I have long admired Elizabeth Warren, and recently she’s given me another reason to salute her. She has called Elon Musk’s bluff–while shining a bright light on his ignorance and naivety.
As anyone who follows the news knows, Musk has bragged that he can cut two trillion dollars out of the federal budget. His hints about how he plans to accomplish that feat mostly revolve around sticking it to the poor, ill and elderly via cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and making it impossible for the federal government to do its job by slashing the federal workforce.
Warren’s advice to Musk has done two things: it has demonstrated that there are alternative ways to cut spending, and has reinforced the reality that funding decisions are policy decisions–that where and how government spends money is a reliable guide to what it considers important.
Time Magazine had the story. In a letter that Warren sent to Musk, she listed 30 recommendations for eliminating $2 trillion in federal spending over the next decade.
The list includes several of the progressive icon’s long-held policy fixations: renegotiating Department of Defense (DOD) contracts that independent analysts have found waste billions each year; reforming the Medicare Advantage insurance program and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower costs of prescription drugs; and closing tax loopholes for corporations and the wealthiest earners.
As the article noted, Musk has already walked back his promise to cut two trillion out of the budget, given that he is constrained by Trump’s vows not to touch Medicare and Social Security, and Republican refusal to cut military spending, (As the article notes, “DOGE will have to find less conventional ideas to fulfill Musk’s budget-slashing fantasy.” )
For years, Democrats and Republicans alike have wanted to curb wasteful government spending. While much of Washington recoils at Trump’s disruptive, norm-shattering second-term agenda, some see an opportunity for strange bedfellows to emerge. “In the interest of taking aggressive, bipartisan action to ensure sustainable spending, protect taxpayer dollars, curb abusive practices by giant corporations, and improve middle-class Americans’ quality of life,” Warren writes to Musk, “I would be happy to work with you on these matters.”
As the article notes, actual collaboration is probably not Warren’s goal–her letter is undoubtedly intended to make a point rather than inviting Musk to work together. Musk, after all, is one of those “let them eat cake” deficit hawks who insist the only way to cut budget deficits is to slash the entitlement programs that prevent millions of Americans from falling into grinding poverty.
I am an advocate for a Universal Basic Income, and I take very seriously the (reasonable) charge that so expensive a measure would require massive changes to the federal budget. Accordingly, I’ve researched what experts (not self-engrossed billionaires) have to say about where we might cut current expenditures. Among the obvious possibilities are the obscene subsidies we continue to give to fossil fuel companies, and the incredibly bloated defense budget. (Even pro-defense scholars estimate that defense spending could be cut by 25% without damaging U.S. defense capabilities.)
Warren points to similar research.
The biggest cost-saving idea in Warren’s letter is to preserve $200 billion by renegotiating Defense contracts. She points to an Inspector General report from 2011 that found contractors regularly hike prices for the military. One egregious example includes the Air Force overpaying 7,943% on soap dispensers. To rectify the problem, she urged passing legislation she previously introduced with Mike Braun, the former Republican Senator from Indiana, that would close loopholes to prevent defense contractors from price gouging the DOD. “There is a huge problem of the government being able to supervise these contractors carefully enough to be able to make sure we’re getting our money’s worth,” says Don Kettl, an expert on government administration and former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.
Kettl recently wrote an essay in the Washington Monthly arguing that the federal government needs more and better skilled civil servants to oversee contractors and that Musk and Trump’s plans to massively reduce the federal workforce will perversely lead to higher, not lower, government spending. “The argument is that the market can do the government’s work better and cheaper,” Kettl says. “The problem is that that’s not always the case, and contractors often get higher wages.”
Musk and Trump and their ilk continue to prove the accuracy of that old H.L. Mencken quote:”For every complex problem, there’s a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”
I’m terrified that this non-elected, non-confirmed (non-vetted) megalomaniac has locked government workers out of information systems and is now able to do lord knows what with this private information. Is there not enough spine in the GOP to stop this?
