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The Department of Government Efficiency made its reputation on staff cuts. Under Elon Musk, DOGE slashed the federal payroll in the name of cost-cutting. Now, the divisions new leader is urging the government to start hiring again. Amy Gleason, acting head of DOGE, spoke last week at the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International Health IT Summit about the need to hire and empower great talent in government. “There’s not enough tech talent here,” she said at the time. “We need more of it.” That’s a pretty major reversal for DOGE. While the government hasnt provided an exact tally of layoffs earlier this year, The New York Times estimates 135,000 employees were fired or resigned, with another 150,000 at risk. Gleason isnt calling for all of them to return, but she did argue for hiring more technical staff to modernize outdated government systems within five years. That plan faces immediate obstacles. The government remains under a hiring freeze, extended twice already, through at least October 15. (And it has already been extended twice, once in April and once again in July.) It’s also something of an open question as to which of those public-facing systems will continue. The Trump administration canceled the IRS Direct File programending free online tax filing for eligible taxpayers after just one seasonand ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to halt nearly all operations, effectively shuttering the agency. (The CFPB relies on user-submitted complaints to detect wrongdoing.) Gleason was named acting administrator of DOGE in February, and has kept a low profile during her tenure, never appearing alongside Trump on any public comments about DOGEs work since being named to the role. (The White House did not respond to Fast Company‘s request for comment.) Since its creation early in Trumps presidency, DOGE has been mired in controversy. It claims to have saved $205 billion, but those figures are widely disputed. An independent tracker, The Musk Watch DOGE Tracker, estimates savings closer to $16.3 billion. Musk initially promised DOGE would save $2 trillion. By March, he lowered the target to $1 trillion. Then at an April cabinet meeting, he scaled it back again, telling Trump and other officials that DOGE now expected to cut $150 billion during the 2026 fiscal yearwhich runs from October 2025 through September 2026, months after the agency is scheduled to be disbanded. An expansion of government hiring would add even more volatility to those numbers, should government officials take Gleason’s suggestion. The hiring would be slow, even if the freeze ends, however. Under new rules set by Trump, government agencies will only be able to hire one person for every four workers who leave.
Category:
E-Commerce
Endless notifications, a constant barrage of information, and never-ending to-do lists can make it feel like you’re digitally drowning. Why not use AI to claw some of your precious time back? While you may have used ChatGPT for the basics like writing an email or proofreading documents, theres plenty of power to be harnessed from less obvious applications. Here are five ways you can put AI to work for you. The meeting note parser You’ve just finished an hour-long meeting, and your notes look like a verbal train wreck: a mix of shorthand, half-finished sentences, and random keywords. There are action items in there somewhere, but finding them feels like a chore. Paste your notes into ChatGPT with a prompt such as: “Here are my meeting notes. Please create a prioritized task list with deadlines and the person responsible for each item.” ChatGPT can turn that mess into a clean, actionable list in seconds, giving you back precious time you’d have spent deciphering your own writing. The simple concept explainer You’ve come across a new industry term or a technical concept that’s critical to your job, but the online explanations are full of jargon you don’t understand. Or maybe you’re trying to explain something complex to a colleague who isn’t as familiar with the subject. Ask ChatGPT to “explain [the concept] in plain English for someone with no background in [the field].” AI is great at simplifying dense information. You can even ask it to “use a relatable analogy” to make the concept stick. It’s like having a personal tutor who’s always on call. The interview prep guru You have an important call with a potential client or a new partner, and you want to go in prepared. But digging through their company’s website, recent press releases, and social media feeds for relevant background info is a serious time sink. Prompt ChatGPT with something like: “Help me prepare for a call with [Customer Name]. Summarize the top 3 news stories from the past six months and highlight anything relevant to their business goals.” This gives you a quick, digestible cheat sheet, so you can sound informed and confident without spending hours on a deep dive. The content repurposer You’ve created a great piece of content: a long-form blog post, a podcast episode, or a detailed report. Now you need to turn it into a dozen different things for social media. The thought of writing 12 unique captions and a handful of tweets is exhausting. Upload your content and ask ChatGPT to “repurpose this information into three short social media captions and five bullet points for a Twitter thread.” It can instantly transform your work into multiple formats, saving you the mental load of starting over each time you switch platforms. The brainstorming partner Theres nothing quite like smashing head-first into a creative wall. You’ve got to come up with ideas for a new marketing campaign, a blog post title, or a product name, but the well has run dry. The blank page is staring at you, mocking your lack of creativity. Use a prompt to get the ball rolling, such as: “I’m launching a new service for [target audience]. Give me 10 creative marketing campaign ideas that are both approachable and professional.” ChatGPT can act as a tireless brainstorming partner, providing you with a starting point, new angles, and ideas you might never have considered on your own. It won’t do all the work, but it’ll give you a solid foundation to build upon.
Category:
E-Commerce
China’s exports grew last month but at a slower pace than in recent months, the country’s customs agency said Monday. Exports reached $321.8 billion in August, a 4.4% increase compared to the same month last year. That was down from a 7.2% jump in July. Meanwhile, imports totaled $219.5 billion, a 1.8% rise. China’s large trade surplus has become a contentious issue with major trading partners including the U.S. and the European Union. Low-priced Chinese imports are a boon for consumers but can lead to job cuts in manufacturing. In the first eight months of the year, China’s exported $785.3 billion more in goods than it imported from other countries, the monthly customs data showed. President Donald Trump has imposed 30% in additional tariffs on imports from China since taking office early this year. He backed down from even higher tariffs after China retaliated with import taxes of its own. The two countries are in talks to try to reach a trade agreement. The tariffs from both sides and the possibility they could be raised again are having an impact on two-way trade. Chinese exports to the U.S. plunged 33% in August to $47.3 billion, while its imports from the U.S. dropped 16% to $13.4 billion. Exports to the EU rose 10.4% to $46.8 billion, while imports from the 27-member bloc edged down slightly to $22.8 billion. Overall, China’s exports grew at the slowest pace since the January-February period, when they rose just 2.3%. The first two months of the year are reported together to smooth out distortions from the long Lunar New Year break. China’s exports of rare earths rose on a monthly basis to $55 million in August, up from $41 million in July, but down 25.6% compared to the same month last year. Rare earth magnets, which can withstand high heat, are vital to many products including washing machines, cars and fighter jets. China dominates the global market for processing rare earths, and a clampdown on their export in April temporarily halted production at some factories in Europe and the U.S. and raised fears of shutdowns at others. The issue became a focal point of a round of U.S.-China trade talks in London in June. China agreed to approve more export permits for rare earths in return for the U.S. lifting curbs on the sale of chip design software and jet engines to China. ___ This story has been corrected to say China’s January-August trade surplus of $785.3 billion was in goods only, not in goods and services. Ken Moritsugu, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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