probably not, because President Musk bought our country.
  
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  - Birdchum says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 7:20 pm
    
    as a retired federal government employees I would like to know who vetted the people insyalled by Musk.
    
    We at least deserve to know who they are, their qualifications and why Trump has ceded control to a man who has the emotional maturity of a 14 year old
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 7:50 pm
    
    Birdchum,
    
    Trump ceded control to a man with the emotional maturity of a 14 year old because Trump has the emotional maturity of a 4 year old.
    
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  - Birdchum says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 7:56 pm
    
    I agree.
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 7:34 pm
    
    The malignant narcissist has the emotional maturity of a self-centered 2 year old with no impulse control, so he sees Musk as his senior. Add to that Musk’s hundreds of billion’s of dollars, plus his fealty and he’s like a god to him, i.e., Musk & his workers are shoe ins, no vetting required, I surmise.
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 7:40 pm
    
    Of course, that doesn’t make it legal, so CONGRESS or whomever filed the lawsuit to stop the funding freeze really needs to step up and take this to court immediately.
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 1, 2025 at 8:07 pm
    
    I beg to differ. Child Development is one of my areas of expertise, based on both my formal training and my professional experiences with young children. (And I have taught many college courses in Child Development.) The primary reason why so many people have referred to the malignant narcissist as a “toddler” is because he behaves so much like a 2 year old. (4 year olds are not toddlers.)
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 2, 2025 at 10:47 am
    
    ECE,
    
    I stand corrected. Trump has the emotional maturity of a 2-year-old. He screams until he gets what he wants. He throws things. Only one person in his world counts: himself.
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 2, 2025 at 2:51 am
    
    I think it was the Brits who were the first to recognize and publicly protest the malignant narcissist’s extreme immaturity during his visits there, in protests against him in London, outside Parliament, with the Giant Trump Baby Balloon/Blimp. He’s depicted as an angry, baby or toddler, (who are typically between the ages of 1 and 3 years old) who is prone to having temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his way and who’s wearing a diaper –so he’s not potty trained (and definitely not 4 yet). See:
    
    https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180713103709-12-trump-baby-0713.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill
    
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  - ECE Professional says:
    
    February 2, 2025 at 3:12 pm
    
    I appreciate your correction, Diane! Those behaviors are actually why the age is often referred to as “The Terrible Twos.”
    
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Jon Awbrey says:

February 1, 2025 at 5:35 pm

WIRED • Elon Musk’s Friends Have Infiltrated Another Government Agency
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-lackeys-general-services-administration/

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Duane E Swacker says:

February 1, 2025 at 8:17 pm

To see just how bad it is go to https://www.reuters.com/ Just who elected Musk?

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ECE Professional says:

February 1, 2025 at 10:35 pm

Musk has also been employing recent high school grads in those jobs who not only lack relevant experience but are also not even old enough to drink alcohol. See: “Elon Puts Kid Who Just Graduated From High School in Charge of Disemboweling the US Government”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/elon-puts-kid-who-just-graduated-from-high-school-in-charge-of-disemboweling-the-us-government/ar-AA1y507j

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democracy says:

February 2, 2025 at 9:03 am

Let me see if I get this right.

Some people were concerned about the price of eggs and of a gallon of gas. Inflation and unemployment came steadily down during Biden’s tenure and, as CNN put it, Biden left the country with

“a strong economy, historic gains in the job market, a foundation for future manufacturing growth, and having brought down decades-high inflation without triggering a recession…Those feats, economists say, are even more impressive considering the nation was deep in the throes of a deadly, economy-scarring pandemic when Biden took office.”

Bur some people were still unhappy and refused to believe it…the overwhelming majority of those people were Republicans and Trump supporters.

They, instead, chose to believe a pathological liar — a person who cannot speak more than two sentences WITHOUT lying — and his propaganda network of Fox and NewsMax and Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, and that ilk, over the documented hard facts.

Trump and Republicans continuously bashed Kamala Harris and Democrats over immigration (“open borders”) and criminal violence, especially violence by illegal immigrants, even though Republicans have at every opportunity blocked immigration reform, overall crime and violent crime are down, immigrants – legal or illegal – are FAR less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans, AND Trump INCITED a violent INSURRECTION against the U.S. government to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.

And Joe Rogan endorsed Trump.

Elon Musk, who has proved himself a neo-Nazi, bought and ruined Twitter, turning it into a right-wing cesspool, spent hundreds of millions of dollars of his money to elect Trump, a seditious traitor, has now been given the reins to U.SL government financial databases. As the NY Times reported,

“The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is not a government department…DOGE teams have begun demanding access to data and systems at federal agencies…the Treasury Department carries out payments submitted by agencies across the government…the system has historically been closely held because it includes sensitive personal information about the millions of Americans who receive Social Security checks, tax refunds and other payments from the federal government.”

