All of the headline items will be examined in Part I following this preface. Approaching 3 years ago, this writer, my wife and our teenage son were at dinner in well rated, popular Italian restaurant in Kissimmee, FL with two Nigerian priests. One of those priests is working for the Orlando diocese. The other was on vacation from his native Nigeria and was visiting his friend. After acknowledging the corruption in his homeland, vacationing priest observed: ‘Who would have thought that the U.S. was so corrupt?’ When some $4.7 billion dollars’ worth of difficult to trace payments have been identified by DOGE – the Department of Government Efficiency – with left-leaning Yahoo News saying on 2.26.2025 that DOGE has reported $65 billion in claimed hard savings in just over a month, there is a stated goal of DOGE reigning in $1 to $2 trillion dollars without cutting any entitlement programs by ending waste, fraud, and abuse. But let’s be clear. Since at least President Ronald Reagan’s time when he launched the much-ballyhooed Grace Commission in 1982, various groups and entities have talked about just how much taxpayer money was being squandered by the federal government. History.com said that “Industrialist J. Peter Grace, CEO of W.R. Grace & Company” launched “the Citizens Against Government Waste—a nonprofit co-founded by Grace in 1984 to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement” in the U.S. government. MHProNews has periodically reported on Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW‘s) annual report several times. Senator Rand Paul (KY-R) has his annual Festivus report that also focuses on scores of examples of federal waste, which in 2024 included examples of taxpayers’ money being used to torture cats. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said on 4.16.2024 that: “GAO estimated total direct annual financial losses to the government from fraud to be between $233 billion and $521 billion.” “No area of the federal government is immune to fraud,” per GAO, with the years “2018-2022 Data Show Federal Government Loses an Estimated $233 Billion to $521 Billion Annually to Fraud, Based on Various Risk Environments.” From time to time such findings by CAGW, Festivus, GAO, or others actually results in some change that saves taxpayers money previously wasted. But the rash of shocking revelations of what USAID was being used for, other boondoggles reveal why the scandals involving HUD, the FHFA, DOE, or other failures with respect to HUD Code manufactured housing ought not to be deemed surprising, as this report with analysis will reflect.

Perhaps for the first time in decades, a serious effort is underway to get to the root of corrupt and crony practices in Washington, D.C. If so, it could lead to other positive reforms that may benefit U.S. citizens, taxpayers, and make the plans and reforms cited in the headline today more than just yet another pipe dream. There may also be a genuine push to reign in runaway deficits that threaten the U.S. economy, currency, and other underpinnings to the general welfare of American citizens.

The purpose of these posts with graphics and concerns is not to create an image of hopelessness. Rather, these following graphics in the next two X-posts will show that the threat is real, but it will require discipline and appropriate action – thus the importance of the headline and Parts I-IV that will follow later. Jason Smith’s X post, for example, is apparently exaggerating – perhaps for effect the homelessness count which is officially at 770,000 per HUD but he rounded it up to 800,000. That said, some of Smith’s points are reasons for concern and a need to act appropriately and swiftly. We can’t ignore economic issues when considering housing issues, including those related to inherently affordable mainstream HUD Code manufactured homes.

America is trapped in federal debt and there’s no way out. Musk can’t cut spending enough. We’re trapped because interest is now rising fast on that federal debt. We’re rolling over $9 trillion in low yielding bonds at much higher interest rates. Interest is creating more debt. pic.twitter.com/1eqnk7OO6X

— Jeff Kassel (@pinatubo2007) February 24, 2025

Following this MHProNews preface are the following news updates and headline related topics.

• Part I – From the WND News Center to MHProNews on the Trump “Gold Card” Concept
• Part II – From the WND News Center to MHProNews on Biden Era Scheme Funding Democratic Party Linked Groups
• Part III From The Center Square to MHProNews is the following on Planned Trump Tax Cuts and Their Impact on Small Business Interests
• Part IV – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary

But before pivoting to those 4 Parts in this article, let’s round out some background insights in this preface that frame the size and scope of the issues related to the emerging facts from the first roughly 39 days of Trump 2.0.

 

It is simply a fact that since shortly after the dawn of humanity that good people do bad things and sometimes bad people do good things. The ancient but prudent principle of sifting the wheat from the chaff is thus necessary. While noting that trust in media is near or at a record recorded low that there are some in media that are striving to do journalism in a respectable manner and that those who do so have a following.  As the insights from longtime hard-leftist journalist Elizabeth Nickson, linked here and above, reminded her readers what DOGE is uncovering for all to see is just how badly the U.S. taxpayers have been ripped off for literally generations. But that ought not to be a surprise to manufactured housing pros who have followed the work of MHProNews and MHLivingNews in the past 12 to 15 years, or the work of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) periodically did before either of these trade media outlets existed.

