{"id":44070,"date":"2024-12-10T06:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44070"},"modified":"2024-12-10T06:16:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T11:16:00","slug":"will-musk-and-ramaswamys-doge-be-able-to-gut-the-federal-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44070","title":{"rendered":"Will Musk and Ramaswamy\u2019s DOGE be able to gut the Federal Government?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good day all. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have come together with President Trump to look into how to cut the size of government, along with the out of control spending and regulations. This new \u201cDepartment\u201d has been named the Department of Government Efficiency, or, as a bit of humor on Musk\u2019s part, DOGE.<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Of course, the usual Deep State suspects are saying that it won\u2019t be possible for DOGE to actually do anything. They are bringing in their \u201cExperts\u201d pointing out all the potential issues. The Democrat Party\u2019s Propaganda Corps is also doing everything they can to assist, such as The Hill. Here are some of the details from, you guessed it, The Hill<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are set to take the reins of the brand new \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d (DOGE) under President-elect Trump\u00a0\u2014 a panel with bold ambitions of slashing government costs and restructuring federal agencies.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, it is likely to face numerous roadblocks in its efforts to effect change in the next administration given its seemingly advisory role, experts said.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the executive branch that might be in their way. The Congress might be in their way. The Constitution is a bit of an obstacle,\u201d said Douglas Holtz-Eakin,<\/a> president of American Action Forum.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that, clear sailing,\u201d he told The Hill.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know anything about the American Action Forum other then what I found out researching things for this post. According to that tome of absolute accuracy, Wikipedia<\/a>, They\u2019re some sort of \u201cConservative\u201d Think Tank. Looking at a few other details, I\u2019d say they are actually part of the problem and not the solution. Their \u201cConservative\u201d credentials are laughable. They appear, at first glance, to be part of the TransNational Globalist movement. Take of this what you will.<\/p>\n

Trump announced Tuesday, November 12th<\/sup>, evening that the pair of tech entrepreneurs would jointly lead the panel, which will \u201cprovide advice and guidance from outside of Government.\u201d \u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

It will partner with the White House and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to \u201cdrive large scale structural reform,\u201d with its work set to conclude by July 4, 2026, Trump said in a statement.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

So that is the answer to Holtz-Eakin\u2019s comments about DOGE not being able to do much. One of the ways to cut government is not to ask congress for any funds to pay for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will become, potentially, \u2018The Manhattan Project\u2019 of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of \u2018DOGE\u2019 for a very long time,\u201d the president-elect said.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

We\u2019re already seeing members of Congress sending Musk and Ramaswamy lists of things that can be cut, some of them over a trillion dollars. Another target is the Pentagon. We do need to rebuild the military and that is going to include a lot of reequipping, recruiting and retraining. However, easily 30+ percent of the Defense budget is wasted. A lot of this is due to Congress and will require congressional action to correct. Another problem is how the procurement process works. That will be a multiyear project all by itself.<\/p>\n

While DOGE is now set to become a reality, experts are skeptical about what it will actually be able to accomplish.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds to me like an outside commission that will give OMB recommendations on what they think should be done to improve government efficiency, and as such its powers are entirely advisory,\u201d Holtz-Eakin said.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have any authority to do anything other than say, \u2018We think this will be good,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cEvidently, Mr. Musk has a lot of free time, and if he wants to waste it, that\u2019s fine.\u201d\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

What Holtz-Eakin, (Yeah, nothing like a snobby double barreled last name to say \u201cI\u2019m an over-educated snob), is not seeing are the other people that President Trump is putting into place. These are the men and women who will be working with DOGE to rip the guts out of their own agencies. They will have the authority to put the \u201cSuggestions\u201d of DOGE into place.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Government commissions such as DOGE typically have a large staff and budget and produce a formal report with recommendations for Congress, explained Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation\u00a0at the Brookings Institution.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cBut since this was not created by Congress, we don\u2019t know what its authority is and what status it has,\u201d West said. \u201cI mean, any American can make suggestions on ways to cut the government budget, but the\u00a0question \u2014 is anybody going to pay serious attention to this?\u201d\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

Obviously, you and the other Beltway Bandits won\u2019t be. However, you already have members of congress who talking with Musk and Ramaswamy about what can be cut or eliminated. Add to that we have a President who tried to drain the swamp last time, but now has what he needs to actually get it done.<\/p>\n

