The new system will use "AI" to identify supposed waste, fraud and abuse. Because of course it will.
posted by subdee at 10:08 AM on April 22 [5 favorites]

Ramp charges an interchange fee of something like 1.5 - 2%. Even assuming the government got a bulk discount down to 1%, that would still be over $7 billion per year, about 5% of DOGE's total "savings".

And of course, once Ramp has its hooks in, it would have every incentive to ratchet up those fees. I would expect DOGE goons to push for the wholesale deletion of the SmartPay system, to ensure that there's no way back once the government is literally on the Ramp.
posted by jedicus at 10:11 AM on April 22 [14 favorites]

This is concerning, the DOJ should investigate.
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:26 AM on April 22 [14 favorites]

The new system will use "AI" to identify supposed waste, fraud and abuse. Because of course it will.

My work uses an expense processing system that claims to do the same. Mostly what it does is make headaches.
posted by Dr. Twist at 10:35 AM on April 22 [3 favorites]

This is concerning, the DOJ should investigate.

If only the President knew!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:41 AM on April 22 [12 favorites]

This is concerning, the DOJ should investigate.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh, you mean seriously?!
posted by evilDoug at 10:43 AM on April 22 [9 favorites]

It looks like the current overhead rate is under a tenth of a percent based on the article, and I bet even these guys might hesitate before jacking that up too much. AI is perfect for their needs because they can tack on a huge charge for advanced fraud detection and the huge number of false-positives can be politicized as proof of widespread fraud for an audience which won't hear about the inevitable retractions.
posted by adamsc at 10:43 AM on April 22 [13 favorites]

Holy shit, this has DISASTER written all over it!
posted by Pedantzilla at 11:20 AM on April 22 [3 favorites]

It's like someone has never used that exemplar of Thoroughly Modern Expenses & Payments platforms, Concur -- which, of course, completely sucks.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:25 AM on April 22 [1 favorite]

Who could have foreseen th¡ª
posted by toodleydoodley at 11:47 AM on April 22 [2 favorites]

You know what's funny is you look at a democratic socialist country like Norway and their sovereign wealth fund and that's an actual facet of government truly being run like a business - literally it is a team of portfolio managers and quant analysts making investments trying to get optimal returns like Blackrock or Vanguard would. And then in America "running the government like a business" means pointing out everything is wasteful under some bullshit pretense of "generating efficiency" so you can hire your stupid fucking cronies and their stupid pointless fucking start up to fuck everything up but hell yeah we got the contract, bro!
posted by windbox at 12:02 PM on April 22 [28 favorites]

"How Can I Steal Your Money If You Are Going To Be Watching?"
posted by pthomas745 at 12:24 PM on April 22 [7 favorites]

wenestvedt: "It's like someone has never used that exemplar of Thoroughly Modern Expenses & Payments platforms, Concur -- which, of course, completely sucks."

Oh my god does it ever. That system is complete and utter garbage. Every time I need to submit travel expense records I curse Concur and wish ill upon all who had a hand in spawning that ill-begotten website. Nothing in the system is logical, every action you take feels as if you're doing it wrong, and if it feels as if you did it CORRECTLY guess what, you didn't.

There's a whole section that lists all your travel expenses and you can upload receipts there. BUT GUESS WHAT that is the WRONG place, you need to go into a completely different section that looks EXACTLY THE SAME and enter your receipts THERE instead. Why? Because who knows, that's why.
posted by caution live frogs at 12:25 PM on April 22 [7 favorites]

Next, back to the gold standard.
posted by clavdivs at 2:18 PM on April 22 [1 favorite]

To be fair, it¡¯s easier to find fraud and abuse if you¡¯re the one doing it.
posted by MtDewd at 3:37 PM on April 22 [6 favorites]

I have nothing to add to the trash fire that is overhauling the government payment program, but I just wanted to share that used to work with folks who pronounced it "Conquer" and I really enjoyed that.
posted by opinions at 3:41 PM on April 22 [2 favorites]

Next, back to the gold standard.

Balderdash! Bimetalism is the only way to preserve the Republic!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:05 PM on April 22 [5 favorites]

Secretary of the Treasury:Yukon Cornelius.
posted by clavdivs at 4:50 PM on April 22 [2 favorites]

Bimetalism is the only way to preserve the Republic!

We don't accept electrum pieces here, traveler.
posted by 1adam12 at 5:28 PM on April 22 [4 favorites]

They are looting.
posted by eustatic at 7:55 PM on April 22 [5 favorites]

WFA (What Fucking Assholes)
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 9:06 PM on April 22

I just wanted to share that used to work with folks who pronounced it "Conquer" and I really enjoyed that.

My wife pronounces it like that, because people that taught her the system says that, and when I inquired why don't pronounce it like the verb, she shrugged, apparently no one looks at the name and think of the verb for some reason.
posted by numaner at 7:56 AM on April 23 [1 favorite]

All watched over by machines of loving grace.
posted by JohnFromGR at 12:27 PM on April 23 [1 favorite]

This is concerning, the DOJ should investigate.

But not, like, before becoming investors.
posted by thecincinnatikid at 3:25 PM on April 23

The word "concur" implies agreement and comity; "conquer" implies ruthless humiliation and pitiless contempt.

Users of this expense-tracking software will all have a preference for one of those two associations....and I am putting my betting money on the second one.
posted by wenestvedt at 3:13 PM on May 1 [1 favorite]