What has been described as the freakout by left-leaning and never-Trump media plus numbers of Democrats and some Establishment RINOs over DOGE and Trump Administration 2.0 (T2) cuts and reforms are arguably indicative of just how tied to graft and cronyism certain corporate, nonprofits, NGOs, media, and politicos have been for years.

The shock to those who knew that things were bad (President Reagan, the Grace Commision, CAGW, Festivus, and GAO often demonstrated that…) isn’t that revelations of massive abuses are emerging. Rather, the surprise is that there is early evidence that these changes are sincere and that the public is widely embracing them, including per surveys a sizable slice of traditionally self-identified Democratic voters. For instance. The International Business Times reported two days ago that the “Majority of American voters are very supportive of Elon Musk’s DOGE, with a staggering 77% demanding that a “full examination” be conducted on government expenditures, a new poll revealed.”

The left-leaning The American Prospect (TAP) said in an email dated 2.26.2025 to MHProNews that: “Trump himself said it best: “The first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”” What was the context for that remark by Executive Editor of The American Prospect (TAP) David Dayen quoting President Trump above?

“If you haven’t heard, The Washington Post just made a stunning announcement about their opinion section. Guided by their billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, they are now committed to writing “every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.”  This represents a significant rightward shift, clearly designed to appease Trump, Musk, and the new regime in Washington.

I find this deeply troubling.”

So, the left-leaning Washington Post, which for years has been reportedly tied to have journalists paid by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other federal agencies (long before the USAID payments to left-leaning media was recently revealed). All that’s Interesting on 12.1.2024 reminded us in an article entitled: “What Is Operation Mockingbird, The CIA’s Alleged Program That Infiltrated America’s Top News Organizations?”

In 1977, journalist Carl Bernstein published an article in Rolling Stone with a serious allegation: that hundreds of American journalists worked cheek by jowl with the Central Intelligence Agency. This operation purportedly operated for decades and involved some of the most prominent news organizations in the U.S., including The New York Times, CBS, and Time Inc.

Left-leaning Wikipedia puts it this way.

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups…In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

 

The manipulation of public perception has been going on using ‘mainstream media’ for all of the 20th and 21st century and is certainly in evidence in the sinking of the battleship, the U.S.S. Maine in the late 19th century. That’s how the wealthy and connected elites have more or less tried to keep enough of the public in line to get the supposedly progressive agenda done. There have been whistleblowers all along the way. Never forget that Samuel Clemens, a.k.a.: Mark Twain, was a journalist. What did he sarcastically say in the mid 1800s?

 

 

 

Big government in the U.S., the promises of ‘taxing the rich’ to give money to the poor and working class has largely been a sham. It doesn’t mean that people haven’t been ‘helped’ along the way. But closely examined, for all of those helped, there were far more others that were harmed. When the costs of those programs, plus the overhead of a governmental bureaucracy, are examined, there could well have been more ‘good deeds’ achieved by having private charities run by faith-based organization with volunteers and lower overhead than by having taxpayer funded programs. The 50-year history of HUD is evidence that federal programs often do not achieve their stated goal. Who says? How about HUD’s own researchers?

 

 

Per HUD researchers Pamela Blumenthal and Regina Gray in the report linked above (provided to MHProNews by HUD, that report was ‘temporarily’ taken off-line).

The regulatory environment — federal, state, and local — that contributes to the extensive mismatch between supply and need has worsened over time. Federally sponsored commissions, task forces, and councils under both Democratic and Republican administrations have examined the effects of land use regulations on affordable housing for more than 50 years. Numerous studies find land use regulations that limit the number of new units that can be built or impose significant costs on development through fees and long approval processes drive up housing costs. Research indicates higher housing costs also drive up program costs for federal assistance, reducing the funds available to serve additional households.

Consider what Blumenthal and Gray said in relation to these third-party remarks.

 

 

Tobias Peter at AEI’s Housing Center may be thought of by some as professional in an organization that is on the right. But from the political left is this complimentary finding from Micheal Weinstein.