Any major budget cuts would have to be approved by Congress, he noted. While Republicans have secured control of both chambers, they are likely to have a narrow majority in the House and lack a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not clear that any draconian measure is going to see the light of day,\u201d West said.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Would you care to put a small wager on this? The United States is essentially bankrupt, and it\u2019s due to people like you who live by writing studies and reports with no intention of actually trying to get them implemented. Perhaps you should put down the cocktail and actually pay attention to the anger out here in Flyover country.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the idea was floated earlier this year, ethics experts and former government officials raised concerns that Musk holding dual roles in his tech companies and the Trump administration could be a conflict of interest. <\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The issue here is that Elon Musk owns SpaceX and Tesla. They do business with the Government. I don\u2019t think it will be an issue since it\u2019s know that he has all this and if something comes up that might be a conflict, he\u2019ll just hand it to Vivek. Besides, he won\u2019t be the one ordering the cuts. That isn\u2019t stopping all the Big Government types from whining.<\/p>\n

\u201cHanding the keys of government to those looking to profit from our government is extremely dangerous and a massive conflict of interest,\u201d Zach Moller, economic program director at Third Way, a center-left think tank, said in a statement. \u201cThe idea of a Musk-run government efficiency commission is a farce and will lead to more waste, fraud, and rampant abuse of political power.\u201d\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans would be right to suspect that Musk would use his newfound government powers to throw a lifeline to his teetering companies,\u201d he added. \u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n

Last I heard, Musk\u2019s companies were doing just fine. What\u2019s probably got this bozo\u2019s panties in a twist is that DOGE may recommend killing hundreds of billions in payments to all the causes this jerk supports. Now there are some things that can\u2019t be cut, and I doubt that Musk and Ramaswamy are even thinking about them. Here are a few details from Deseret News<\/a>:<\/p>\n

But he may find cutting government spending more difficult because so much of it is locked up in promises made to creditors or to American taxpayers. In 2024, the federal government spent<\/a> $1.1 trillion on interest payments on the nation\u2019s debt, $2.9 trillion on Social Security and Medicare, and another $1.4 trillion in defense spending. <\/b><\/p>\n

The interest on the debt will be paid, and that isn\u2019t even on the table. The Defense Department is awash in waste. The trick is to make cuts that don\u2019t effect readiness and actually improve our defense infrastructure. A lot of the waste is due to the incredible amount of bureaucratic nonsense that defense contractors have to go through.<\/p>\n

The amount of paperwork for a box of screws is ridiculous. A lot of this is, sadly, caused by Congress, but they could probably find a couple of hundred billion in savings that can be put to things like replenishing our munitions, training and maintenance, not to mention pay raises for the troops.<\/p>\n

Ramaswamy is firmly on the side of cutting spending. In recent days he has spoken about wanting to cut the federal bureaucracy, with the idea that this will be a place he can find significant savings. About 3 million Americans<\/a> work for the federal government, not including military personnel or government contractors. Federal employees live in every state in the country, although the largest number live in the Washington, D.C., area, including the Virginia and Maryland cities that ring the district. <\/b><\/p>\n

A lot of these departments and agencies are duplicative, and can be shut down. Many of these agencies are also way overstaffed, especially with managers.<\/p>\n

Even cutting government employees will be difficult. Most are unionized, with 800,000 federal workers organized under the umbrella union the American Federation of Government Employees, AFGE<\/a>. <\/b><\/p>\n

If you do layoffs, then the union can\u2019t do much about it. There is also talk about revamping the civil service system. I suspect it will be \u201cYou can be in a union or you can have civil service protection. Not both.\u201d They can also just not replace people who leave through normal attrition. If they do need to replace someone, they can be transferred in from another department that is overstaffed. (You can expect the Union to scream bloody murder on that!)<\/p>\n

After the election, the AFGE released a statement that said, \u201cDuring Trump\u2019s first term, his administration tried to dismantle many of our negotiated union contracts, downsize and relocate federal agencies at great disruption and cost to taxpayers, and replace tens of thousands of non-partisan civil servants with political appointees who would blindly do his bidding.\u201d The union said it would not \u201cstand by and let any political leader \u2014 regardless of their political affiliation \u2014 run roughshod over the Constitution and our laws.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And back then, you had the help of some of the Deep State RINO\u2019s in congress. A lot of those people are gone and this time President Trump is a lot better prepared. One of the things the Union might try is a threat to go on strike. I really hope they do. It\u2019s been a while since a union got PATCO\u2019d and it\u2019s long past due.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If, as I hope, Department of Government Efficiency finds trillions in spending that can be cut, I think that a lot of people are going to be surprised. I don\u2019t know how the suggestions will be made, but I think a lot is going to end up on TwitterX. The idea will be to have voters call their alleged representatives and tell them to cut all that junk.<\/p>\n

