We wanted Elon Musk to succeed. We were pulling for his full triumph. He’s blasted countless satellites into orbit. He put EVs on the road. He saved free speech on social media. If anyone could cut $2 trillion in annual waste, he’s the guy.
The task for DOGE was simple enough. Musk would apply the disruptive magic of Silicon Valley to the grim halls of Washington. He’d shutter all the useless agencies that specialize in pointless minutia and archaic laws and regulations. He’d eliminate waste and make the government more efficient. Why not?
All in all, from our observations and experiences, ambition and reality generally do not line up. What little boy doesn’t dream of being an astronaut or a starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers when he grows up? How many live this out?
Nonetheless, we believe the best personal and professional endeavors are those that are nearly impossible to attain. There are others, however, that are absolutely futile. Sending people to Mars, for example, is on the spectrum of nearly impossible. Making the federal government efficient is absolutely futile.
Musk’s 130-day stint as a “special government employee” is over. DOGE has identified $180 billion in savings. This amounts to 9 percent of the intended $2 trillion target.
What’s more, of the $180 billion in identified DOGE cuts, President Trump has requested $9.4 billion in recissions – or less than 0.5 percent of $2 trillion. This is proof that Musk’s task was absolutely futile.
To be fair, Musk’s efforts with DOGE were not a complete waste. They were a learning experience that provided valuable insights and instruction – not only to Musk, but to all people who care about America’s rapidly approaching financial destruction.
Capital Consumption
The main lesson here is that it’s impossible for government, in its degenerate and ossified form, to be made more efficient. DOGE sounded great on the campaign trail – it was fantastic for getting votes. It also created a delightful buzz during the promise of the first 100 days of the new presidency. But, in reality, DOGE has been a distracting sideshow.
The name “Department of Government Efficiency,” and with Musk at the controls, produced visions of sleek, data-driven discovery of waste, which could be surgically deleted for the benefit of taxpayers. At the outset, if you recall, there were even possibilities all the savings would be returned to Americans in the form of DOGE dividends.
Certainly, the promise of a pain-free quick fix for America’s fiscal nightmare by a certifiable genius was worth a shot. There was optimism that Musk could clean up the IRS, the Pentagon’s procurement, and compel the postal service to operate within budget.
Armed with algorithms, AI, and a mandate to ruthlessly cut costs and streamline processes, Musk and his team of geeks got to it. But then the ambition of DOGE encountered the reality of government.
Government is not a startup. Nor is it a massive corporation with a clear profit motive and a single bottom line. It is a multiheaded beast, a complex system of competing interests, entrenched bureaucracies, and political fiefdoms. Government does not multiply capital like a successful business does, rather its main purpose in life is to consume it.
In practice, the illogical nature of government follows a logic that’s all its own. Every regulation, every government form, every absurd procedure, was birthed from some past crisis, some political compromise, or some misguided attempt to plan the world and extract tribute for the ruling class.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Musk’s relentless pursuit of moonshots in business is wholly opposed to the established and ‘resistant to change’ nature of public administration. Attempting to overhaul a federal agency by firing staff, streamlining processes, and employing new technologies is politically unacceptable.
The initial burst of DOGE enthusiasm quickly gave way to the demoralizing reality of agency domains, legislative indifference, and the utter impossibility of executing a corporate-style efficiency model onto a system designed to deliberately consume capital.
The civil service, with its unions, its tenure, and its deeply ingrained procedures, cannot be changed. Congress, with its passion for hearings and investigations, won’t allow it.
DOGE, unfortunately, was mostly a press release. A smoke and mirrors way to distract the populace from the $3.8 trillion in additional debt that’s proposed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
Musk, for his part, believed in the mission and he believed on the country’s leading man. He even wore red hats around on his head that said, “Trump Was Right About Everything.”
Perhaps in his mind it was a last-ditch effort to save America from itself. Musk sacrificed his businesses. He forfeited massive amounts of his personal wealth. In return, he became the most hated man in America.
Now Musk has Elizabeth Warren – the Senate’s resident Karen – all over his backside like a soiled diaper. This week she released a report titled 130 Days of Elon Musk. Inside, she makes 130-claims – one for each day – of how he profited from his work at DOGE. Of course, if Warren was actually doing her job there would be no reason for DOGE in the first place.
The DogeFather in Exile
With Musk now in exile, DOGE is going from being ignored to obscurity. And the public, once again, is left with the bitter taste of yet another failed promise.
Success in business and technological expertise have proved to be no match for the immutable laws of bureaucratic physics. The lesson, as always, is that there’s no way to dismantle the government monster that has been formed over several centuries.
The U.S. government will grow and grow until it has extracted every last dollar. This cannot be reversed. The growth of government will not end until it ultimately collapses under the weight of its own excess. In the process, the government monster will bankrupt America and take the citizenry down with it.
At his exit press conference on his last day with DOGE, Musk donned a black shirt saying “The DogeFather.” In his brief 130-days in Washington, he got as close a look at how government really works as one could possibly get. And he didn’t like what he saw.
Musk may now be in exile, but he’s refusing to keep his mouth shut. On Tuesday, he took to his own platform, X to voice criticism of OBBBA:
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Then, on Wednesday, he made the following recommendation:
“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL”
The outbursts continued on Thursday. But aside from thrilling headlines, we don’t expect Musk’s rants on X will have much effect on Washington’s out of control spending. But The DogeFather is not to be underestimated…
He’s achieved the nearly impossible several times before. He may one day send people to Mars.
As for cleaning house in Washington…
Get real.
[Editor’s note: Trump Sends Strange “Coded” Message to Conservatives (Liberals Can’t Figure It Out!). Democrats are complaining that Trump is doing something illegal… but conservatives understand EXACTLY what he’s telling them to do. Click here to see what we see next for Trump’s “Master Plan”.]
Sincerely,
MN Gordon
for Economic Prism
