Letters to the Editor: What did Trump and Elon Musk do in the last week besides cause chaos?

To the editor: “What did you do last week?” — this was asked of federal workers, including healthcare personnel such as Dr. Venktesh Ramnath, to justify their salaries. (“What did I do last week? I took care of your family, friends and fellow citizens,” Opinion, Feb. 24)

When I read Ramnath’s response to that question, I couldn’t help but feel that for all the demanding of answers, the Office of Personnel Management really didn’t want to hear anyone’s response. Chalk this up to the president, once again, just throwing a wrench into the works and trying to complicate the daily routines of these federal employees already working under nearly impossible conditions.

In the end, Ramnath did something I usually frown upon, but in this case was totally justified — he answered a question with a question, but not until after answering the OPM’s question in a thorough, complete, concise way.

What did the OPM do? I’d surely love to hear the response to Ramnath’s question.

Daniel V. Shannon, Camarillo

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To the editor: Thanks to Ramnath for exposing this latest gambit from Elon Musk for the nonsense that it is.

We have been told that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is tasked with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. Obviously requiring an employee to justify what they have done for the past week in no way determines if the position itself is an example of waste, fraud and abuse.

If this exercise is the best idea that DOGE could come up with for fulfilling its mission, then I think it’s fair to conclude that what it did for the past seven days is a perfect example of wasting and abusing taxpayer dollars.

Cathy Hrenda, Glendale

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To the editor: If Musk is requiring federal workers to submit answers on what they did over the last week or be fired, shouldn’t that also apply to the House, Senate and White House?

Thomas Handy, Indio