Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency task force has opened its doors to hiring, inviting applications before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
Nicknamed DOGE, his preferred cryptocurrency Tesla CEO, his goal is to radically reduce the size of the federal government by streamlining bureaucracy, eliminating jobs and eliminating a third of the $6.75 trillion fiscal budget.
Only the smartest Americans most ideologically dedicated to the cause should consider polishing their resumes, however, because the task will be arduous and thankless, according to DOGE, which will be co-chaired by Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
“We need small government revolutionaries who are willing to work more than 80 hours a week to cut costs,” said DOGE. statement he posted on Thursday from his official account.
Interested parties who want to throw their hat in the ring should send a message directly to the DOGE, which already carries a gray check. X It has been introduced to indicate a government organization. Doing so isn’t free, however, as it involves paying Musk a subscription fee to X for the privilege and so far the account is exclusive to his social media platform.
Outstanding candidates who meet the criteria will be personally selected by Musk and his partner, he promised: “Elon & Vivek will screen the top 1% of applicants.”
The dissolution of the “Administrative State”.
Conservatives have advocated ridding the resource-hungry bureaucracy since Ronald Reagan transformed the party in 1986 with his famous slogan, “The nine scariest words in the English language: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.'”
Rather than creating a level playing field for the market, the state has become synonymous among conservatives and libertarians with an ever-hungry leviathan that expands by feeding on individual sovereignty (US government spending as part of the economy, however, comparatively low compared to other industrialized states).
“Republican politicians have dreamed up the goals of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time,” Trump said. statement this week
Project 2025, the policy plan written by the Heritage Foundation for a possible Republican-controlled White House, targeted the so-called Administrative State, “the dismantling of which must be a top priority for the next conservative president.”
Instead, they prefer that spending be scrutinized by Congress, holding lawmakers accountable to their constituents rather than abdicating responsibility to corporate lobbies and federal agencies.
Exactly how DOGE will work is not clear. No official explanation has been given yet supervisionTrump has confirmed that he will operate outside the executive branch but under his authority.
This means that it can be little more than a glorified advisory body, or it can be very influential, depending on its favor with the president-elect.
“ALL government spending is taxes,” Musk complained
Like many Silicon Valley innovators, Musk has been highly critical of the red tape that has been put in place to ensure everything from worker rights to a safe and secure work environment. protection of fauna biodiversity. But regulation can also protect special interest groups from the competitive forces of the free market—take, for example— New York taxi drivers.
He has advocated for a regulated garbage collection service to deal with the growing barrage of rules and statutes that affect economic growth. When asked what this might entail, he proposed reducing the number of federal agencies to a quarter of their current level removing $2 trillion from the budget.
“ALL government spending is taxes,” Musk said, either directly by imposing obligations on the population to fund its budget, or indirectly by inflating the money supply through loans.
Strictly speaking, the latter is partially accurate: The Federal Reserve has control of the printing press and can choose to monetize the debt issued by the Treasury (if Trump gets his way and the Fed does). loses political independenceThe Oval Office can even force it to do so). But Musk’s argument is emblematic of conservative thought.
‘Once in a century opportunity’
Trump has DOGE collect contempthowever, due to the decision to unnecessarily double the roles with the two men responsible for the task.
But Tesla bulls see a silver lining: Musk can emerge when it’s convenient to focus on big-picture strategy while leaving Ramaswamy to bear the brunt of day-to-day political fallout and claims. (He has musk half joking he will need to increase his personal security details because someone at the post office can “mail” him).
Ramaswamy, a native of Ohio he made his fortune selling biotech investors with the promise of discontinued drug candidatesJD Vance rejected a shot at the Senate seat he will soon vacate for the DOGE job.
“We won and now have a once-in-a-century opportunity to radically reduce the size, scope and role of the federal government,” Ramaswamy celebrated in a message this week.
The Committee on a Responsible Federal Budget, the think tank that has championed Social Security’s means testing, already has an idea where they might start. On Thursday the deficit-black published a the proposal Thursday to find out how it could save $700 billion.
