Not sure if you realize, but the federal budget is already public and anybody can FOIA additional details..

So why can’t they pass an audit?

FWIW, you're thinking about the DoD/the Pentagon, not the federal government as whole - and yeah, the Pentagon hasn't been able to pass an audit in ~6 years.

The defense budget is somewhat more opaque, though, for national security reasons. I don't know if they are good reasons or not, but that's the story at least.

I think you're specifically referring to the Pentagon. I'd like to see Elon attempt to force his way into that building next.

Are you kidding? Hegseth will roll out the red carpet.

“Pass” as in “conduct one”? Because that’s a huge massive expensive undertaking that has very little upside and a lot of downside.

It’s hard to pass an audit when unfettered access has been granted to a billionaire without access and cronies installing unauthorized software and strong arming everyone they encounter.

You know they had many years before to pass one…

How does this have anything to do with an erratic billionaire given free rein to illegally sabotage things?

"Why can't they pass an audit?" isn't an excuse or justification for the illegal coup that is happening right now in real time, which is what we're actually discussing, concern troll. You might as well be whining "Why can't I have a pony?" This is also not a discussion about how you can get a free pony, and how bad it makes you feel that you don't already have one. There are much more important issues to discuss, and your lack of a pony doesn't cancel them out or justify what Elon is doing in any way, which is the opposite of an audit. A mugger doesn't "audit" you wallet.

Oh, and Jan 6 wasn't a failed attempt at what this really is?

The fact of the matter is: your tiresome comment is the best argument/troll you've got, because it really IS a coup, and you're just whining that the term has been properly used for four years since Jan 6, and you're just getting tired of hearing it, because you have absolutely no valid counterarguments, as you've just self-humiliatingly demonstrated.

All your argument consists of is that we ALREADY told you so, because what's happening now vindicates our previous warnings and use of the term, and you're just tired of hearing it, but you're not tired of the actual coup, just defending and whitewashing it.

Edit: You need to look up the meaning of the word "hemisphere", troll.

January 6th was an attempted failed coup. No doubt. Failed coup.

The events of the past few weeks are not even in the same hemisphere as a coup, by definition of the word.

Who is trolling whom, exactly?

Why would you trust the man who's been heavily subsidized by the government to do an audit? A significant chunk of Elon Musk's money came from government contracts his companies had with the US government.

Exactly — this isn’t good will. The only subsidies he cares about are his own. Though all involved don’t seem bright enough to realize that destabilizing the government, its finances and the perception of the dollar will have consequences for their own wealth.

They may be all in on various cryptocurrencies at this point.

Why do you think the spending of the government isn't already publicly available? Because it is.

The only thing thats public is highly abstracted and euphamistic descriptions of where the money is going. Any FOIAs seeking more granular information would be politely asked to stop asking. After all if this information is classified and relating to national security why would it be handed out?

Not in a practically accessible way for the majority of people.

Is this not practically accessible? https://www.usaspending.gov/

The budgets for all these agencies have congressional oversight. Additionally, there's an entire agency devoted to making sure there's a minimum of grift, the GAO. For example, here's a recent report they did on NASA's large projects:

https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106767

> It would be stupendous if voters were aware of where all this to date untraceable money is going.

It would be stupendous if, for example, everyone knew when I receive an interest payment on a savings bond, and for how much? Or some schmuck gets his social security payment?