Born2BKing
Veteran
You are like a week from probably losing your damn job if Trump wins. Elon Musk is gonna go ape shyt on the workforce cutting if Trump wins.
It’s an even stickier situation since Musk’s many companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, have a profit-motivated interest in business with the government. The US government currently relies on SpaceX, which also owns the satellite internet provider Starlink.
If there’s any doubt that a Musk government role could be a risk for conflict of interest, simply look at the fact that he has said he could be in charge of the “Department of Government Efficiency.” DOGE is the name of Musk’s cryptocurrency, an area the Trump family is also keen to enter.
Musk is also constantly pushing out antisemitic things and has mused about how women shouldn’t vote. Not to mention reports of his meetings with hostile foreign leaders.
In a potential new Trump administration, Musk promises a reinvention of the federal bureaucracy.
“Let’s start from scratch,” Musk said at an event in October in Pittsburgh, suggesting a drastic remaking of the federal bureacracy.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a town hall with Republican candidate for Senate Dave McCormick at the Roxain Theater in Pittsburgh on October 20, 2024.
Michael Swensen/Getty Images/File
CNN’s David Goldman looked this month at what Trump and Musk have said about a potential Musk role in government, which would be focused on steep spending cuts – Musk has said he could trim $2 trillion, perhaps with help from artificial intelligence – and rolling back regulations. But he’d do it in a nice way, apparently.
“Musk has promised a gentle touch, offering generous severance packages to laid-off government workers, while at the same time proposing an assessment system that threatens layoffs to wasteful employees,” Goldman wrote.
The problem, according to the former Treasury Secretary Larry Summer, is that there’s not $2 trillion to be gained from massive government layoffs.
“Respectfully, I think it is idiotic,” Summers said on Fox News this week. “These people think it’s like some business. But here’s the problem: Only 15% of the federal budget is for payroll. So even if you took all the employees, every single person working for the federal government out, you couldn’t save anything like $2 trillion.”
Summers has a point about payroll. The government spent about $271 billion to compensate 2.3 million civilian employees in 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Summers said that to achieve trillions in cuts, Musk would have to look at Social Security and Medicare benefits, something Trump has promised not to d
‘Start from scratch’ with Musk
Musk, the superrich Trump supporter, would be given a much wider portfolio than Kennedy and be charged with a massive downsizing of the federal government.It’s an even stickier situation since Musk’s many companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, have a profit-motivated interest in business with the government. The US government currently relies on SpaceX, which also owns the satellite internet provider Starlink.
If there’s any doubt that a Musk government role could be a risk for conflict of interest, simply look at the fact that he has said he could be in charge of the “Department of Government Efficiency.” DOGE is the name of Musk’s cryptocurrency, an area the Trump family is also keen to enter.
Musk is also constantly pushing out antisemitic things and has mused about how women shouldn’t vote. Not to mention reports of his meetings with hostile foreign leaders.
In a potential new Trump administration, Musk promises a reinvention of the federal bureaucracy.
“Let’s start from scratch,” Musk said at an event in October in Pittsburgh, suggesting a drastic remaking of the federal bureacracy.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a town hall with Republican candidate for Senate Dave McCormick at the Roxain Theater in Pittsburgh on October 20, 2024.
Michael Swensen/Getty Images/File
CNN’s David Goldman looked this month at what Trump and Musk have said about a potential Musk role in government, which would be focused on steep spending cuts – Musk has said he could trim $2 trillion, perhaps with help from artificial intelligence – and rolling back regulations. But he’d do it in a nice way, apparently.
“Musk has promised a gentle touch, offering generous severance packages to laid-off government workers, while at the same time proposing an assessment system that threatens layoffs to wasteful employees,” Goldman wrote.
The problem, according to the former Treasury Secretary Larry Summer, is that there’s not $2 trillion to be gained from massive government layoffs.
“Respectfully, I think it is idiotic,” Summers said on Fox News this week. “These people think it’s like some business. But here’s the problem: Only 15% of the federal budget is for payroll. So even if you took all the employees, every single person working for the federal government out, you couldn’t save anything like $2 trillion.”
Summers has a point about payroll. The government spent about $271 billion to compensate 2.3 million civilian employees in 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Summers said that to achieve trillions in cuts, Musk would have to look at Social Security and Medicare benefits, something Trump has promised not to d