Now one thing DOGE might want to try is crowdsourcing the investigations. Whatever can be made publicly available, (And most of the defense budget as well as the intelligence services budgets can\u2019t be made public), should be and people, on their own time, can start digging into everything. DOGE can use their paid employees to validate and verify any suggestions. Between those in congress who want to help and the average citizen, I won\u2019t be surprised of they don\u2019t find a way to cut at least half the budget and not have any effect on services. We might actually see things improve. We shall see.<\/p>\n

Thatisall<\/p>\n\"1\"2\"3\"4\"5 (2<\/strong> votes, average: 5.00<\/strong> out of 5)
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~The Angry Webmaster~<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good day all. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have come together with President Trump to look into how to cut the size of government, along with the out of control spending and regulations. This new \u201cDepartment\u201d has been named the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[176,181,141,135,37,750,100,71,95],"tags":[11,52,426,1781,303,199,1004,12,17,377,101,8,413,151,394,28,1785],"class_list":["post-44070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-hero","category-jobs","category-just-desserts","category-liberty-politics","category-maga","category-moonbat","category-news-of-the-day","category-union-thugs","tag-america","tag-constitution","tag-deep-state","tag-doge","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy-2","tag-elon-musk","tag-freedom","tag-liberty","tag-maga","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-progressives","tag-rino","tag-uniparty","tag-united-states","tag-vivek-ramaswamy"],"views":260,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44618,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44618","url_meta":{"origin":44070,"position":0},"title":"Trump sticks his finger in the eye of DOGE detractors, gives them More Power","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"March 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all. If there is one thing we can all agree on, the Deep State absolutely despises Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. The Democrats in Congress have been ranting and raving over all the things that DOGE has been finding. The Deep State has been going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=176"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.pinimg.com\/736x\/46\/6c\/09\/466c0990e875f049bcb55a273fe5cd6b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44446,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44446","url_meta":{"origin":44070,"position":1},"title":"Deep State in a panic! Musk and Doge now looking at Federal payments","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"February 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all. Each and every day we see progressive liberal Democrat heads going \u201cPOP!\u201d They are also panicking over what Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, (DOGE), is going to do to their systems of grift and graft. The latest thing that is panicking the Deep State\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=176"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.pinimg.com\/736x\/7a\/47\/3b\/7a473bb9f54d8e07e7322e80f2055fa2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44238,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44238","url_meta":{"origin":44070,"position":2},"title":"Elon and Vivek make an Oopsie with H1B visas","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"December 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all. I missed this when it first broke so I\u2019m playing a bit of catch up. Apparently, Elon and Vivek announced that we need to bring in more H1B visa holders. This set off a bit of a firestorm and for obvious reasons. For a bit of background,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=176"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/angry.net\/blog2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/keepcalmshoe-300x233.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44584,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44584","url_meta":{"origin":44070,"position":3},"title":"Trump tells Musk, \u201cBe more aggressive.\u201d","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"March 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all. In the month that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have been operational, they have identified at least $50 billion in waste and fraud. They\u2019ve also provided President Trump the information that he used to shut down one of the big Democrat slush funds, USAID.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero"","block_context":{"text":"Hero","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=181"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.pinimg.com\/736x\/5a\/51\/fb\/5a51fb48ac994a995b40274114814b3f.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44197,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44197","url_meta":{"origin":44070,"position":4},"title":"Elon Musk for Speaker of the House?","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"December 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all. One of the issues the Republican Party is the current Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. He became Speaker of the House when no one else was acceptable to the GOP. He was basically a compromise choice. Many saw him as a caretaker, and other saw him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=176"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.pinimg.com\/736x\/0f\/74\/78\/0f747819e7935e2b8aa85010accb84ed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44272,"url":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?p=44272","url_meta":{"origin":44070,"position":5},"title":"Elon Musk walks back H1B remarks, now calls for major reforms","author":"Angry Webmaster","date":"January 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Good day all. The other day I wrote up a post on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy making a bit of an \u201cOopsie\u201d regarding the H1B visas. Many others were, in my opinion, rather vicious in their take down. I and others simply remarked that Musk and Ramaswamy were mistaken.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/?cat=176"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/angry.net\/blog2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/keepcalmshoe-300x233.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44070"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44133,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44070\/revisions\/44133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angry.net\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}