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.

  • makyo@lemmy.world
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    17 days 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.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      17 days 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.

  • theneverfox@pawb.social
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    16 days ago

    Can we take a moment to acknowledge a few billionaires made their own government department, and people are just rolling with it?

    They’re a random private company. Why are we just letting that fact slide???

      • theneverfox@pawb.social
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        13 days ago

        No but like… Even on lemmy, even left wing streamers, even my friends just kinda laugh and go “yeah, things are fucking crazy”

        It’s like everyone just accepted it… Not the they like it, but that they’ve just accepted a billionaire has made a fake government department that is going to dictate terms to the rest of the government, and no one seems to really take a second to acknowledge that idea

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    17 days 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! 🤦

  • Whateley@lemm.ee
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    17 days ago

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