Summary

Elon Musk, co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency under Donald Trump’s advisory team, revised his claim of finding $2 trillion in federal budget cuts to a “best-case outcome” of $1 trillion.

Musk’s earlier target, dismissed as unrealistic by experts, had included the entire discretionary budget of $1.7 trillion.

While Musk and co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy plan to recommend cuts, specifics remain unclear.

Experts warn savings may require targeting mandatory programs like Medicaid, potentially causing hardships.

  • @affiliate
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    71 hour ago

    i’m actually kind of shocked he admitted this. isn’t his usual strategy to promise super unrealistic things, not deliver, and then make the same promise the next year?

  • sp3ctr4l
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    25 minutes ago

    The second trillion will be found when DOGE Block 3 rolls out, and Elon’s gonna need … $5 billion dollars for DOGE Block 2 and 3.

    (DOGE Block 2 will find the first trillion, after DOGE Block 1 is later revised down to 750 billion)

  • @scutiger
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    62 hours ago

    I’m shocked, SHOCKED by this revelation!

  • @[email protected]
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    133 hours ago

    If he cuts anything it’ll be support for middle class and poor people and itll be jack shit, it will fuck everything up and it will be touted by clowns as a success.

  • @NotMyOldRedditName
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    3 hours ago

    It’s all going to be healthcare / social safety nets, and it’s going to be dwarfed by the tax cuts Trump gives people.

  • @[email protected]
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    154 hours ago

    Those two clowns couldn’t find their own asses in a dark room with both hands and a flashlight.

  • @[email protected]
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    3 hours ago

    It’s because they were told they can’t cut VA, SSI or Medicare, I promise.

    The rich assholes always think they can just cut healthcare and retirement payouts but politicians know they will never get re-elected if it happens on their watch. The old people who rely on this shit are the only ones voting anyway.

  • @[email protected]
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    3 hours ago

    We did this exercise as a civic learning experience in 9th year government/social studies classes. The teacher had us go through a mock (simplified) Federal budget and decide which line items to cut to achieve a “balanced budget” with debt reduction.

    The problem is largely intractable for reasons that become obvious even to middleschool kids. Do you completely cut popular things like the space program? Gut entitlement spending? Massively increase taxes across all brackets? Reduce the military or infrastructure spending to laughable levels? All of those things are very unpopular but that is what it would really take to tackle the problem.

    • @horse_battery_staple
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      142 hours ago

      You tax the 1% until they’re the 10% then shove that money into infrastructure and welfare. Then you sit back and watch the American Exceptionalism machine go brrrr again just like the 50’s

  • @[email protected]
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    135 hours ago

    Musk’s earlier target, dismissed as unrealistic by experts, had included the entire discretionary budget of $1.7 trillion.

    FFS! There’s probably TODDLERS who know more about how the government works than Musk! 🤦

  • @[email protected]
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    206 hours ago

    Oh please, you’re not even going to get $100 billion without stepping on some toes in the Military-Industrial complex, and that’s going to make you some lifelong political enemies.

    • @[email protected]
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      44 hours ago

      Oh that’s not what he meant at all.

      He meant slashing social security and Medicare. Obviously rich people aren’t going to feel the pinch.

  • @makyo
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    13310 hours ago

    Anyone who actually believed they would find $2 trillion was an idiot, the rest of us knew they’d just cut the things they hate, bump the subsidies that favor them and their friends, and call it a day.

    • @Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In
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      13 hours ago

      Surely it’s essy to find $2tr in the Homeland Security/ military budget?

    • @[email protected]
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      228 hours ago

      The funny thing is…it’s not like their voters would care if they lied. They could literally say “We cut the budget by $17 trillion by making sure the trans kids don’t get surgeries!” And their voters would fucking cheer.

      They wouldn’t look deep enough to actually care what they cut.

      So the question is why even make this announcement? I’m guessing it’s a distraction from something else.

    • @Cypher
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      309 hours ago

      Your comment will age poorly when Trump’s tarrifs lead to a collapsing economy and he prints money like mad to solve it, resulting in hyper-inflation letting President Musk keep his election promise.

      • @makyo
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        139 hours ago

        Wondering how that connects as I didn’t mention tarrifs?

        • AmidFuror
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          228 hours ago

          After hyperinflation, Musk will easily cut $100T from the budget, making your claim that only an idiot would believe he could find $2T in cuts laughable.

          • @makyo
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            87 hours ago

            Aha, well played!

  • @[email protected]
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    7 hours ago

    Never fear rich people and corporations - Trump is still going to do another $2T tax cut regardless.

  • Rentlar
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    8 hours ago

    If allowed, Elon will find trillions to funnel to himself and Trump’s cronies however.

    • d00phy
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      87 hours ago

      Oh make no mistake, his goal is to be the world’s first trillionaire within the next 4-years. Why else would he so publicly be going full fascist unless he was ready to fully embrace the concept of “fuck everyone and everything ever to be” money.

  • Maple Engineer
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    188 hours ago

    Ya, so, we’re not going to do any of the things we promised. We’re just going to try to punish our political enemies and fuck shit up while looting every last penny that we can and running away while the country burns.