The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), established by executive order on January 20, 2025, aimed to modernize federal technology, reduce spending, and streamline government operations. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were appointed to lead the initiative. However, Ramaswamy quickly stepped away to run for governor of Ohio.
Musk's most significant accomplishment in the role was inadvertently demonstrating how difficult it is to achieve the very reforms he set out to implement. His updates via the DOGE website, posts on X, and media coverage showed that much of what he promised to deliver for the American people was halted by federal court orders—often nationwide injunctions—raising concerns over authority, legality, and data privacy.
As Musk departs Washington and Speaker Mike Johnson struggles to codify the budget cuts Musk identified into federal law, one thing is painfully clear: the federal government has grown so large and special interests are so entrenched that even minor cuts are nearly impossible to implement. The elimination of fraud seems unattainable. Efficiency gains remain out of reach due to a lack of incentive and because federal courts often intervene to block even the most minor reforms.
Even if all the waste, fraud, and abuse identified by Musk's team had been addressed, the impact on the federal budget would have been relatively minor. Before taking the role, Musk promised to slash up to $1 trillion from the budget annually, projecting nearly $2 trillion in savings by 2026—the target year set by the Trump administration. The projection turned out to be wildly unrealistic.
There's an old saying in business that Musk appeared to forget: in public relations, it's better to underpromise and overdeliver. A BBC analysis revealed that, after all the conflict and resistance, the actual savings from Musk's efforts totaled about $33 billion—a negligible amount in the context of the federal budget.
Critics of Musk's team point out that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and various Inspectors General have been identifying fraud, waste, and inefficiency. However, identifying problems is one thing; taking action to fix them is another.
We've often noted in these pages how Brussels embraced a rules-based system to govern the 28 member states of the European Union. In the EU, regulations usually supersede the sovereignty of individual nations, with everything reduced to procedures and statutes. Political debate loses its substance in this environment.
But we didn't have to look across the Atlantic to see how a rules-based system functions. The last four decades in Washington have shown us clearly enough.
The most harmful culprit in this dysfunction is the way in which Congress passes appropriations and funds the government. It used to be that congressional committees—each with expertise in specific areas—would draft, review, and revise budgets throughout the year before presenting them for approval on the House and Senate floors.
Even that older process was riddled with the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" deal-making that allowed states like West Virginia and Mississippi to secure disproportionate funding. John McCain famously highlighted the "bridge to nowhere" during his 2008 campaign, but as chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he, too, funneled tax dollars to Arizona. The reality is that there has never been a genuine incentive to cut discretionary spending.
Over the past 25 years, even this flawed process has eroded. Today, senior congressional leaders and their staff—often aided by lobbyists—retreat to backrooms in the Capitol to craft massive "omnibus" spending bills. These bills are so large and complex that few lawmakers can fully digest them. Embedded within are hundreds of thousands of words favoring specific interests that often go unnoticed or unchallenged. Facing tight deadlines, congressional leaders push for an up-or-down vote with only hours to spare. Members from both parties typically vote along party lines, trusting leadership promises and knowing well that advancing their careers depends on loyalty.
Our legislative system requires that the House and Senate pass identical versions of a bill. If there's a discrepancy, the bills must be reconciled line by line. But because there's never enough time, the rules committees in both chambers impose strict conditions on amendments. Nearly every proposed amendment is struck down. Yet members of Congress can still tweet or hold press conferences claiming they "did their part." It's all theater.
When the omnibus bill finally passes both chambers and lands on the president's desk, Washington celebrates. But what's actually been signed into law is a sprawling, unaccountable system of spending—often with automatic year-over-year increases, regardless of real-world conditions.
After 25 years of this kind of governance, any challenge to federal spending—such as a lawsuit filed by a public interest group—is usually dismissed by courts for "lack of standing." Translation: the spending stays, and the government grows. In the rare cases where a lawsuit is heard on its merits, judges almost always side with the government. Federal employees have no incentive to "bite the hand that feeds them."
And here we are today: deficits and debt as a percentage of GDP are exploding, with no end in sight.
During the Biden administration, proponents of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) gained influence. They argued that because the U.S. controls the world's reserve currency, it can print money indefinitely without consequences. However, the international bond markets have made it clear that such ivory-tower theories are unsustainable.
When the latest omnibus bill passed—by a single vote—bond prices fell, and interest rates rose. The message from the markets was unmistakable: if Washington wants to borrow more, it must offer higher returns to global investors.
Decades ago, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman warned that deficit spending acts as an indirect tax on citizens because it drives up interest rates. We're seeing that play out now. Wealthy lobbyists and insiders may pay cash for homes, cars, and education, but ordinary Americans, who must borrow for life's necessities, are crushed by even modest interest rate increases. That's why many young people still can't afford a home years after graduating from college.
So, who benefits from this corrupt system? Everyone who depends on the federal government for its vast influence as a policymaker, payer, regulator, employer, insurer, and guarantor across virtually every sector of society. Everyone was supposed to be under the DOGE umbrella. Everyone escaped unscathed.
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