On the campaign trail for Trump, Elon Musk waxed eloquently about the need to cut government spending and regulations. To do so, Trump announced that he planned to appoint Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an outside task force called the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
Before the election, Musk claimed he planned to cut $2 trillion from federal government spending. Last week Musk changed his tune and said he probably would be able to cut less than $1 trillion. Why? Because it’s much more difficult to cut government spending than you might imagine. More than two-thirds of the federal budget goes to defense, Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits and interest payments on the nation’s $36 trillion debt—all areas which Trump has promised not to cut.
So where does the irony come in with Musk and cost-cutting? Let’s take a brief look at how much money Musk has received from government contracts and subsidies over the last 14 years.
Space X has secured contracts for approximately $20 billion for crew and cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station and Starship development for lunar missions.
Tesla has received several types of government support, including a $465 million low-interest loan from the Department of Energy. He also has received significant income from environmental regulatory credits. These credits resulted in a substantial part of Tesla’s revenue, contributing more than $517 million by 2015, and an additional $10 billion since 2015. And don’t forget the Federal $7,000 tax credit that each Tesla owner received simply for buying an electric vehicle at a time when Tesla had a near monopoly on the electric vehicle market.
Solar City, which Tesla acquired, has received direct grants, tax credits and other subsidies including a $497 million direct grant from the U.S. Treasury Department.
In short, a prime reason that Musk is the richest man in the world is because of the money he has received from the federal government.
In the past, Musk has also had several adversarial knock-down drag outs with government regulators over the safety of his Teslas and environmental issues over his rockets. In his new role, Musk will potentially have control over government regulators who are regulating his companies.
There is no question that Elon Musk is a brilliant entrepreneur. He has been declared an engineering and managerial genius. His IQ is estimated to be around 155, right up there with Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. His accomplishments to date are beyond impressive. But he also is driven to get to Mars as soon as possible and wants nothing to stand in his way—including regulators who care about safety and the environment—and competitors, such as Boeing and Jeff Bezos—his biggest competitors in the Space race. (Bezos and Musk both have rockets scheduled to launch this week.)
In his new position, Musk potentially will have the ability to get rid of some regulations and put the kibosh on some of his competition in the space race. Such conflicts used to be stifled at the outset. But in this brave new world, they seem to be alive and well and living in the USA. (In addition to exerting major influence on the U.S. and outer space, Musk is now endorsing the far-right candidate for Germany, has inserted himself into British politics encouraging the most conservative option, and has cozied up to Italy’s conservative prime minister Giorgia Meloni whom he has bonded with over their mutual affection for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.)
Jeff Bezos just announced a $40 million Amazon deal for a Melania Trump documentary. James Carville, who is well versed in the documentary market, claims that you can make an A-plus documentary for $2 million.
The concept of buying favor for personal gain, now front and center, is a distressing turn of events.
There is no question that there is government waste that can be pared down. But there’s also no question that regulations are needed to protect our environment and the safety of our citizens. There’s also no question that it is wrong to award government contracts to the entrepreneur with the deepest pockets—especially when the ultimate grifter, Donald Trump, is leading the charge.
It’s time for government watchdogs to do their jobs. It’s also time that we put limits on the amount of money these entrepreneurs can put forth to get the go-ahead on their pet projects and line the pockets of the Commander-in-Chief.
Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.
Mark Walchak says
I hope Musk can bring improvements to government efficiency. It’s surprising how many people seem to wish for his failure. Enhancing government operations to make them more efficient benefits everyone. To achieve this, we should listen to government workers about their frustrations and gather their ideas on how to make the system better.
Even President Biden has voiced frustration about bureaucratic red tape that delays environmental projects. I believe Musk has the potential to streamline government processes and remove unnecessary obstacles to progress. While some may argue these barriers serve as safeguards, many of them are outdated and hinder efficiency without offering meaningful protections.
Criticism about Musk receiving government funding overlooks the fact that he saves the government money. His contributions to space travel, for example, have been more cost-effective and innovative compared to NASA’s traditional methods. Musk secures contracts because his operations are less expensive and free from budget-inflating clauses that burden taxpayers.
While some criticize Musk for his political views, his ability to simplify complex systems and drive innovation makes him an ideal candidate to tackle inefficiency in government. Regardless of politics, his track record suggests he could be a transformative force in streamlining processes and improving outcomes.
John Dean says
One word comes to mind when reading this response: Naïve.
Elon Musk is an enemy of any government regulation that impedes his efforts to achieve the various goals that he has established for himself, including reusable rockets and electric, self-driving calls. Musk has aggressively pursued federal funding to support his various business concerns. At the same time, he has regularly ignored regulations and otherwise worked to circumvent them.
Musk prides himself on “pushing the envelope.” He has regularly over-promised what his engineering can achieve. The most prominent example is his goal of self-driving cars.
Self-driving technology was installed in Tesla vehicles before they were safe. As a result, 51 people were killed as of October 2024. In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects has opened a preliminary evaluation for an estimated 2.4 million Tesla vehicles over the safety of Tesla’s full self-driving technology.
Nobody wants efforts to achieve government efficiency to fail, but expecting someone like Musk—who has never worked for the government and regularly ignored or violated federal and state regulations—to succeed in such an effort is naïve.
