Elon and Vivek got along great with no hint of tension as alluded to by our illustrious press
Elon wants to remove the tyranny of the bureaucracy (which is unelected) and return it to the rule of the people. Wants. Feedback loop with the people not able to operate disconnected from the voting public
Examples of money not spent well:
* Sending cats to spas to see if they produce less fur balls
* shrimp on treadmills to see ho fast they run
* Millions of dollars sent to China to study COVID (through Eco Health because the gov isn’t allowed to fund this or China)
USAID = US Agency for the international development
Joni Ernst tried to find out how money is being spent within USAID:
*30-40% of USAIDs rewards go to indirect costs like rent
*lacks transparency
* Money isn’t going to the poor and starving
* spending is hard to trace because it has a vague line item classification line condoms to Gaza but obviously isn’t going toward that expense
* A USAID employee was using was falsely using an office supply retailers address in Virginia to defraud the taxpayer by claiming higher Washing DC locality pay while living in another state with the full knowledge of their supervisor. The USIG blew off Joni Ernsts effort to investigate
Elon says USAID isn’t an Apple with a worm in it, its just a ball of worms and needs to be destroyed. Its highly politically partisan leaning left. It doesnt answer to the public
Vivek points out that for those hand-ringing about removing government departments, the publics outrage can cause demand for whatever was removed to be reinstated
Sunshine is the best disinfectant out there
Only 6% of the federal workforce shows up in the office daily which causes a domino effect where government buildings are empty, surrounding business and restaurants have no customers and eventually everything starts to look like a ghost town
Apparently the US Engraving building (formally the US Mint), is virtually empty, the windows are broken and its turned into a homeless encampment—I couldn’t find anything online about this and Google Earth didn’t confirm
Elon thinks USAID should be shut down, Trump agreed which he confirmed multiple times by asking if he’s sure and Trump confirmed so apparently they’re going to try to shut down the USAID
Vivek is hopeful the REINS act will get passed in this current climate and administration
The REINS Act would return legislative power to Congress, check federal overreach, and ensure Americans have the tools needed to defend their rights. The REINS Act requires Congress to approve major federal agency rules and rules with an impact of $100M or more before they take effect.
Elon thinks the bond market doesn’t reflect the effect how the reduction in government spending will reduce the debt and its interest because less debt is needed (don’t short bonds, you’re on the wrong side). Vivek chimes in that this will also reduce interest rates creating an almost 2 for 1 savings by stopping inflation and interest rates because there is less competition for bonds (because the government isn’t competing with others for those bonds)
Elon points out that we’re going to go bankrupt if we don’t get our debt and spending under control
Senator Mike Lee chimes in and points out the government was never supposed to be so big, Elon concurs. Its supposed to be about a small number of things: Weights & measures, trademarks, copyrights, patents, regulating foreign commerce. The founders would have their bonds blown if they saw how gigantic the federal government has gotten and how its interfering in peoples lives in so many ways. Wants the REINS act passed
Elon and mike points out how the regulations are so vast, its like Gulliver tied down by millions of little strings that need to be cut so people are free to build, etc. Wants a wholesale removal of regulations, pretty much all of them and if that was too aggressive, bring back the most important. Vivek points out the states just compound the regulation problem by duplicating and adding their own.
Elon suggests at least removing Federal regulations so states can compete and people can move from state to state as they see fit and what serves their regulatory desires best
Elon talks about how America is a nation of builders and we need to remove the obstacles (regulations) to building. Vivek says deregulation and meritocracy go hand in hand
Elon hopes to reduce a trillion fro the deficit next year but need the president and congressional support and goes on to say that if they can reduce the 2 trillion deficit down to 1 trillion and get the economic growth to equal that 1 trillion deficit, there will be no inflation and prices will come down car payments and mortgage come down
Vivek pointed out that the federal government spent 7 Trillion last year, they spent 4.5 trillion in 2019, so if we could just get back to 2019 spending we’d be in great shape, the point is, cutting the deficit isn’t as hard as people think
During Covid there was a massive growth in waste and fraud in entitlement spending and its staggering, not just US fraud rings. Elon estimates 100-200 billion in foreign fraud schemes where the money is leaving the country. American entitlement programs fraud prevention is so weak that its rampant but he’s optimistic about reducing spending just by addressing waste fraud and abuse so it snot some insurmountable task. Elon mentions his Paypal experience for detecting and addressing fraud. Says the most upset and outraged people are usually the people committing fraud so when you hear the loudest complainers, they might be benefitting from the fraud DOGE is trying to put a stop to
