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• EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 2y ago
  AI summary: The article challenges Musk’s bold claims that his “fiscal commandos” in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are rapidly uncovering fraud and waste that will cut federal spending by as much as $2 trillion a year. It explains that while Musk’s team regularly announces contract cancellations and agency scrapping, a review of daily Treasury data shows that government outlays have actually risen—from about $26 billion a day under Biden to roughly $30 billion now—and the overall spending trajectory this fiscal year is nearly unchanged from previous years. In part, this is because nearly two‐thirds of the federal budget is committed to mandatory programs like Social Security and health insurance, with only a small fraction available for discretionary cuts (and much of that is devoted to defense, which is politically protected). Even if DOGE could eliminate all fraud—estimated by watchdogs to be between $233 billion and $521 billion annually—it would still fall far short of Musk’s ultra-ambitious targets. Moreover, many of DOGE’s actions, such as targeting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs or cancelling multi-year contracts, represent only modest savings (totalling roughly $7–$45 billion a year, less than 1% of overall spending). While DOGE has already disrupted the lives of thousands of federal employees (with mass layoffs and leaves), its core mission to generate vast savings appears to be facing enormous structural and political limitations.