Meagan

♊️

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TripleRbucky That looks like dog barf

[Andrea S. James @AndreaSJames]

Gently, softly, calmly, let’s talk about what’s happening in DC right now.

Friends, have you ever been through a ZBB process? If not, let me give you my take. So, in a corporation where expenses are out of control, you have to put the entire company through a zero based budgeting process. It is one of the most painful things that people in a company experience.

You basically have to justify every. single. expense. And you also cut a bunch, and then only add back after you’ve gone through a proper ZBB cycle.

The US government is going through a ZBB right now. And that is necessary because spending is out of control. The complexity is so vast that I expect it will take AI to decipher.

You cannot tell me that a government that accidentally wires hundreds of millions of dollars to the Taliban has its finances in order. That signals an underlying disaster. That signals bad stewardship of resources.

In fact, it is a disaster. Over the last 20 fiscal years, the US government has made ~$2.7 trillion in "improper payments," according to the US Government Accountability Office. Trillion! With a T!

That financial management disaster was not caused by @elonmusk. And there is no painless way to clean it up.

Elon is doing what any executive would do walking into a giant mess. You ZBB and then build back.

So, I don’t believe that America is going to be on the wrong side of global right and wrong, as some are saying. I don’t believe that America is going to be permanently isolationist. I do believe that unwatched finances will get out of control in any human system, and that the GAO has been trying to ring this bell for years, and that scaled complexity requires scaled financial management.

Because the US has the largest budget in the world, it will now go through the single most complex ZBB ever undertaken in the history of the world.

Some states do ZBB, but it's never been done at the federal level. President Jimmy Carter tried, but the bureaucratic systems were too complex, and President Ronald Reagan abandoned the attempt.

So, if there is one person in the world chosen to lead this Grand Canyon of projects, we would hope for the president to choose one of the best capital allocators on the planet. Better if that human is also one who can leverage AI and technical talent to manage the massive complexity.

Anyone who has lived through a ZBB at the corporate level will tell you that it’s hell and everyone hates it. This is why I feel really bad for federal workers -- I have a lot of empathy for civil servants and people doing a great job every day for the United States. No doubt, the uncertainty is trying and stressful for many. It's an unfortunate situation.

So, that's my take. I don't want to speak beyond what I know and can observe from the other side of the country. I've worked both in the private sector and the public sector -- the cultures are different. And an Elon-Musk-style culture is going to be the most hard core of them all. No doubt, it's jarring. It's gonna be a lot.

But what I also know is that every time I have ever doubted Elon, I ended up being the one who was wrong.

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TripleRbucky This is click bait too

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@chamath Came here to see your take on it. It feels harder to use now!

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TripleRbucky I just hope both teams had fun!

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

This is not the future we want

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TKopelman @MikeSyl36625988 Sounds like three capable parties involved here and all should do their part - but ultimately, taxpayer needs to take responsibility for the transactions they are executing (and let’s be honest, many times they don’t even understand what they are doing)

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

Do not pass go. Go directly to jail.

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@howard_knudsen So this is interesting, do you plan to be compliance-heavy and then just work less/not at all the rest of the year? Seems like some firms are trying to do the opposite (monthly recurring revenue). Did you or will you work crazy hours during tax season?

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TKopelman This is so hard for people to understand for some reason. As a tax preparer, I have to explain this a couple times a year and it drives me crazy. This is why I recommend a good financial advisor and not DIY if you want to do advanced strategies

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@taxpreptech As a tax accountant, I spend maybe 15 minutes coming up with an extension amount to pay and add on 25% for first quarter for my own return. I do not understand the general public’s displeasure with extended returns. Many mistakes are made in the first two weeks of April.

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@SmithMatthewC @Mels_Politics Yes! Our firm got a 1099-k from Ignition. And our clients issued us 1099-NEC because they paid via ach/checking. But we know this year 😂

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TheTaxAdviser So the government is trying to shut down related programs due to rampant fraud (ERC) and this is getting published today? Why? How does a self-employed person prove they couldn’t work? What self-employed person takes time off when they are sick anyway?

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@Tax__Tweets @djwindle For real 😂

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@joe_avalon @patrickdichter What’s your policy on mistakes?

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TripleRbucky @THEbadgermaniac A chance to lose in the first round?

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@TGorcz The IRS works in mysterious ways!

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@0xgaut That drink should be illegal

[Meagan @hotfuss]

@WTFoote Proconnect quoted you a contract? I’ll have to look into it more now. We’ve never been under contract, but did have priority pricing.