Musk once promised taxpayers massive savings and even teased the idea of a “DOGE dividend” check in their mailboxes when his DOGE was unleashed on the federal government. Now, he admits DOGE is likely to save only $150 billion.
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For fun, let’s entertain Musk’s imaginary $150 billion figure. That’s only 15% of the $1 trillion he initially pledged, less than 8% of the $2 trillion he later promised, and a mere fraction of the nearly $7 trillion the federal government spent in 2024.
And now, federal spending is on track to rise even higher in 2025 just like Trump’s first term, when he racked up the largest deficit increase of any president over four years(even before covid19).
It all makes more sense when you realize DOGE was never about saving Americans money. It was about gaining access to your data and building a weaponized political machine to use against the public.
And how much will it cost the taxpayers to fix the issues caused by the mass elimination of entire departments without regard to the consequences of these actions? I’m guessing there will be additional costs incurred rather than any actual savings.
I don't know where the DNC is spending their money, but manufacturing these signs might be a good use of whatever money they have. Make 'em, distribute 'em, use 'em.
And what makes this *super* fun is that the cost of all the civil settlements pouring forth from this will dwarf any purported savings- even if it set it at 150,000,000,000.
The class action lawsuits being warmed up now are going to put a hurt on some people.
provided, there is a regime-change to democrats in four years, which in my view is still higly questionable because it would need a functioning administration to hold fair elections. Trumps admin will pay civil verdicts as much as they will facilitate garcias return ... less for their pockets =/
Also about defunding and dismantling the federal agencies who were investigating all of Musks shady businesses... Safety for Tesla, Securities for Twitter, FAA for SpaceX...
It’s gonna end up that doge cost us money. With all the wrongful firings and detentions lawsuits and returning crypto fines and not auditing rich taxpayers, etc—this administration is setting fire to our tax dollars.
And they're not savings. It's cancer research, USAID, national parks. It was functionality, not excess. And if the IRS projection was accurate and they bring in $500B less because of staff cuts? It'll cost us a few hundred billion dollars to lose all of that. Winning!
They also ignore the costs involved in putting government agencies back into a functional state after DOGE did their thing. I suspect these costs are greater than $36B.
Where are the brilliant white-hat IT hackers who can bring sunlight, transparency to Elon Musk’s DOGE hackers messing with your privacy and creating misery for millions of Americans?
These are the needed “story-tellers” who can DOCUMENT these historical crimes and go down in history as HEROES.
I don't know that we can describe that total as "saved". A lot of this will result in damage, and I suspect it will cost more to repair than they "saved".
People toxic from provilege dont think that the contributions made by working people in the government contribute to it's efficiency. This judgement was made sans information relating to the job, statistics, or understanding of the department from which it was eliminated or it's objectives.
"DOGE"
Yah, “savings.” IRS makes billions, and they are dismantling it. Tourism brings in billions, and they sabotaged that industry. And they have our data too. Liars and thieves.
DOGE hasn't saved any money. It's gutted the government and that will cost the country BILLIONS. He has destroyed people's lives and he has illegally obtained (and used) people's personal information. He and Trump and MAGA and the GOP will end up wasting TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS. #fuckMUSKandDOGE
And the majority of that by firing workers (likely delivering necessary services). That operation has been a fraud, a waste, and an abuse in and of itself.
Anyone who thinks that the enormous social and fiscal damage caused by DOGE will EVER be offset by the spurious and false 'savings' they claim are deluded and insane. Dump and Lone and the MAGAt brainwashed morons who support them have committed intergenerational fiscal violence on a massive scale.
Let’s discount all “savings” b/c they are an illegal “department”, and each thing they are doing is unconstitutional and/or illegal. Once the dust settles, we’ll likely see they cost the taxpayer much (including stress and job loss for many) and saved us nothing. Let’s not normalize doge in any way
Please, stop saying “save”. That’s their framing. We should say cuts, slash, smash, etc- negative words to reflect how terrible all this slash and burn is.
Those “savings” are soaked in blood. Real people have been devastated and more coming. And whatever is cut, will be surpassed in spending. Just a shell game and the American people suffer for it.
