My friends, I’m writing today to report the sad news that Quizboy may need to shut down AMS Radio in the very near future.

As many of you know, AMS Radio is an online radio station that features a wide range of music and which champions independent artists. I got involved with the station a few years ago when its sole proprietor, who goes by Quizboy, asked on social media whether anyone was interested in being a DJ. Though I assumed he was joking, I dropped him a line, and within days, I was the host of The #Tweetcore Radio Hour, a show dedicated to shedding light on music by independent artists.

At the end of last year, I chose to end The #Tweetcore Radio Hour and to replace it with an interview show called Abominations. It ran for seven episodes, and one of the artists I interviewed was Quizboy. We talked about his music, but we also talked about AMS Radio, focusing on why he started the station and what’s involved in keeping it going. Anyone who’s ever been involved in the arts won’t be surprised to learn that he started the station out of a love for music and that keeping it going costs him money.

The money, of course, comes from Quizboy’s own pocket. He is, however, employed by the United States Government, which means that the Trump administration has rendered his position incredibly tenuous.

Like over two million other federal employees, he received the “fork in the road” email on January 28. This email offered an ultimatum: employees could take a “deferred resignation,” which would become effective in September, or they could keep their jobs with the caveat that those jobs could be eliminated at any time.

Quizboy, whose stage name I’m using to protect his identity, chose to keep his job, but every day has brought new challenges that prevent him from doing that job effectively. Additionally, the sword of Damocles is always hanging over his head. Deep cuts to government agencies are threatening the livelihoods of nearly all federal agencies.

What all of this means in practical terms is that Quizboy’s financial future is uncertain. He may or may not lose his job. And even though he’s considering trade school to prepare for a future in which he finds himself suddenly unemployed, he also knows that any work he might get in the wake of being let go would be entry-level and come with commensurate pay.

So he’s doing what any responsible adult with a family would do in his situation: he’s cutting expenses, and AMS Radio is at the top of the list.

And Quizboy isn’t the only person facing economic uncertainty. Nobody who got a fork in the road letter knows what will come next. As a result, they all need to start tightening their belts, which means they won’t be spending money on little things like going out to eat or big things like going on vacation or buying a new car.

The ripple effect is obvious. If all of these people stop spending money, the businesses they might otherwise patronize will lose revenue. Those businesses will then need to cut expenses by letting their employees go. Then all of those people will need to start tightening their own belts, assuming they haven’t done so already. And the cycle will continue.

All of this is happening in the name of “government efficiency.” Donald Trump and the man many commentators have called, in both seriousness and jest, his co-president, Elon Musk, have vowed to reduce the size of government bureaucracy. They tell us that government employees aren’t actually working. They tell us that the government will save billions of dollars by letting all of these employees go. They tell us that the economy will be better off for it.

The truth, of course, is that Musk is attacking agencies that threaten his own business interests while Russel Vought, who heads the US Office of Management and Budget, has publicly stated that he aims to put what he describes as bureaucrats “in trauma.” Here’s a full quote from the man:

When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so. We want to put them in trauma.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of federal employees do important and valuable work. My friend George is a veteran of the US Navy. He’s in his eighties, and he visits the local V.A. hospital on a regular basis to address various health concerns. He speaks with utmost respect of everyone he meets at the hospital, from the people who check him in when he arrives to the doctors and pharmacists who treat him.

Per Trump and Musk’s directives, however, the V.A. is on the chopping block. Needless to say, George is not happy. He never liked Trump, never trusted Trump, and certainly never voted for Trump. But this latest move, he’s told me, is beyond the pale. What’s more, he told me when chatted yesterday, alienating vets is just plain stupid.

So here we are. The US Federal Government is actively trying to traumatize its employees. By all accounts, their plan is succeeding. As a result, millions of people are unsure about their futures, and this uncertainty is spilling over into the communities where they live and taking a toll on economies everywhere.

Our community — the indie music community — is losing a radio station. Multiply that by everyone who’s being forced to cut back. Think of all the causes people believe in but won’t be able to support. Think of all the local businesses that will go under. Think of all the people who are doing their best to hang on and do a good job in their chosen professions while their employer, the United States Government, is actively trying to traumatize them.

Think about all of that and tell me America is on the right track.