The so-called Department of Government Efficiency officially disbanded over the weekend. What was supposed to be a transformative effort to downsize government and improve public services has damaged the cause of “government efficiency” in the eyes of voters.
The popular name of this effort, officially the “U.S. DOGE Service,” was a backronym to fit leader Elon Musk’s affinity for the “doge” meme. The effort was never much more serious than its outlandish moniker.
DOGE was based on the idea that the federal budget is full of waste, and all that’s needed to get it under control is to send a crack squad of technological geniuses to find it.
In truth, the government already has plenty of information about the budget and problems with program administration. The Congressional Budget Office, Government Accountability Office and inspectors general throughout the bureaucracy are issuing reports all the time — not to mention all the organizations outside of government that scrutinize and recommend fixes for federal finances.
The cause of high federal spending is not a mystery. It’s primarily Social Security and health care programs, plus the interest costs associated with the borrowing that funds them. And the cause of projected future deficits is . . . Social Security, health care programs and interest costs.
Each day DOGE patted itself on the back for canceling a few million dollars’ worth of government contracts, the federal government spent about $12 billion on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest payments. It was attempting to bail out a flooding ship with a thimble.
To the extent that DOGE addressed Social Security, it was in Musk’s insistence that millions of dead people are receiving benefits, which is not true. The budgetary issue with programs for seniors is that live people, in perfect accordance with federal law, are receiving benefits that far exceed what they ever “paid in” during their working years and what today’s relatively smaller workforce is able to finance. Unsurprisingly, this arrangement is very popular, which is the fundamental obstacle to making these programs financially sustainable.
Should the federal government be more efficient? Absolutely. The GAO estimates that federal agencies have made about $3 trillion in improper payments since 2003, which is an underestimate because not all federal agencies report improper payment data. The most defrauded programs — Medicare, Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit and SNAP — are among the most popular.
Cutting some contracts that the government doesn’t need is fine. Reducing headcount, when needed, is also fine. Neither of those things is going to make a dent in the federal deficit, though, and doing them in a haphazard way causes unnecessary suffering.
DOGE was fairly unpopular despite taking up a cause that most Americans can get behind. That’s not an indictment in and of itself, though, because actually tackling the budget deficit would be unpopular, too. The shame of DOGE is that it became politically unpalatable while simultaneously doing nothing to get spending under control.
The popular name of this effort, officially the “U.S. DOGE Service,” was a backronym to fit leader Elon Musk’s affinity for the “doge” meme. The effort was never much more serious than its outlandish moniker.
DOGE was based on the idea that the federal budget is full of waste, and all that’s needed to get it under control is to send a crack squad of technological geniuses to find it.
In truth, the government already has plenty of information about the budget and problems with program administration. The Congressional Budget Office, Government Accountability Office and inspectors general throughout the bureaucracy are issuing reports all the time — not to mention all the organizations outside of government that scrutinize and recommend fixes for federal finances.
The cause of high federal spending is not a mystery. It’s primarily Social Security and health care programs, plus the interest costs associated with the borrowing that funds them. And the cause of projected future deficits is . . . Social Security, health care programs and interest costs.
Each day DOGE patted itself on the back for canceling a few million dollars’ worth of government contracts, the federal government spent about $12 billion on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest payments. It was attempting to bail out a flooding ship with a thimble.
To the extent that DOGE addressed Social Security, it was in Musk’s insistence that millions of dead people are receiving benefits, which is not true. The budgetary issue with programs for seniors is that live people, in perfect accordance with federal law, are receiving benefits that far exceed what they ever “paid in” during their working years and what today’s relatively smaller workforce is able to finance. Unsurprisingly, this arrangement is very popular, which is the fundamental obstacle to making these programs financially sustainable.
Should the federal government be more efficient? Absolutely. The GAO estimates that federal agencies have made about $3 trillion in improper payments since 2003, which is an underestimate because not all federal agencies report improper payment data. The most defrauded programs — Medicare, Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit and SNAP — are among the most popular.
Cutting some contracts that the government doesn’t need is fine. Reducing headcount, when needed, is also fine. Neither of those things is going to make a dent in the federal deficit, though, and doing them in a haphazard way causes unnecessary suffering.
DOGE was fairly unpopular despite taking up a cause that most Americans can get behind. That’s not an indictment in and of itself, though, because actually tackling the budget deficit would be unpopular, too. The shame of DOGE is that it became politically unpalatable while simultaneously doing nothing to get spending under control.