... for a net increase in expenses for the public as cuts will be replaced with private contracts that will cost more or just offload more charity work onto the public so that unpaid volunteers will have to do it at 5x the cost instead of govt getting it done. SMH
We all knew he would NEVER be able to deliver. Because there is not that crazy “waste, fraud, and abuse” and he got the savings basically by removing people from their jobs, cutting crucial programs, and a few contracts. He cripple the government, which will not deliver great services now.
Exactly. The check is in the mail, your ass doesn’t look big in that, full self driving will be available later this year, and DOGE will save a TRILLION dollars.
It’s gonna end up costing us $165B in lost productivity, costs of paying wages to laid off workers, salaries for the kids hacking our shit, lawsuits/settlements. allegedly.
$150B is .025% of an annual federal budget of $6Trn. Here’s the thing: It was never about savings. Whatever else happens, F-Elon will make billion$ selling OUR FUCKING DATA to whomever he pleases. Perhaps even back to the government at a tidy taxpayer funded profit.
I think we're finding that DOGE is actually costing the government (us taxpayers) in many ways, not only in actual greenbacks but also in the massive amount of stressors released upon the unsuspecting public. Every day we wake up wondering what fresh hell will be unleashed today. May God help us!
I wouldn’t use “save“ in this context at all. The cost has been the total destruction of the scientific enterprise in the United States, and our being shuttled to the sidelines of worldwide free trade.
A cost far higher than any punitive financial savings.
This is Elon.
Claim he's a genius. Make promises. Deliver NOTHING.
$150b is not even close to the trillions of dollars in deficits.
They best not pass a tax cut for the wealthy.
It's not savings to simply fire people and make due with less. All those people did real work. Now, there will be delays in service. That is a cost, not a savings. I personally believe they haven't saved a dime.
I don’t think “save” is the appropriate term.
It’s more like deny Congressionally-approved funding, defunding the departments investigating his businesses, and sabotaging the US government.
I used my Doge dividend to secure a bank loan. I bought 4.2 eggs and a measles vaccine. I still owe my grocer 8 bucks. Wait ...groceries...what a word.
Deflection.
DOGE is performance. The DOGE website is a joke. The actual cuts and "savings" are haphazard and will cost taxpayers in the long run. Let's not forget the lives lost by cutting USAID funding. Musk did not know what he was doing and gave up - but did a lot of harm - and was allowed to.
Agree! But: He accomplished his goal. To take US data for his flagging AI products. He’s behind in that realm and the data he stole will help equalize his shitty product.
40 percent of the State Department gone, 81 thousand VA employees gone, vast millions of immigrant employees kidnapped, leaving or somehow gone, and cuts in education, SSA, Medicaid, public libraries, university research, Homeland Security CISA agency, FBI agents all fired and 150 billion windfalls?
I'm sorry, but its time to stop thinking about what "they promised". They never actually cared.
They have always intended a coup, shutting down as much government as possible so that by the time we cried treason, there would be no one left to stop them.
"Save" is subjective.
What critical services got disrupted to realize those "savings", how much did it COST taxpayers in lost and disrupted services? What data has been compromised by unqualified Doge interns? How many public servants lost jobs?
I refuse to accept the framing of this as "savings".
This part, 💯: “DOGE was never about saving Americans money. It was about gaining access to your data and building a weaponized political machine to use against the public.”
Doge is a facade so they can hack into our systems and make it vulnerable to foreign entities. Also to give Trump blackmail material against people who are not loyal to him. It’s in Putin’s playbook.
The fascist regime spent it in photo shoot trips for propaganda, personal pursuits, illegal government contracts for Musk, rampant grift, corruption, personal gains, foreign contracts with autocratic nations, Trumps boondoggles to Camp Fascist in FL and his own golf resorts.
Every year Musk promises to have a safe, self-driving version of Tesla available for sale. Now that federal government spending under Trump has actually increased and IRS staff cuts are reducing tax revenue, what do you think will come first, a safe self-driving Tesla or a DOGE rebate check?
It’s not just the DOGE dividend that’s missing, there are many Tesla shareholders wondering what Hair Plug Boy has done with THEIR dividends too. Who would have thought that the richest man in the world is also its biggest dumbass. 🤔
And at what cost that 150b come? The end of America’s soft power. The gutting of our science research. The destruction of weather prediction. Worst ROI in the history of the world.
