DOGE, Its Goals, Its Caucus, And The Hope It Will Work

The formation of the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been hailed by many people as a game changer. When its formation was announced, Elon Musk, one of the two men chosen with the task of leading it suggested he could cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending. Hope immediately soared with many people reacting like this claim was a done deal. Unnoticed by many Musk enthusiasts was that he soon rolled back expectations calling this a best-case scenario. 

DOGE's Efforts May Be Halted By Lawsuits

Now that Trump is in office, reality sets in, and what happens next is far from certain. Cutting government spending is easier said than done. This is apparent when Musk talks about cutting the jobs of government workers. He said the aim of DOGE was not to be cruel. He went on to say, "We will reduce a lot of government headcount, but we're going to give very long severances. Like two years, or something like that." To reality seekers, this conflicts with the idea that DOGE will bring about rapid and long lasting cuts.

While it won’t be an actual federal agency, other government agencies will hire DOGE teams to interface with them in an effort to find savings. This story just gained a new wrinkle, as an article following the inauguration revealed that one of its two co-leaders, Vivek Ramaswamy, plans to leave DOGE. This leaves DOGE needing someone to run the day-to-day operations and interface with Congress. A very busy Elon Musk already runs SpaceX and his other companies. 

This is starting to feed into Tesla's future and even Tesla's stock price as Musk is left with too much to do. It does not help that President Donald Trump pledged in his inauguration speech to undo the huge "electric vehicle mandate." This means Biden’s multibillion-dollar effort to usher in a transition to electric vehicles is slatted to be rendered void. 

The goals of the DOGE are huge, they include;

• Restructuring the federal government of the United States.
• Removing regulations to reduce expenditures.
• Increasing government efficiency.
• Cutting wasteful spending.
• Recommending elimination of unneeded government spending.

Still, government waste is huge and many cuts can be made. A few days ago, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) outlined the goals of the DOGE Caucus. Six and a half minutes into this video from Forbes Breaking News, Ernst claims if you can't find waste in Washington, you aren't looking. She then talks about the cost of making both the penny and the nickel. The cost of producing the penny has now soared to three cents and producing the nickel is eleven cents. These are the low fruit on the tree of government waste.

The cost of producing coins many people don't want represent billions in waste and making matters worse there are not hundreds of wasteful government programs but thousands. Over the years I have written several articles about how it is time to toss the penny into the dustbin of history. This is not an obsession but rather an observation based on reason. Today, getting rid of small value coins is even more relevant.The the post-COVID war on cash and inflation has eroded their value and buying power.

In 2018, when it costs only 1.6 cents to produce each one-cent coin stamped out discontinuing the penny would have saved $11 million a year. It was pointed out here on AdvancingTime that the President could pay for his wall by stopping the production of the penny saving America billions of dollars, most of it from handling the near worthless little coin.  

Even back then, the penny was a perfect example of our government's inefficiency and waste, and the cost is a burden carried by business. I explained that if an employee is paid $12.00 an hour they receive twenty cents per minute. Businesses simply cannot afford to pay an employee to handle and count pennies, the cost of the labor exceeds their value. Back then, the “citizens to retire the penny” said more than 15 billion dollars annually is wasted just in handling the pathetic little coin.

Is DOGE A Self-Serving Tool For Musk?

Back in 2018 during Trump's first term the government shut down over an impasse concerning 25 billion dollars to build a wall on America's southern border. Many people who are not fans of big government did not have a problem with the shutdown. The problem is that in the end, unlike life in the private sector, it is standard operating procedure to grant all these government workers retroactive pay. In short, it is stupid to pay government workers to stay home over a few billion dollars in a  budget of well over five trillion dollars.

Most Americans agree there is a lot of waste in government spending.The big question is whether DOGE will be able to have any real impact on reducing spending and the size of our government. This will be an uphill battle. It is the nature of government to expand. Much of our governments growth has been hidden by outsourcing, forming quasi-governmental entities, and expanding its power through mandates. Until I see significant results, paint me skeptical.

 

Footnote: This is the link to the article about how discontinuing the penny in 2018 would have quickly paid for building a wall on the border.
https://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2018/12/getting-rid-of-penny-would-pay-for.html

(Republishing this article is permitted with reference to Bruce Wilds/AdvancingTime Blog)