Musk vows trillion-dollar savings as budget crisis looms
Elon Musk stated that within the framework of the American Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he will identify a trillion dollars in savings in the U.S. budget. Despite these grand announcements, DOGE is currently very far from achieving savings of this magnitude.
On Wednesday, Trump and Musk led the first meeting of the new American government's cabinet. The billionaire appeared wearing a t-shirt with the inscription "Tech support" and a black hat with "MAGA" (Make America Great Again) on it.
- We simply cannot sustain as a country $2 trillion deficits. Just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department's spending," Musk told department heads assembled around a large wooden table in the Cabinet Room. "If this continues, the country will become de facto bankrupt - Musk argued.
The billionaire expressed hope that the Department of Government Efficiency would be able to identify 1 trillion dollars in unnecessary or illegal expenditures from the budget. Together with Trump, he also suggested that further mass layoffs of federal employees should be undertaken as part of the savings effort.
Musk seeks savings. Data may be exaggerated
Despite Musk's grand announcements, DOGE is currently very far from achieving savings of 1 trillion dollars. The official team page mentions saving 65 billion dollars by canceling contracts, but according to media analyses, these figures are significantly exaggerated.
According to an analysis by the Associated Press, 40 percent of canceled contracts did not result in budgetary savings. As the New York Times reported, five of the supposedly largest savings were quietly removed from the DOGE website due to glaring errors.
The team claimed, for instance, that they saved 8 billion dollars on one contract, although the actual savings were 8 million. Other savings, however, were counted twice, three times, or even four times.
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