Waste, Fraud, and Abuse?
DOGE is a master of all three
The Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) lead by Elon Musk, was created by an executive order and has been tasked with eliminating ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ within the federal bureaucracy. At a rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27th 2024 Musk claimed that he would cut $2T by the end of 2025. He has since revised that number downward to $1T as a ‘best case scenario’1.
You might expect that an effort of this size would start with an analysis of past results and ongoing investigations by the Office of the Inspector General, the federal agency established in 1976 for this purpose. For example, in FY2024 Health and Human services Inspector General Christi A. Grimm reported savings of over $7B2.
But early in his presidency Trump fired 17 of the IGs overseeing federal agencies, including Christi Grimm, saying “I don’t know [the fired IGs], but some people thought that some were unfair or were not doing the job.”3
Since its 1976 establishment, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been at the forefront of the Nation's efforts to fight waste, fraud and abuse and to improve the efficiency of Medicare, Medicaid and more than 100 other Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) programs. OIG has approximately 1,600 personnel. The majority of the agency’s resources go towards the oversight of Medicare and Medicaid — programs that represent a significant part of the Federal budget and that affect this country's most vulnerable citizens.
Rather than an analytical approach, DOGE appears to be indiscriminately cutting staff and terminating programs, similar to his approach to cost cutting at Twitter X which resulted in massive disruption and an estimated 80% loss in valuation. So much for Elon’s business acumen.
Here are some examples of DOGE actions since Trump’s inauguration4.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
protects consumers from financial fraud
2024 budget of $804M or .0008% of the target
Recently authorized to oversee privacy issues, fraud and how disputed transactions are handled at mobile payment apps like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, PayPal, Cash App — and X's proposed money service.
Federal Aviation Administration
In spite of an increase of accidents since the beginning of the Trump administration, DOGE terminated hundreds of probationary5 FAA employees6. (Probationary employees are those who have been in their current position for less than a year). They are now trying to fill open positions for air traffic controllers.
In September of 2024 SpaceX was fined over $600,000 by the FAA for failing to follow license requirements for two rocket launches.
FAA is proposing to cancel an existing contract with Verizon in favor of a new contract with Starlink, another one of Musk’s companies7.
Internal Revenue Service
Annual budget of $12.3B, or about 1.2% of the target
Collects $5.1 trillion in revenue for an ROI of 415:18.
DOGE laid off over 6000 probationary employees
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Provides foreign aid to build goodwill and influence in developing countries
Total budget of $21.7B or about 2% of the $1T target
Was investigating Musk owned Starlink operations in Ukraine
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Can DOGE find One Trillion Dollars?
Spend a few minutes with the Balance the Budget game and you’ll quickly realize that this would only be possible by huge reductions in government benefits and services that are universally supported by American voters regardless of party affiliation.
The question that never seems to be asked is, can we balance the budget by raising taxes? The answer, of course, is yes. Give it a try yourself by playing the Balance the Budget game here.
But a more interesting question is “do we have to balance the budget”. In spite of the constant fear mongering by politicians, the national debt and deficits are not existential threats and in themselves are not harmful. This is commonly understood by economists. To understand why take a look at “The Deficit Myth” by Stephanie Kelton or google MMT.
Summary
Although there is certainly waste, fraud, and abuse to be found in the federal government, DOGE’s slash and burn approach is not an effective way to address it. In fact there is ample evidence that after dismantling the exiting oversight capability, DOGE is a leading source of all three.
The federal debt is not an existential threat, it is simply a measure of the difference between the money government has spent and taxes it has collected. Given the unprecedented increase in wealth inequality it seems clear where the money went and that the proper way to solve the problem is not to cut government support for ordinary citizens, but ask the wealthy for some of our money back.
Questions
Why do conservatives refuse to consider increased taxes as part of the solution to deficits?
How does defunding the IRS make sense?
Why are cuts to spending concentrated on programs that benefit the average American while tax cuts are always primarily for the wealthy?
Probationary means that the employee has been in their current position for less than a year. Probationary employees may be fired at will.
A game, a ruse to get things changed for the benefit of people who don’t need it. This is truly a move toward oligarchy and authoritarian rule. It’s not well hidden, but has traction due to slow moving resistance. Perhaps some MAGA voters will wake up and put pressure on their representatives before it’s too late.
Let’s just hope the republicans say “enough” soon enough.