Elon Musk has acknowledged that his most recent position as head of Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, a project jokingly named D.O.G.E., could fall short of its lofty goals.
In an interview on X, previously Twitter, Elon, who first said he could save $2 trillion from the federal budget, referred to the amount as a “best-case scenario.” Although the $2 trillion target was not completely unachievable, the eccentric millionaire told political analyst Mark Penn, “We’ve got a good shot at $1 trillion.”
His first goal seemed more like a sci-fi dream as critics quickly reminded him that the whole discretionary budget is barely $1.7 trillion.
Trump tasked D.O.G.E. with “streamlining government” as part of his second-term objective. The advisory council has been charged by Elon, who co-leads the effort with biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, with finding wasteful government expenditure.
However, D.O.G.E. lacks institutional authority despite its admirable objectives. Its recommendations would still need to be implemented by the White House and Congress. Experts are already dubious of Elon’s updated estimates, but Trump’s transition team has not responded.
In order to save $1 trillion, mandated expenditure programs like Medicaid would have to be drastically reduced, which is sure to spark political opposition. Elon admitted the challenge, stating that some of the suggested cutbacks could cause “Hardship.”
Elon said government expenditure is a highly target-rich environment for cost-cutting, but he would not say specific programs are being cut. He went on to say that even a $1 trillion reduction in the deficit would enable economic growth to surpass the money supply, stabilizing inflation. “Inflation-free,” Elon said.
“That would be a fantastic result. “Unexpectedly, people in unexpected locations have backed Elon’s campaign to reduce the budget. Longtime opponent of military expenditure, Senator Bernie Sanders, agreed with Elon’s emphasis on defense budget cutbacks.
With a $886 billion budget, the Pentagon has unaccounted for billions of dollars after failing its audits seven times in a row. Sanders said, “The system is corrupt,” and he demanded that military deal waste be stopped.
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