A secure nation requires a sound economy and a trusted currency. It is not apparent that America believes that.
Take the case of Elon Musk and his cadre called DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Walter Isaacson’s biography, Elon Musk, described his eccentricities, work ethic, and achievements. He is an engineering genius who cuts costs to the bone. His SpaceX rocket, for example, cost 25 to 50 times less than Boeing’s rocket. In late January, he recruited one hundred senior executives (average age: 47) to reduce costs in the federal government and to modernize accounting systems. Why? Because, he said, America was on the path to bankruptcy.
At that time, a poll found 69% supported cutting $1 trillion from the budget, and 60% thought DOGE would help to achieve that. DOGE executives spread out across the 180 federal agencies that spent $6.4 trillion. Every executive worked seven days a week for no pay. After three months, the DOGE website listed $160 billion in cost reductions. That was a savings of $1.6 billion achieved per DOGE executive, a remarkable business accomplishment.
And how was DOGE greeted? The mainstream press responded by publishing a ratio of seven negative stories for each positive story. DOGE was portrayed as irresponsible. While 70% of Republicans still approved, press coverage in three months changed the opinion of independents from 61% positive to 57% negative. Ninety-four percent of Democrats disapproved of DOGE. Going a step further, 137 Democratic legislators even voted against a bill to recover $100 billion from Covid fraudsters. How do you justify tolerating fraud?
AI too played a negative and misleading role in portraying DOGE. AI is created by thousands of programmers. Their strong progressive bias affects how AI programs sift data and respond to queries. For instance, asked how many federal workers DOGE had fired, ChatGPT initially replied: “DOGE has overseen the departure of 260,000 federal employees. This includes 220,000 probationary employees.” Only after a series of skeptical questions did ChatGPT admit that DOGE was responsible for “31,000 confirmed firings, with additional 24,000 probationary terminations under legal review.”
The 260,000 firings shrank to 31,000. President Biden added 180,000 federal workers. Three out of every 1,000 federal employees are annually fired for cause, compared to 80 in the private sector. In three months, DOGE reached the annual 3% firing rate for federal workers. Yet DOGE was accused of a number ten times higher.
What’s going on here? In the net, over three months DOGE saved each taxpayer about $1,000. Although not earth-shaking, this was substantial. But DOGE received no credit. DOGE consists mainly of engineers and software experts who focus upon tangible results. They lacked public relations skills. Musk posing with a chainsaw was the prime maladroit example. When Democratic legislators peddled distortions, Republican legislators remained silent. The basic power of the president is persuasion from the bully pulpit. But President Trump, after briefly praising DOGE, wandered off to other subjects. The small group simply lacked vocal advocates and defenders.
On the other hand, from the start Democrats, the mainstream press, and AI opposed DOGE and its mission. What caused their angry distortions and their visceral refusal to reduce bloated programs and an excessively large federal workforce? Alistair Cooke, the insightful British journalist and broadcaster, wrote that “civilizations decline when they lose confidence in their founding values and worry more about their entitlements than their obligations.” It is a solemn obligation to be strict stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars. DOGE took that seriously. But at least half of America responded by worrying more about their entitlements.
So, DOGE will remain under attack, even while we add this year $2 trillion to our already unsustainable debt. A secure nation requires a sound economy and a trusted currency. It is not apparent that a majority of Americans endorse that. The barricades are manned to defend unaudited and wasteful spending.
