By Tom Hastings, LA Progressive
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are partnering to create and new US government agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk underwrote the Trump campaign with $200 million in donations (AP estimate) and his own brand of buying votes.
Supposedly, the acronym comes from Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, the Doge. Whatever. When Heather Cox Richardson says the name of the pending Musk/Ramaswamy agency, she pronounces it doggy. She’s authoritative enough for me.
So yes, Musk paid for his new appointment, which represents a colossal conflict of interest, as that agency reportedly, avowedly, will shut down many regulations that currently govern aspects of Musk’s enormous US government contracts. Getting his new powers involved corruption–a person really isn’t supposed to pay to acquire powers in the US federal government. Can there be a shred of doubt that corruption won’t feature in nullifying EPA regulations on SpaceX, Tesla, and other Musk holdings?
But that is just toxic foreplay. Musk and Ramaswamy tell Forbes they will cut some $2 trillion in US federal spending (sparing all the contracts with Musk-owned corporations, no doubt). What do they intend to defund?
They will get rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which tells us, “We protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law.” Thanks, Elon, for planning to deep-six this one.
Goodbye, Department of Education. Populist demagogues like Trump have railed against such an unwanted department for decades, clearly tired of spending funds on schools that serve marginalized communities
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