Musk and Ramaswamy lay out a horrifying plan for American austerity

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Wall Street Journal op-ed about slashing government programs borrows from an Argentinian plan that caused a massive spike in poverty...

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/musk-ramaswamy-austerity-doge-rcna181228

Musk says Americans will have to face 'hardship' if Trump wins

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, said that if Donald Trump wins and gives him a role in government, Americans will suffer "hardship" as a result of efforts to address the national debt. He made the comments Friday in a virtual town hall on his website, X. When asked about "tackling the nation's debt," he mentioned changing the tax code, and then went on to say there would be some financial difficulty imposed on some Americans. "Most importantly, we have to reduce spending to live within our means," he said, adding that these efforts will "involve some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity."… 

 …Later on, Musk said that he would "balance the budget immediately," adding: "Obviously, a lot of people who are taking advantage of government are going to be upset about that. I'll probably need a lot of security, but it's got to be done. And if it's not done, we'll just go bankrupt."

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/elon-musk-trump-hardship-austerity-taxes-rcna17773

GOP confronts another failed tax experiment in Oklahoma - ABC News

Oklahoma Republicans confront budget crisis that began after they took control ...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/gop-confronts-failed-tax-experiment-oklahoma-53798654

Trump's Budget Cuts Are Forcing Teachers and Nurses to Work as Federal Prison Guards -- Mother Jones

Twice in one week, Ray Coleman, a teacher at the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution, reluctantly had to drop his lesson plans and go to work as a guard. "You show up in the morning and they say, 'Hey, by the way, here's your keys and radio—you're going to work the compound today," he says. .....
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2018/02/trumps-budget-cuts-are-forcing-teachers-and-nurses-to-work-as-federal-prison-guards/

Republicans Are Trying Out a Shiny New Excuse For the Great Kansas Failure -- Mother Jones

Last week a reader emailed me about a new meme he had just come across: Heard a random Republican talking head on NPR recently, and when the interviewer questioned him on the "Kansas experiment," his automatic response was a) Kansas "massively" increased spending when they cut taxes, so that's why they have problems; and b)...
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/02/republicans-are-trying-out-a-shiny-new-excuse-for-the-great-kansas-failure/

Trump's proposed food assistance cuts will hit military families

The Trump administration's proposed budget would slash about $213 billion from food assistance over the next 10 years. That's on top of the creepy, Orwellian idea they came up with to substitute food boxes for the bulk of food assistance, with the government determining what poor people eat, how much of it they could eat, and when they could eat. That insane idea—which Annie Lowrey has 60 important questions about in a tweet thread—is just a reflection of how miserably mean and punitive Republicans have become.....
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/2/13/1741042/-Trump-s-proposed-food-assistance-cuts-will-hit-military-families

Here is where most of Trump's education cuts come from -- ThinkProgress.org

The largest portion of President Donald Trump's cuts to the Education Department in his 2019 budget proposal is buried within 160 pages and mentioned in a single sentence among a slew of other programs. ....
https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-education-cuts-budget-eaf6d820c057/

Trump wants to slash food stamps and replace them with a ‘Blue Apron-type program’ - The Washington Post

The Trump administration wants to slash food aid to low-income families and make up the difference with a box of canned goods — a change that Office of Management and budget director Mick Mulvaney described in a Monday briefing as a “Blue Apron-type program.”....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/12/trump-wants-to-slash-food-stamps-and-replace-them-with-a-blue-apron-type-program/

The Era of Fiscal Austerity Is Over. Here’s What Big Deficits Mean for the Economy. - The New York Times

It depends on whether you look at the short, medium or long term.....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/upshot/the-era-of-fiscal-austerity-is-over-heres-what-big-deficits-mean-for-the-economy.html

Trump brings granny-starving back to federal budgets

The Trump administration has released its budget for fiscal year 2019, and it's turning out to be quite the gift for Democrats in 2018. A president's budget is rarely the actual blueprint for the budgets that result. It's the president's wish-list, how he would allocate resources if it were only up to him. With Trump, it's utterly predictable. Lots of money for big shiny things that go "boom," lots of pain and humiliation for actual people. That includes, rather stupidly, going after Medicare.....
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/2/12/1740785/-Trump-brings-granny-starving-back-to-federal-budgets

Trump to demand tough budget cuts for domestic programs -- POLITICO

The Trump administration is still urging severe austerity for some arms of the federal government. ....
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/11/trump-budget-cuts-domestic-programs-403636?cid=apn

What happened when North Carolina cut taxes like the GOP plans to for the country -- The Washington Post

Many residents are still waiting for the benefits promised when Republicans slashed rates in 2013. ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/what-happened-when-north-carolina-cut-taxes-like-the-gop-plans-to-for-the-country/2017/12/03/1b8ead74-d859-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html

Trump liberates Kansas from the governor who wrecked its economy -- ThinkProgress.org

Kansas won't have Sam Brownback to kick around anymore. The second-term Republican governor who wrecked his state's economy and ruined the education system to give rich Kansans a tax break will quit his job to accept a new posting as Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom. ...
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-saves-sam-brownback-e8a4c2218bdb