 

 

If someone wonders why sizable parts (not all) of mainstream media is apparently biased, and why the sobering truths about corruption of federal programs is so apparent, a careful look at the linked reports will bring those questions and concerns into focus. While President Donald J. Trump may exaggerate to make his points, he has nevertheless broken through with many in getting the public to grasp just how serious the links are of how “fake news” is the “enemy of the people” and why the “rigged system” includes the nexus between “the swamp” in Washington, D.C., much (not all) of corporate media, specific corporate interests, and numerous parts of the federal government. In a very real sense, MHProNews and MHLivingNews exist because mainstream news and other industry bloggers/trade publications did not provide their readers with a reasonable, evidence-based explanations of why manufactured housing has been struggling in the 21ast century during an affordable housing crisis despite having favorable laws. If the nation can be hoodwinked into costly wars or shipping our industries overseas by big lies told by politicos of both major parties and amplified by mainstream media, look carefully at these reports and the sobering truth will begin to come clear. Government agents and agencies have long been manipulating the public in illegal ways, because such practices are barred by the strict reading of the U.S. Constitution.

 

 

That backdrop sets the stage for what Trump 2.0, DOGE and now perhaps the Republican led House are beginning to do. Trillions in waste, fraud and abuse may be coming to an end. It is too early to pop the champaign corks, but there are evidence-based reasons for hope.

Part I – From the WND News Center to MHProNews on the Trump “Gold Card” Concept

Trump’s new ‘gold card’ could raise $1 trillion in revenue

Commerce secretary releases stunning program with high price tag for foreign millionaires

“That term is a play on the green card, more officially known as a permanent residency card, which allows non-citizens to live and work permanently in the U.S. Green cards are most frequently awarded to foreigners who marry U.S. citizens or to those who receive one through their employer, with the latter process taking an average of three years to complete, according to the Cato Institute,” the report said.

Trump said his plan is to make available an expensive option for the wealthy literally to purchase that right.

“It’s going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card, they’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people,” Trump said.

Now Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the income possible for that concept already is at $1.125 trillion.

That would be paid by “deeply vetted” global citizens who would bring “entrepreneurial spirit and capacity,” including jobs and businesses, to America. And they would pay American taxes.

He said 250,000 people now are “in line” for that potential program.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just revealed that there are already 250,000 potential buyers for President Trump’s $5 MILLION gold card.

“If they’re willing to pay the $5,000,000, that’s over $1 trillion dollars. And I think these people are going to come.”

“These are vetted… pic.twitter.com/Ft6uwnLpFF

— George (@BehizyTweets) February 27, 2025

 

Trump has explained that if roughly 8,000 people received gold cards each year, the U.S. would raise about $40 billion annually through the program.

The CBS report said such “investor visas” are common around the world and more than 100 nations offer such programs.

“We have it all worked out from the legal standpoint. It’s totally legal to do. It’s somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication — it’s a road to citizenship for people, and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent, where people of wealth pay for those people of talent to get in, meaning companies will pay for people to get in and to have long, long term status in the country,” he said.

—

Part II – From the WND News Center to MHProNews on Biden Era Scheme Funding Democratic Party Linked Groups

Biden granted billions to ‘green’ org whose top execs gave generously to Dems

‘Coalition’ has ‘no business receiving a dollar of funding from the federal government’

Hundt made donations of $10,000 to the Harris Victory Fund and Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2024, and he also cut a $10,000 check to the Democratic State Central Committee of Maryland in 2016, FEC records show. Kauffman, meanwhile, gave $150,000 to the DNC in 2020 before giving another $20,900 to the DNC in 2024, the same year in which he made a $50,000 contribution to the Harris Victory Fund, government records show.

Kaufmann also donated to numerous state-level Democrat Party organizations and to boost Democrat Senate candidates like former Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey in the 2024 race, FEC records show. Notably, the CGC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, meaning that it may not directly or indirectly engage in politics, at least as far as the Internal Revenue Service is currently concerned.

“Between 2009 and 2023, CGC and its network mobilized more than $25 billion in public and private capital across America to deliver more affordable electricity, clean air and water, as well as the power to help ensure America’s AI leadership,” a CGC spokesperson said in a statement to the DCNF. The CGC spokesperson declined to address specific questions about how it squares the political spending of Hundt and Kauffman, as well as the political connections of other board members, with the organization’s official status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Hundt formerly worked in the Clinton administration as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and was a close ally of Vice President Al Gore, while Kauffman was a senior advisor to former Energy Secretary Steven Chu during the Obama administration, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Notably, Hundt’s personal account on X featured numerous anti-Trump posts — including ones endorsing efforts to remove Trump from the ballot — before it was deleted. Hundt did not respond to a request for comment.