Maria Grant says
Mark, thanks for your comments and for your Chat GPT or Grok response.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Elon has said that anyone who didn’t vote to confirm Ts nominees for all of these positions, would absolutely be primaried & that he was prepared to spend whatever it takes to make that happen. The control that man is wielding over our govt, especially on the Republican side, is a gut punch & truly frightening. America is in very serious trouble.
Yet you are fine.
Maybe read Jean Becker’s fabulous book Character Matters.
Mickey Terrone says
Hi Maria. Not to worry about Elon Musk. I read where Steve Bannon says he’ll have Musk kicked out of the White House by Inauguration Day! https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/bannon-musk-racist-trump-maga-rcna187468
The nest of Trump sychophants who are facing the public scrutiny by Democrats in Senate hearings this week and next will shine light on the degeneracy of their nominations and their appalling inadequacies for their jobs as government leaders.
Hegseth, for example, wasn’t nominated because he has any vision or experience or the personal character to lead our military. He was chosen, IMHO, by the small circle of radicals who do the thinking for Donald Trump on how best to radicalize the entire edifice of the US government. His priorities are misogyny to eliminate women from combat responsibilities (for which they have performed so well for years) and racism to rename US military bases back to their original Confederate ID’s because of their “heritage”.
Meanwhile Musk and Ramaswamy will tear into the various governmental departments and fire employees by the hundreds or thousands because those departments complicate the ease with which entrepreneurs like them make massive profits by forcing them to follow regulations. The regulations are usually in place to ensure employee and product safety and fraudulent practices and exist because of past entrepreneurs’ abuses in the past.
The Washington “Swamp” is about to become a jungle. Trump will be paying off on his “pay to play” dark money financial contributors like Musk and so many others – like the Bitcoin moguls.
You asked what can or should we do to deal with this assault on democracy, the rule of law, the twisting of the US Department of Justice into The Trump Defense Team and a latter day brownshirt thug squad to strangle political opposition like Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff. We absolutely need to call out the most monstrous of Trump’s threats as they become realities as they putrify our country into becoming a police state controlled by a “strongman”, i.e., “fuhrer”. Will he use the US military to thug our NATO partner Denmark into ceding Greenland to the US? Will he invade Panama to control the Panana Canal to demonstrate he is a “strong leader” like Putin? Will he force a veritable surrender of Ukraine that would hand substantial territory to his effective overlord, Putin? Will he act to undermine if not disintegrate NATO as a sop for the support of Putin? Would the vast majority of Americans, whose slim 1.5% plurality put him back in office, stand by and watch quietly as Trump abandons the heroic courage and sacrifices of the Ukranian people so Trump can kiss up to Putin?
Perhaps, but its is the duty of the Democratic Party to articulate (in no uncertain terms) the evil we are about to experience as American citizens, ashamed to witness democracy succumbing to allow a charlatan demagogue to dissemble the greatness of democracy that so many thousands of men and women have sacrificed and given their lives to preserve.
Its also important to remember that Trump is just the figurehead of a reactionary federalist movement that has laid the groundwork for a demagogue to grasp political powwer and control far beyond what most Americasn elected him to wield. Many people voted for him because they felt they weren’t better off economically than they were four years ago. Unless they are zombies, they didn’t vote for him to turn America into a Russian-style oligarchy or a Chinese-style totalitarian, communist or fascist state. The demagogue (and his radical team) now control both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court. The Republicans in both the House and Senate are frozen with fear to utter any criticism whatsoever and even the ultraconservative majority on the Supreme Court likely know how Trump could thug them out of their jobs if they oppose him.
We are all about to find out just how far Trump’s extreme federalist radicals believe they can push Americans politically and economically before the average poor white Republican voters finally grasp the calamitous error of their ways. Certainly the most radical federalists will use the White House Demagogue to push their agenda of bigotry, racism, misogyny and anything-goes, free-for-all for big business via the mirage of white christian nationalism as they have overtly since Trump’s 2016 campaign.
It is late in the game to save democracy and the rule of law from a felon president who will now act to save himself from justice and the rule of law because he has now been handed the authority to pardon himself and his hundreds of criminal supporters who have already been convicted of crimes against our republic for their actions on January 6, 2017. That is how late it is to save our republic. Yet if we don’t speak out, who will? We must appeal to whatever better angels are in the nature of Trump voters that allowed them to vote for a vile, fear mongering demagogue.
Wilson Dean says
There is no question but that Musk is a highly intelligent, capable individual. Yet two issues raised by Maria Grant highlight why it is inappropriate to let him lead any effort overseeing US government efficiency.
The first is that his companies’ deep reliance on government contracts should simply disqualify him on the basis of a blatant conflict of interest.
The second is that while differing political views are usually not an insurmountable obstacle to someone heading a government task force, I question Musk’s objectivity in what is a political role (under the guise of efficiency) after his endorsement of extreme right-wing European organizations. In particular, his infatuation with the German AdF is more than problematical, as that party is about as close to being a Nazi rerun as there can be. Aside from a vocal segment of the Trump base, it seems unlikely that that is a view many Americans would want to drive a restructuring of our government.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Unfortunately, it is too late to worry about views of Americans. Trump has been elected and because of
his SCOTUS buddies, he and his cabinet can do whatever they want. Trump is immune from any crime he does and his cabinet picks know this.
This is the era of Oligarchy and a President with
historically unmatched powers. You know, kind of
like Putin. Just wait….
Dodie Theune says
Thank you Maria once again for a frank insightful and timely article.