When the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was first proposed by the new president with Elon Musk spearheading the effort, there was some justifiable optimism that perhaps the richest person on the planet, as well as one of the brightest, might be able to tackle such a large job. Everyone was willing to concede that there can always be efficiencies to be found in any large government (or private) organization, and most voters believed that there was undoubtedly some fraud, waste and abuse embedded in the system.
In fact, finding fraud, waste and abuse was the mantra of every supporting political pundit and cheerleader of the effort. Why wouldn't all Americans support such an effort, was the reasoning.
Additionally, there were already people in government whose job was to do just that, so, in concert with those who already investigate fraud, waste and abuse, the various inspector generals and their staffs, bringing in some outstanding talent from the outside to revitalize the effort seemed like a great idea.
When Musk claimed that he would slash $2 trillion (that's trillion!) from our annual budget, the excitement was off the chart. While most people with knowledge of our national budget were highly skeptical, those who originally advocated for the endeavor, couldn't keep from predicting a resounding success was imminent.
We are now about three months into the process and Musk has halved his predicted savings a number of times, but with incredible bravado, when we consder that every time he spoke of how much less money would be saved compared to his previous projection he was admitting he was wrong. The website which purported to document the savings, has been challenged and corrected multiple times. Savings that had decimal points in the wrong place, programs that had already been ended, dollar estimates based on possible expenditures rather than actual costs, suggested that Musk's team was not quite as brilliant as anticipated, and certainly not as transparent.
Not to mention the number of federal workers that were laid off or told not to come to work one day, then called back soon after when it was realized that the DOGEmen really didn't understand those workers jobs.
At this point, it appears that Musk is stepping back from the project. Various reporting agencies have identified the savings, to date, as anywhere from $50 to $150 billion. And, since some of that savings includes salaries for workers no longer employed, it is quite true that a portion of that money will go to unemployment benefits, back pay should the various lawsuits still being adjudicated find that some of the federal workers were fired illegally, and the cost to hire contractors when it is discovered that those jobs really were necessary.
Should there actually be $100 billion saved, that would equate to 5% of the original amount Musk forecast.
But there is good news.
First, many Americans are starting to gain a new appreciation for the men and women who chose public service rather than (generally) higher paying private jobs. All the faceless people who make our government work for us turned out to be people who lived in our neighborhoods, went to our churches, were parents of the kids our kids played sports with, perhaps even were family members, nieces, nephews and cousins whose jobs we didn't understand.
The GOP has spent the last forty years telling Americans that our government is too big, not necessary, intrusive on our lives, didn't do anything positive for us, etc, so it was very easy for Trump and Musk to tell us they were lazy, stupid, even criminal.
And for their part, the Democrats didn't do enough to explain to the electorate just what our taxes paid for, and just what our federal workers did, behind the scenes, day after day after day.
But the real success of the effort had nothing to do with fraud, waste and abuse. It was all about reducing the federal work force, as the GOP has always wanted, and about eliminating the regulators who keep the super rich from taking advantage of the everyday citizen.
That was why Musk went after the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) right from the start. Among other federal agencies, the CFPB has been a thorn in his attempts to enter the personal finance industry.
Musk didn't invest $250 million into Trump's campaign solely because he leans right. He needed a way to counter the obstacles that prevent him from using his vast resources to do whatever he wants, to consumers, to workers, to his competition.
Various labor entanglements? Go after the NLRB.
Want to jump start Starlink? Push Verizon out of the picture to gain the inside track to providing communication systems to the government.
Want to dominate space? Threaten NASA to make sure that future contracts stay with SpaceX.
He even wrangled a free Tesla commercial at the White House when he "gave" a few cars to Trump. As if Don ever drives himself anywhere.
But Joe, hasn't Tesla stock tanked? Aren't Tesla sales down, not just in America, but worldwide? It seems like Musk lost money by attaching his cart to Trump.
Perhaps in the short run. But we all know, if nothing else, Musk is a visionary. He is always a step or three ahead of most people. He is still considered the richest man on Earth, despite his recent losses on paper. I expect that he will remove himself from Tesla in the next few years to concentrate on his next big moves, primarily his attempt to dominate communications from space via Starlink.
One step backwards, yards and yards of steps forward. And, just as the government helped him many times in the past when Tesla was struggling and SpaceX needed clients, his connection with Trump, and the current GOP leadership will provide him with the advantages he will most certainly use to solidify his control of the future of communications from space.
And by the way. Has anyone been charged with fraud for ripping off the American taxpayers? Anyone of the alleged millions of Americans who were taking Social Security payments for dead people?
Again, Musk and his team, brilliant as they may be, had not a clue as to how the federal government worked, or what the vast amount of federal workers do.
My guess is that they didn't care. Musk had a list of federal agencies he wanted neutered. Musk wanted access to confidential government information to help him execute his nefarious plans to reduce regulations which effect his business interests, and worst of all, Musk and Trump for that matter, don't believe it helping anyone, Americans or anyone else on our planet, unless there is something in it for them.
Aid to help improve economic opportunity for people who made the mistake of being born in the "third" world, forget it?
Programs to help improve sanitation or access to potable water, no way.
Projects that address children dying from disease or starvation, not a chance.
Unless any of those initiatives put money in the pocket of transactional people like Trump and Musk, break out the chainsaw!
It's pretty simple, really. Billionaires in charge of determining where to spend tax payer money, will always choose helping people who already have money so they can form their half-a-million-dollar-to-get-in clubs and laugh about how much richer they are getting.
All the while, everyday Americans who can't afford million dollar plate fundraisers have even less access, and receive even less benefits from the taxes they pay.
DOGE was a resounding failure if the goal was to find waste, fraud and abuse and reduce our national debt.
But a spectacular success for the co-presidents, who were allowed to gut programs that help the least fortunate while increasing the coffers of the super rich.
As if that couldn't be predicted.
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