Very doubtful that in the end of the chaos & destroyed lives, there’ll be even that amount. Factor in the cost of unemployment, the cost of food-borne illnesses because of his FDA scale-backs, the cost of increased wildfires because of his trashing of our forest management- just for starters
It is all a scam, Musk is making billions off of our hard earned money (corporate welfare), and the commander in chief is spending our money hand over fist with his excursions. But let's not help those in need.
But wait, there's more! For those who bought into Elon's ridiculous bullshit...
Virtually all software systems must be replaced. The U.S. WON"T be able to afford replacing all of the systems, especially as things collapse over the next few months.
Pretty sure Musk and Doge will end up costing us closer to a trillion with lose of tax revenue and the huge expenses of firing and hiring again from various departments. Then consider the secondary costs like air traffic accidents and food borne illnesses epidemics. So much winning
DOGE axed all those programs and people so Hegseth could have a makeup studio, Trump golfing, use of Government planes to go to sporting events, Vance's family vacation.
They could cut $150 billion from the Pentagon and they wouldn’t even notice it. There. That’s your savings, your mom’s social security and your kid’s clean water would still be there
NY Times just published an article with a $135 billion dollar figure. So it will cost the taxpayers $135 billion for about $35 billion in savings? Cool.
Also, WHERE IS THAT MONEY GOING?! Where are OUR tax dollars? This is grand larceny. It needs to be stopped, these criminals arrested, and the money delivered to a safe place where grants/funding can be restored and the interest those thieves 'earned' during this 3 month heist returned to taxpayers.
I keep asking this same question. If we’re running the country “like a business,” who keeps the profits? Who are the paying customers? I don’t think most people have thought through to the end of that wish.
I am not a economist. So I might not even know the difference. But what is the NY Time definition of this? Are they using the GDP?
I am thinking about of eg: research that has been defunded, families deciding they cannot afford to have kids, grown adults deciding they can’t finish college etc
“Not only is Musk vastly overinflating the money he has saved, he is not accounting for the exponentially larger waste that he is creating,” said Max Stier the Partnership for Public Service. “He’s inflicted these costs on the American people, who will pay them for many years to come.”
NYT published an article saying the number is not even $150B. It may be 1/2 of that! And he claims to save $150B, but he cut off IRS capability to collect tax cheat about $300B! He did not save $ for Americans, he helps billionaires in tax cheat, while he cuts funding for majority of Americans!
anything saved isn’t going to Joe and Jane taxpayer. The “savings” comes at an immeasurable price; safe food and medicine, clean air and water, an educated public, civil rights, our country’s reputation and national security, and all the things that research brings.
That will just about cover Elon's tax break, but not the other 814 billionaires in the US. It won't even cover the contracts Elon has grifted since January.
One has to consider that this master database will include political affiliation, which will be used to effect very biased deportation and prosecution strategies.
And cost America billions, if not trillions, in intangible assets. The soft power and proactive & protection programs that come from agencies like USAID, CDC, NIH, etc.
Wars and disease now have an easier path to “success.”
The savings in preventing disease due to essential services. The amount he will cost us in healthcare spending alone will be astronomical not to mention the livelihood of so many Americans he stole jobs from.
Musk once promised self driving cars by end of 2017! What Year? Maybe focus on cars & rockets not exploding!
"November or December of this year, we should be able to go from a parking lot in California to a parking lot in New York, no controls touched at any point during the entire journey."
I expect it is -- because "reduce payroll" is every corporation's first line of "efficiency" -- but A Country Is Not A Company.* Companies exist to earn profits, countries/govts exist to provide services. These are very different things.
*See: Paul Krugman's monograph of the same name
The DoD could save $150b by paring back a handful of procurement contracts. Maybe we could sell the three Zumwalt-class lemons we paid more than $5b apiece for. Instead of sinking more money into them to replace the AGS, which was supposed to be their reason to exist, we could scrap them for cash. 🤬
Some of Musk's "savings" will fall on state and local taxpayers for essential services and the loss of scientific and medical expertise will be incalculable and long-lasting.