In re Jane’s comment above… Here’s an article about exactly that. What does E. Warren have to say here? Publishing reasonable articles in Time isn’t the way to fight this – it’s just more sane washing. They need to STAND UP *loudly* for We the People.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIK9-VleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQb5pdtv8brPzV6uSISW_hHgKAqRpTl9gJJjmKlzkMlM9zrofT7JyY5xtg_aem_05aQrR6pCDVQ7vVuOBXcLw
I dare everyone in the formerly united states to invest minutes of our only asset, minutes of time, to listening to this podcast on the role of influencers to teach.
One major influence on our country are our national leaders who have what is often referred to as the “bully pulpit”.
Our ruling triumverite, MTV (Musk, Trump, Vance) demonstrate daily, consistently with what they learned at home growing up, the “bully” word in that phrase.
https://podcast.app/the-jackpod-everything-a-president-does-teaches-e369802130/?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=share
Typical of the hubris self-ordained geniuses trot out, Musk isn’t as smart as he thinks he is, doesn’t know how our government works beyond what he sees as money being spent on people instead of his bullshit businesses. Remember, this guy got his money from his daddy’s emerald empire, bought the engineers and the blueprints from Tesla and clearly hasn’t passed a mirror that he doesn’t like.
Warren’s “suggestions” aren’t news. Oh. BTW, the orange hairball just fired a bunch of inspector generals, so there goes that idea about supervising DoD contracts. The Eisenhower administration ran a campaign on cutting taxes too, but we “lowered” our top tax bracket to 75%. Guess who did well during the 50s? EVERYONE.
Idiots like Musk have way too much money and influence – especially since he’s not an American citizen. This sort of American kabuki theater is really disturbing. Next thing you know, we’ll be cutting social security so Musk can fly to Mars.
Strap in, little man.
It’s not necessarily the wages for contractors that are higher, but the compensation for the executives that is higher. Most of the employees make about the same as their government co-workers, but with fewer benefits.
Yes, the government frequently gets taken when contracting for large purchases. That needs to be addressed. My suggestion is that managers be allowed to negotiate a better deal. If you have to pay the GSA price, you frequently find that others in your state got a lower price. The reason to take the GSA price is that, if you take that deal, you don’t have to waste time running everything up the flagpole. I could have saved thousands of dollars if I had the freedom to get the same price as the university got on many pieces of equipment.
Musk and the other “more money than brains” club seated at Trump’s inauguration all believe money is proof of their intelligence. Not one of them got to where they are today alone; they pay others to think and do the work while they lay back and enjoy reaping the benefits. Trump believes he is a genius but has yet to prove he has even common sense. What ugliness will he spew from his never ending, mentally unbalanced, running commentary on everything about the medi-vac plane disaster in Philadelphia? I’m waiting to hear how he will blame the Mexican victims, one of them a small girl returning home to Mexico, after life-saving treatment at a Philadelphia hospital. Will he withhold disaster aid from the Philadelphia victims who lost homes, vehicles and businesses; and we have yet to learn if lives on the ground were lost, till he can bill the President of Mexico? This is a money-saving issue he should turn over to Musk to find a way.
God save Senator Elizabeth Warren.
It wouldn’t take much to reduce the federal budget, but as Vern pointed out, one of the first EOs eliminated the Inspector Generals. If you aimed to cut wasteful spending, you’d hire more inspector generals instead of eliminating them.
The old oligarchs like Koch wants to eliminate the New Deal package created by FDR that took from the Robber Barons and gave to the people. We have way too many trust babies manipulating the government and running the country from seats at Bilderberg. Then we have Soros, Koch, etc. Most of these trust babies, like Trump, aren’t the brightest people and have no empathy for others because they’ve never had to worry about choosing which bills they can pay this month. Can you imagine never worrying about where your next meal will come from or what happens if the company downsizes? You have staff that does everything for you.