The guy with access to government computers and the financial and personal data of millions and millions of American citizens is a dude who cheats at video games, and got caught at it. As one critic noted. ” He thinks he’s such a good gamer that he doesn’t need to put in the thousands of hours.”

There was a plane-helicopter crash in DC, shortly after Trump took office. Trump, in a racist rant, blamed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, and moved to ban them completely from federal agencies. After Trump ranted, his Department of Defense appointee, Pete Hegseth, spoke. Hegseth, a documented drunk and serial adulterer, apparent white supremacist and “Christian” nationalist, and Fox tv talking head said this— with a straight face:

“The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether it’s in our air-traffic control or whether it’s in our generals or whether it’s throughout government.’”

Trump, who has lied repeatedly about immigrants and violent crime, pardoned the January 6 seditious traitors, many of whom have criminal records. Shortly after the pardons, one of those pardoned died in a shootout with police, and another “drove on Interstate 44 several miles going the wrong way” – drunk – “before crashing into another car belonging to a couple [who had] just left dinner celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.” The husband has serious injuries, the wife died, and there are two kids.

Meanwhile, as The Guardian reported:

“The Trump administration has fired a group of Justice Department prosecutors involved in the 6 January criminal cases and demanded the names of FBI agents involved in those same investigations so they can possibly be ousted…The acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, a Trump appointee, ordered the firings…Bove also asked for the names, titles and offices of all FBI employees who worked on investigations into the 6 January 2021 US Capitol riot – a list the bureau’s acting director said could number in the thousands.”

House Republicans announced a “budget” bill. It would “cut $315 billion in spending over 10 years, but will add another $325 billion in spending on Trump’s national security and immigration crackdown.”

Then, Republicans plan to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts and ADD more, which will cost $5.5 TRILLION over ten years, and they WON’T COUNT that enormous debt in their budget math. Instead, they will, like they always do, concoct a fantastical lie that the cuts will spur growth and pay for themselves. They never do.

Meanwhile, they will impose work requirements on those who get Medicaid. When Arkansas did that, nearly 20,000 people lost health insurance. They also plan to cut food stamps.

Trump announced high tariffs against our top trade partners, starting early Tuesday morning. The Guardian, citing maarket analysts and fuel traders reports that

“US consumers will see higher prices at the gas pump from Donald Trump’s decision on Saturday to apply tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil,…The US imports 4m barrels per day of Canadian oil, 70% of which is processed by refiners in the midwest. It also imports more than 450,000 barrels per day of Mexican oil, mainly for refiners concentrated along the US Gulf coast…Tariffs on those mean higher costs for making finished fuels like gasoline, much of which is likely to be passed along to US consumers.”

The Associated Press puit like this:

“Tariffs are a tax on imports…Tariffs can be lower for countries with which the United States has trade agreements…most goods can move among the United States, Mexico and Canada tariff-free because of Trump’s US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement…Mainstream economists are generally skeptical of tariffs, considering them a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money and promote prosperity…in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the government collected around $80 billion in tariffs and fees. That’s a trifle next to the $2.5 trillion that comes from individual income taxes and the $1.7 trillion from Social Security and Medicare taxes…Still, Trump wants to enact a budget policy that resembles what was in place in the 19th century.”

https://apnews.com/article/economy-import-tariff-fce31b5c5c9f058ff09353c6846b1cf9

Income taxes, Medicare, Social Security…all those records and data are now at that hands of Cheater Boy.

David Frum has a nice piece at The Atlantic on how the Trump tariffs will – to use a Canadian term, HOSE America. It ends like this:

“Americans may not remember their past actions, but others do…Trump is single-handedly reneging on 80 years of American work to persuade others to trust and rely on the United States. He is remodeling the international image of the U.S. after himself: impulsive, self-seeking, short-sighted, and untrustworthy…Over the past five centuries, the Euro-Atlantic world has seen the rise of one great power after another: Habsburg Spain, Bourbon and Napoleonic France, Victorian Britain, Imperial and then Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union. Each of those powers was ultimately brought down because it frightened other powers into uniting against it…’America First’ means ‘America Alone.’ This week’s trade wars are steps on the way to future difficulties—and, unless a great infusion of better judgment or better luck suddenly occurs, future disasters.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/price-america-trump-tariffs/681546/

Making America “Great.”

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Jon Awbrey says:

February 2, 2025 at 5:23 pm

BUT HER EMAILS !!!

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