It's a net loss to American society. And it's stupid.
We have to stop giving his bs any credibility. They are saving NOTHING. They are gutting needed programs and personal political enemies. There is no savings to our government or our country.
Did he really save any money at all, or just stop spending. Because not spending money isn't necessarily saving? Saving is finding things you don't need to spend money on and they really didn't do that. They just cut.
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https://bsky.app/profile/crazycatlady4luv.bsky.social/post/3lnnqmdnqd22y
The class action lawsuits being warmed up now are going to put a hurt on some people.
https://bsky.app/profile/crazycatlady4luv.bsky.social/post/3lnnqmdnqd22y
not even the .44c savings off $150B.
Wreck my government for that? 🖕🍄
What is the ROI on DOGE? Once we subtract their salaries, damage done, etc.
It’s far from positive.
These are the needed “story-tellers” who can DOCUMENT these historical crimes and go down in history as HEROES.
"DOGE"
Their haphazard attacks on federal agencies will cost "will cost upward of $135 billion this fiscal year".
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/us/politics/musk-cuts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CU8.-8d-.0pKrE6aexz5E&smid=url-share
$160B is a little more than the budget for the Dept of Transportation for ONE year.
Instead use the percentage from what was promised!!!
#WhatAWaste
https://thehumanaiview.blog/2025/04/25/how-the-corporate-party-wins-no-matter-who-loses/
https://debtinperspective.com
CUT PROGRAMS for everyday AMERICANS
so the UBER RICH BILLIONAIRES don't have to PAY ANY TAXES
PATHETIC
EAT the BILLIONAIRES !
Mucks is just parasitic Nazi, a psychopathic compulsive liar.
Just like his hero, Trump.
Not bloody likely
He’s COSTING huge amounts and taking billions in subsidies
He’s a Russian stooge ffs💯
$150B is .025% of an annual federal budget of $6Trn. Here’s the thing: It was never about savings. Whatever else happens, F-Elon will make billion$ selling OUR FUCKING DATA to whomever he pleases. Perhaps even back to the government at a tidy taxpayer funded profit.
Rise Up
Are they texting Americans trying to get more of our data? I ask because I’m getting way more SPAM text than and JUNK text than in the past.
A cost far higher than any punitive financial savings.
Claim he's a genius. Make promises. Deliver NOTHING.
$150b is not even close to the trillions of dollars in deficits.
They best not pass a tax cut for the wealthy.
It’s more like deny Congressionally-approved funding, defunding the departments investigating his businesses, and sabotaging the US government.
Deflection.
They have always intended a coup, shutting down as much government as possible so that by the time we cried treason, there would be no one left to stop them.
What critical services got disrupted to realize those "savings", how much did it COST taxpayers in lost and disrupted services? What data has been compromised by unqualified Doge interns? How many public servants lost jobs?
I refuse to accept the framing of this as "savings".
People are so stupid at these levels of finance.
I’d rather have my functioning government back.
/sarc
Fuck these clowns.
"An expert on the federal work force estimates that the speed and chaos of Mr. Musk’s cuts to the bureaucracy will cost taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal year."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/us/politics/musk-cuts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CU8.Rz4p.o7yBtR_VExJG&smid=url-share
$390
BILLION
DEFICIT,
NOT
SAVINGS.
Billion
Virtually all software systems must be replaced. The U.S. WON"T be able to afford replacing all of the systems, especially as things collapse over the next few months.
China will become the superpower into 2030-2032.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/us/politics/musk-cuts.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
When you add corrections of their fuckups, idk it'll put them in the red.
No one is tracking the cost of their fuckups no doubt.
Just the cuts at the IRS will lose $500B in tax collection/enforcement against wealthy cheats.
I am thinking about of eg: research that has been defunded, families deciding they cannot afford to have kids, grown adults deciding they can’t finish college etc
https://bsky.app/profile/kakape.bsky.social/post/3lnlrqxcjls2e
Wars and disease now have an easier path to “success.”
"November or December of this year, we should be able to go from a parking lot in California to a parking lot in New York, no controls touched at any point during the entire journey."
*See: Paul Krugman's monograph of the same name
It's a net loss to American society. And it's stupid.