EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). This was a fantastic interview of Elon Musk and his DOGE team with Fox News host Bret Baier. Elon Musk discussed his brief experience at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its attempts to reduce federal spending. Musk was very hopeful of achieving significant fiscal reductions in this short time.
One of DOGE’s prime focuses is fighting inefficiency and fraud in government programs, specifically the Social Security Administration (SSA). Musk mentioned that 40% of SSA calls are scam calls to siphon benefits, which amounts to enormous financial loss. He guaranteed that the real recipients would receive bigger payments due to DOGE initiatives to combat this type of fraud.
As for workforce reductions, Musk downplayed the impact, stating that “almost no one has gotten fired.” Reports indicate that a minimum of 24,000 probationary federal employees have lost their jobs, with additional personnel to be slashed. Musk espoused a cautious approach, wishing to “measure twice, if not thrice, and cut once” so as not to make errors.
DOGE is also seeking to revamp outdated government infrastructure. Airbnb co-founder and DOGE member Joe Gebbia cited the elderly, paper-based federal retirement program as one of the things that need fixing, envisioning a less bumpy, more user-friendly experience.
Musk remains adamant, labeling DOGE’s actions a “revolution” and maintaining that without such measures, the U.S. is on the brink of insolvency. He maintains that the reforms will guarantee the continuation and enhancement of vital programs for American citizens.
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How can Musk claim “almost no one has been fired” and yet assure us that “billions of dollars have been saved? ” How do you save money if you don’t fire people?
Many accepted the deal: six months with salary if they sign their resignation
I just read at the NYT that so far there are 49,000 confirmed firings, 79,000 took buyouts and 171,000 planned firings. Some of the confirmed firings were re-hired. The USAID and Education dept lost 99% of their staff
Bob,
For those of us with several decades in the corporate world, the “lexicon” that governs the technical accuracy of terminology has many layers to it… it is possible that Musk is sticking to a commonly held technical opinion that the term “firing” is strictly related to an individual’s job performance, but “layoff” or RIF (Reduction in force) or “job elimination” or “cost-cutting measure” or “incentivized early retirement”, etc. have nothing to do with an individual’s performance, and therefore, the term “firing” doesn’t apply.
Nevertheless, if the goal is to stop issuing a certain number of paychecks each month in order to “save money”, it doesn’t matter what anyone calls it, and it’s pointless to waste energy on linguistic bickering. The discussions that matter focus around the following “micro” and “macro” topics:
1) At the “micro” scale many people who used to rely on a “steady” government paycheck will be impacted. This doesn’t include government contractors, because they get “cut” or “outbid” for renewals on a regular basis, so they always understand the “temporary” nature of the risk of that “paycheck”…however, both full-time government employees and contractors affected could be our neighbors or relatives, so it’s best to reserve some empathy and encouragement for them in times like these.
2) At the “macro” scale, it remains theoretical if Congress, with only a 3 Republican vote majority, will ever concede to making the ACTUAL cuts that are necessary to balance a chronically bloated government budget, given that this would imply deep cuts to “pork-barrel spending” that fuels individual members of Congress’ re-election campaigns…Furthermore, there is no mathematical way that the Executive branch can decisively “cut their way” to a balanced budget unilaterally (let alone all the legal challenges that may end up limiting some of this “cutting”). Congress has been at the core of the deficit problem for the past 4 decades, and holds the “keys” to the “macro” deficit solution, but everyone seems to be focusing on the “unprecedented” actions of the Executive branch alone these days, instead of asking themselves important questions such as “what will it really take for the US not to go bankrupt like Greece did”…or, “how many more generations of congressmen, senators, cabinet members, presidents (complete with their libraries and foundations), their relatives and friends, etc will we see exiting their office richer than they were when they entered before something changes”? …both sides of the aisle need to figure out the answer to these questions before it’s too late…
Everyone go out and buy a Tesla. Let’s make America great again.