The CGC has received funding in the past from left-of-center and environmentalist nonprofits including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the ClimateWorks Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The CGC features a number of other Democrat insiders in its ranks, the DCNF reported in 2023 when the group was rumored to be on the shortlist for a major EPA payday. For example, its board of directors includes David Hayes, who served as a climate advisor to former President Joe Biden; Cecilia Martinez, a former official in the Biden White House Council on Environmental Quality; Julie Greene Collier, chief of staff for the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a major organized labor federation that endorsed Biden and, subsequently, former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. The union donated cash to help Democrats in the 2024 cycle, according to FEC records.

“Coalition for Green Capital, like so many organizations funded by the Biden Administration, has no business receiving a dollar of funding from the federal government, much less billions of dollars,” Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher for the Capital Research Center, told the DCNF. “It is plain to see that the organization is intended to be a slush fund for bailing out the floundering green energy investments of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors.”

Notably, two other groups that the Biden EPA picked to receive billions of taxpayer dollars — Power Forward Communities and Climate United — are also loaded with Democrat insiders, the DCNF reported previously. The political connections that each of these recipients possess caught the attention of congressional Republicans in May 2024, and current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is working to claw back as much cash from the GGRF as possible.

—

Part III From The Center Square to MHProNews is the following on Planned Trump Tax Cuts and Their Impact on Small Business Interests

(The Center Square) – With Republicans planning a $4.6 trillion, 10-year extension of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, small business advocates are urging lawmakers to make the extension permanent through the budget reconciliation process.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) sent a letter to Congress in support of cementing the Section 199A deduction, also known as the Qualified Business Income deduction, into the tax code forever.

Implemented through the sunsetting 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the QBI deduction allowed eligible American business owners – roughly 26 million – to deduct up to 20% of their qualified business income.

The NFIB says the economy would grow by $750 billion over the next 10 years and add 1.2 million jobs annually if the provision is made permanent.

“In less than a year, America’s small businesses are set to face a massive tax hike that would decimate their ability to hire, grow, pay their employees, and keep their doors open,” NFIB Senior Vice President for Advocacy Adam Temple said. “[T]he budget reconciliation process presents the best opportunity for Congress to immediately act.”

Extending the QBI deduction for the next 10 years alone would add an estimated $780 billion to the federal budget deficit, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).

Trump and a growing number of Republican lawmakers are already eyeing a permanent extension through the reconciliation process.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was barely able to convince most fiscal hardliners in his own chamber to vote for a temporary TCJA extension, told reporters Wednesday that moving forward, tax cut permanence is now “our commitment.”

—

Part IV Additional Information with More MHProNews Facts, Analysis and Commentary

1) The Republican led House has managed to pass a proposal for a reconciliation bill that includes a budget and extension of the Trump tax cuts. Many Democrats doubted this would occur.

Speaker Johnson Takes Victory Lap After Budget Resolution Passes In The House

The resolution will now go to the Senate. We are going to deliver all of it, not just some of it. We the People voted for the Trump American First Agenda.

Republicans promise to deliver. pic.twitter.com/MLEsDOI2lE

— Andrea Shaffer, Employment/Labor Law (@Andreafreedom76) February 26, 2025

 

Speaker Mike Johnson was handed a major victory when his “big, beautiful bill” that would cut taxes, increase military spending, address energy and immigration policy, and raise the debt ceiling was approved along party lines. https://t.co/37nBJLDT09

— U.S. News & World Report (@usnews) February 26, 2025

 

2) Dems said the GOP couldn’t pass a bill out of the House due to the narrow margin in that chamber, but the Republicans have done so saying to their critics that no entitlement programs are being touched, that was is being addressed are waste, fraud, abuse, and related. Time will tell what emerges from the U.S. Senate and the final bill that must be passed and sent to President Trump (R).

Haha OMG 😂😂

Jasmine Crockett said a few hrs ago: “They will NOT get this budget passed without us”

Well, (In Joes words)

“son of a bitch” the House GOP DID pass it‼️

pic.twitter.com/4kLwDyXcCT

— 🇺🇸The REAL Lady De’Plorable🇺🇸 (@LadyRedWave) February 26, 2025

Speaking of Democratic lawmaker Jasmine Crocket, more from both parties in the report linked here.

 

3) Here is the math on the Trump Gold Card concept, IF 250,000 wealthy immigrants wanted to take up that offer. 250,000 x $5,000,000 = $1,250,000,000,000.  Trump is expected to make a deal today for a stake in Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. That may be worth over 11 trillion euros, per source estimates.