Interestingly, we have traditional capitalists like Koch and financiers like Bloomberg, Soros, BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard. The last three entities own 80-85% of the controlling interest in all stocks traded on the NYSE. They don’t produce anything, so we can’t call them capitalists. What about Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos? Amazon doesn’t own shopping centers or retail stores. It owns a platform in the cloud.
These people have varying interests and are now competing for Trump’s ear. He isn’t bright enough to write his own biography. If Trump is really about America First, then why not eliminate all our 750 military bases abroad? China only has 250 military bases abroad and is more interested in diplomacy. We could quickly scale back to the same number as China. And, if you want to save money, bring the military contractors within state control. Why does the military need to ensure profits for outside corporations? Who devised that dumbassery?
Vernon, Musk on Mars? Hey, not such a bad idea! Where’s Jackie
Gleason with his “punch you right to the moon?” when we need him?
Warren is a marvelous person, and I’d have no problem voting for her for POTUS!
@Todd … Bloomberg among oligarchs competing for Trump’s ear? Don’t be caught reading tea leaves in your bowl of Cheerios! Former Mayor of NYC has a clear bead on the weaknesses and dark side of Donald Trump. Bloomberg pledged over $20 million to help cover the funding gap left by the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. This was part of his ongoing efforts to support climate initiatives and ensure the United States met its global climate obligations. Bloomberg has been a consistent supporter of the Paris Agreement, having previously pledged up to $15 million in 2017 when Trump first announced the withdrawal. Bloomberg doesn’t need to compete with anyone to have Trump’s ear. Michael Bloomberg has Donny Boy’s ass in a sling with nowhere to hide.
Wonder why Trump is paid to look after Musk? The giant charity established by tech titan Elon Musk could land him with a multi-million dollar fine because it has donated so little of its vast wealth. The world’s second-richest man has escaped billions in tax by gifting Tesla stock to the Musk Foundation which he set up in 2001. This overt ‘DOGE’ of taxes is what fuels federal workers to honor The Oath they took to do their jobs. Stay tuned.
I don’t know if any of our fellow SSK site posters hail from Tennessee, but if so, congratulations are in order.
The overpaid CEO of Tennessee’s power utility, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Jeff Lyash, has resigned. NY Post reported 2/1/25 the annual pay of the TVA CEO to be $10.5M. A local legislator, Rep Steve Cohen (D) TN, has been complaining about this TVA overcompensation since at least 2020. Annual pay of other TVA execs’ positions are CFO $6.3M, COO $5M, General Counsel $3.3M, and Chief Nuclear Officer $3.3M – all per NYP and Knoxville News Sentinel.
NYP reported that this abrupt resignation may have arisen from a threat delivered by President Trump during his first term to fire TVA CEO Lyash if he did not quit.
Re:Gordon Evans.
Well,that’s good. Because for the previous 4-5 decades the executive class has been allowed to gain enormous amounts of monies– even to the detriment of the companies they head– by both political parties.
It seems to be the mantra among executives and the politicos to loot and pillage as much as possible. Meanwhile, the public is left arguing over semantics and style.
Ian,
You just used a modern-day analysis to re-define Marx’s definition of unregulated capitalism.
Ian and Vernon,
It seems like State of Tennessee practices effective self-regulation of its state’s capitalism. The Legislative Branch identified the TVA public utility’s excessive salaries of its authority employees, the Fourth Estate (free press) publicized the problem to the populace, the Executive Branch amplified the problem and threatened the TVA with action, and the TVA has moved to self-correct the situation which TVA customers found to be offensive.
Tennessee is a progressive state that is also considering establishment of a Sovereign State Bank – a bank that is majority owned by the public sector. This would be similar to the Bank of North Dakota, a sovereign state bank established in 1919 and, presumably, subject to the same self-correction by the citizen-owners of the bank.
Gordon,
Then how does Tennessee explain creatures like Marsha Blackburn?
Gordon. I have never heard the words “Tennessee” and “progressive” used in the same sentence, much less than never equating the two. In fact, in my experience as a resident here, most of the population would find your statement highly offensive.