DOGE cuts to the NOAA risks lives

[FreeinChrist]

I saw that the temp head of FEMA was unaware that there was a hurricane season. ??? FEMA has been hit by DOGE.


Yesterday, a weatherman in South Florida, with a long career at forecasting reported this:

There is concern in Texas as well .

Trump supporters, is this what you voted for? Does the public safety mean much to you?


BTW, cutting funding to NOAA was part of Project 2025. I remember the denials that it was a thing for Trump.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

I am not sure if you are aware, the country has over 36 trillion in debt. Most of which comes from entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. We whether we like it or not, we are at a crossroads. To get this debt under control, EVERYTHING needs to have cuts! Not just to NOAA, but to entitlements, the military, foreign aid, and the list goes on. For the record, I hope Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" fails to pass because it adds to the deficit. The bill should have been nothing but cuts with no extra spending. This isn't about killing science, it is about ensuring that there will still be a United States in the next couple decades.

 

[d taylor]

-

​

Is that a weather man or a political lobbyist.

 

[probinson]

-

​

Is that a weather man or a political lobbyist.

Imagine tuning in to hear the 5-day forecast and instead having to listen to this guy's politicized rant.

 

[FreeinChrist]

I am not sure if you are aware, the country has over 36 trillion in debt. Most of which comes from entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. We whether we like it or not, we are at a crossroads. To get this debt under control, EVERYTHING needs to have cuts! Not just to NOAA, but to entitlements, the military, foreign aid, and the list goes on. For the record, I hope Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" fails to pass because it adds to the deficit. The bill should have been nothing but cuts with no extra spending. This isn't about killing science, it is about ensuring that there will still be a United States in the next couple decades.

So you don't care if Florida or Texas residents get accurate information re hurricanes?
Got it.

Perhaps Trump shouldn't have promoted big tax breaks back in 2017 that added a $1 trillion plus to the deficit, and should not promote a 'big not-so-beautiful bill' that would also increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion.

Perhaps instead of tax cuts for billionaires, efforts should be made to cover for the basic safety of the residents of the US.

How many red states are affected by hurricanes? I know of Florida, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina? Guess their safety doesn't matter as much as tax breaks for billionaires.

 

[wing2000]

Imagine tuning in to hear the 5-day forecast and instead having to listen to this guy's politicized rant.

Imagine getting a hurricane path wrong because of a lack of data.

Trump proposes increases in Defense spending while cutting the very people who help warn Americans of weather threats.

 

[Pommer]

-

​

Is that a weather man or a political lobbyist.

Imagine being a weatherman being forced to admit that you’re not going to be able to do your job effectively because rich people apparently need to be taxed less.

 

[jacks]

I saw that the temp head of FEMA was unaware that there was a hurricane season.

Now that isn't a reason to cut funding I don't know what is.

 

[wing2000]

Now that isn't a reason to cut funding I don't know what is.

No worries, he was just joking.

Reuters reported that Richardson said at a briefing that he was not aware the United States has a hurricane season, confusing staffers. The report, which said it was unclear whether Richardson was serious or joking, cited four unnamed sources familiar with the situation.

DHS says FEMA head was joking when he said he wasn't aware of hurricane season

President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly floated the idea of terminating the emergency disaster agency.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Oompa Loompa]

So you don't care if Florida or Texas residents get accurate information re hurricanes?
Got it.

Perhaps Trump shouldn't have promoted big tax breaks back in 2017 that added a $1 trillion plus to the deficit, and should not promote a 'big not-so-beautiful bill' that would also increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion.

Perhaps instead of tax cuts for billionaires, efforts should be made to cover for the basic safety of the residents of the US.

How many red states are affected by hurricanes? I know of Florida, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina? Guess their safety doesn't matter as much as tax breaks for billionaires.

No. I am saying that there will be no more Florida or Texas left to give weather information if the national debt isn't resolved.

 

[Hans Blaster]

If you have weathermen doing on-air editorials against you, you done wrong Mssrs. Musk and Trump.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Imagine getting a hurricane path wrong because of a lack of data.

Trump proposes increases in Defense spending while cutting the very people who help warn Americans of weather threats.

Birthday Parades are exempt, and besides, a nuke or sharpie can fix our hurricane problem.

 

[iluvatar5150]

I am not sure if you are aware, the country has over 36 trillion in debt. Most of which comes from entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. We whether we like it or not, we are at a crossroads. To get this debt under control, EVERYTHING needs to have cuts! Not just to NOAA, but to entitlements, the military, foreign aid, and the list goes on. For the record, I hope Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" fails to pass because it adds to the deficit. The bill should have been nothing but cuts with no extra spending. This isn't about killing science, it is about ensuring that there will still be a United States in the next couple decades.

You're assuming these services that are being cut don't provide a net benefit to the country.

I don't know how the economic impact of NOAA shakes out, but detailed weather information and forecasting like that done by NOAA strikes me as the sort of thing that could very plausibly pay for itself in the aggregate. NOAA slashed roughly 600 jobs earlier this year, or about 5% of their ~12,000 people. That's not necessarily a fatal blow, but the reporting I've seen says the cuts were not targeted at specific, redundant or otherwise unneeded roles, but rather to "probationary" employees who had simply been in their positions (not necessarily the organization) less than ~2 years. With cuts that blunt, it's certainly possible that they cut some folks/roles who were very important. And for what?

Detailed weather forecasting not only helps people better plan for, and mitigate the damages from, weather events that do hit them, but also helps people avoid losses that come from preparing for events that don't come (e.g. shutting down a business to avoid a storm that winds up tracking a different direction).