THE COLLECTIVE POTENTIAL VALUE OF UKRAINES RAW MATERIALS & RARE EARTHS ARE ESTIMATED TO BE TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS – WSJ

I think it’s safe to say that this war is about one thing and one thing only, access and control to raw materials. pic.twitter.com/aV7dfXtRdV

— Walks&WallStreet (@WalksWallstreet) February 22, 2025

 

‘The Art of the (frustrating) Deal’.

Rare mineral resources in Ukraine according to Forbes Ukraine has an estimated value of $14.8 trillion. That’s a BIG number. The resources – titanium (aircraft and medical components), lithium (batteries), beryllium (aircraft brakes -… pic.twitter.com/67rUrOC7es

— USMC 1st Marine Air Wing Vet (@WatsonsFeet) February 22, 2025

4) Instead of giving away hundreds of billions of dollars in exchange for – what? – as was occurring during Biden-Harris (D), team Trump is attempting to ‘make a deal’ that could help not only repay those otherwise lost dollars but may also help pay down the national debt. These flashback X-posts during the Biden-Harris (D) era reveals some of the apparent duplicity and hypocrisy of governance during times of supposedly ‘compassionate’ Democratic leadership.

🚨 BREAKING 🗞️

The Biden admin has given over 183 billion to Ukraine as of Sept 2024.

Ukraine has approx 38 million citizens.

That is equivalent to approx $5,000 for every Ukrainian while Cali and North Carolina Americas receive a $750 one time payment for losing everything pic.twitter.com/YslUVnD7vr

— Liberal Tear Creator™️ (@LibTearCreator1) January 14, 2025

 

Omg – Biden just gave $3.5 billion to Ukraine’s government pension fund

And California fire victims $770 one time check per household

Why are we putting up with this government? pic.twitter.com/Iiegk8hVfk

— DR JANE RUBY™️ (@RealDrJaneRuby) January 14, 2025

Biden gave Ukraine $14 billion in 72 hours while Americans are still homeless and struggling. pic.twitter.com/iw1VQRSQ8K

— Hend F Q (@LadyVelvet_HFQ) March 17, 2022

UKRAINE: Biden, after sending $175 billion to Ukraine AND opposing the appointment of a Special Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance, told Zelensky that Ukraine is FAR too corrupt for NATO membership. pic.twitter.com/1DVGw1emhK

— @amuse (@amuse) July 3, 2024

 

Flashback: Ukraine’s attorney general confirmed there was an investigation into how Ukraine was interfering with the 2016 US election to help Hilary Clinton win.

Remind me again how much money did we give Ukraine during this Biden/Harris administration? 200 billion dollars? pic.twitter.com/sJZHKwhG0s

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) September 5, 2024

5) Now, let’s pivot towards housing, the lack of affordable housing, and manufactured housing. A big report is planned on that topic, which will focus on the early insights from HUD Secretary E. Scott Turner. To frame that report, it must be recalled that Democratic policies have made the housing crisis worse during the last 4 years, as MHProNews/MHLivingNews have carefully documented. That said, all is not peaches and cream as there are potential warning signals that MHProNews has uncovered in Secretary Turner’s early remarks and steps. To properly frame the issues, the insights above could lead to lower interest rates and lower housing costs. That said, there are serious question marks about Sec. Turner’s signals. An exclusive and most in depth report to date on Secretary Turner is planned, perhaps for tomorrow. It will lay out an array of evidence, including, but not limited to, his own remarks. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

Feb Release for 12.24 Data for all 50 States Production-Shipments of New HUD Code Manufactured Homes plus additional DOE Manufactured Housing Energy Rule Case Insights-Facts-Evidence-Analysis

MHProNews will continue to aim and deliver on balanced insights that reflect “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” ^© where “We Provide, You Decide.” ^©

 

 

Manufactured Home Industry Production Total for 2024 Announced by Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR); plus Who Knew Manufactured Homes so Important to U.S. Economy?

From Coast-to-Coast Rent Control Pressures Heat Up for Land Lease ‘Trailer Parks’ ‘Mobile Home Parks’ and Manufactured Home Communities; Manufactured Housing Industry Report-Facts-Analysis

Housing-Something can be True yet Still Deceptive or Misleading-Fran Quigley; Energy-Housing; T2=Golden Age of USA Begins – Will Trump End up on Mount Rushmore? MHVille Facts-Evidence-Analysis

Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)

By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.

Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.

For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.

This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.

http://latonykovach.com

Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

 

 

Related References:

The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.’