If we assume that each of those employees cost $200k/yr after salary, benefits, pension, etc (which is probably a high estimate, but not crazy high), then that would shake out to roughly $120 million/year in savings. However, the average hurricane inflicts $23 billion in damage. Combined storm damage in the US is in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year. IOW, storms cost us 1000x as much as what we saved by firing those people. That 5% of the workforce that was let go would be able to completely pay for themselves by mitigating storm damage by just 0.1%. That's it. A tenth of a percent. Did those workers provide that much benefit? I don't know, but without some more thoughtful analysis that Trump/DOGE most certainly did not do, it's not hard to believe they could have.

 

[d taylor]

Imagine being a weatherman being forced to admit that you’re not going to be able to do your job effectively because rich people apparently need to be taxed less.

-​

I do believe this went beyond just informing his audience that he will not have as much at his disposal as has been in the past. Kind of like a little cry baby and who is to say the weather service is not over staffed to began with. So, many people in the work force are asked to do more with less.

 

[Hans Blaster]

-​

I do believe this went beyond just informing his audience that he will not have as much at his disposal as has been in the past.

Only those things that will give his audience the better idea when and where a hurricane is going to hit. Nothing important, right?

Kind of like a little cry baby and who is to say the weather service is not over staffed to began with.

Actual experts on what it takes to produce the forecasts, run the models, collect the data. Data collection is down because some important parts (weather balloons) takes actual time from actual people to collect.

So, many people in the work force are asked to do more with less.

You have no way to gauge this.

 

[probinson]

Imagine getting a hurricane path wrong because of a lack of data.

Trump proposes increases in Defense spending while cutting the very people who help warn Americans of weather threats.

I don't have enough data to feign outrage at this point. In the video, the claim is made that they are "understaffed" by "20-40%". Notwithstanding the fact that there's an awfully big range between 20% and 40%, what does "understaffed" mean?

Then he says that there are 17% fewer weather ballon launches this year. But what I don't know is, can we gather sufficient data with 17% fewer weather balloons?

I don't know the answer to either of those questions. Without context for those claims, I have no idea how dire the situation is. But when reporting is framed in an attempt to evoke outrage, I am skeptical from the get-go.

 

[FAITH-IN-HIM]

I am not sure if you are aware, the country has over 36 trillion in debt. Most of which comes from entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. We whether we like it or not, we are at a crossroads. To get this debt under control, EVERYTHING needs to have cuts! Not just to NOAA, but to entitlements, the military, foreign aid, and the list goes on. For the record, I hope Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" fails to pass because it adds to the deficit. The bill should have been nothing but cuts with no extra spending. This isn't about killing science, it is about ensuring that there will still be a United States in the next couple decades.

Before we fearmonger that sky is falling , sky is falling., let's review the facts. The United States does indeed have a high level of debt, and efforts should be made to reduce this debt. No country can sustain such a high level of debt indefinitely. However, it is important to note that this is not the first time the U.S. has had a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120%. Following World War II, the U.S. experienced similar levels of debt and since then has accumulated over $30 trillion in GDP. Additionally, purchasing power parity (PPP) has increased from $12,000 to $66,000, and total family wealth has risen to more than $200 trillion.

In 1945, the United States did not adopt the philosophy of reducing spending as many contemporary conservatives believe is the only solution. Instead, we invested in manufacturing, opened our markets to others, embraced free trade and capitalism, invested in education and science, inversed in infostructure, built lasting alliances, relaxed immigration laws, and granted asylum and citizenship to undocumented immigrants. These actions helped reduce debt and accumulated significant wealth, not only in US history but in the history of civilization. Today, we are doing the opposite: moving away from international alliances, imposing tariffs, withdrawing from free trade and globalization, undermining educational institutions, deporting immigrants, restricting legal immigration, and cutting budgets for science, technology, and education. We aim to reduce our debt yet are reversing strategies that have proven effective over the past 80 years.

 

[FAITH-IN-HIM]

No. I am saying that there will be no more Florida or Texas left to give weather information if the national debt isn't resolved.

I must inform you that national debt is not comparable to a nuclear bomb that can devastate entire state and kill millions of people. The worst-case scenario if the debt is not managed properly is another significant recession similar to that of 2008.

 

[Belk]

I am not sure if you are aware, the country has over 36 trillion in debt. Most of which comes from entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. We whether we like it or not, we are at a crossroads. To get this debt under control, EVERYTHING needs to have cuts! Not just to NOAA, but to entitlements, the military, foreign aid, and the list goes on. For the record, I hope Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" fails to pass because it adds to the deficit. The bill should have been nothing but cuts with no extra spending. This isn't about killing science, it is about ensuring that there will still be a United States in the next couple decades.

For once we are in agreement. Cheers!

 

[BNR32FAN]

I saw that the temp head of FEMA was unaware that there was a hurricane season. ??? FEMA has been hit by DOGE.


Yesterday, a weatherman in South Florida, with a long career at forecasting reported this:

There is concern in Texas as well .

Trump supporters, is this what you voted for? Does the public safety mean much to you?


BTW, cutting funding to NOAA was part of Project 2025. I remember the denials that it was a thing for Trump.

Is this supposed to imply that we can’t see hurricanes approaching the coast? I hope not because that would be absolutely ridiculous. We have Doppler radar, weather buoys, offshore rigs, and offshore traffic, the coast guard, the navy, satellite images, and probably 50 other means of tracking these massive storms. They’re not very sneaky.