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OAN Commentary by: Theodore R. Malloch
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Elon Musk is considered the smartest man in the world.
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He is also the richest man in the world.
He is absolutely critical to 45th President Donald Trump’s election and his success in his next term in office.
Trump said, “At the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement … I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms.” In remarks at the Economic Club of New York Trump reiterated, “We need to do it. Can’t go on the way we are now.”
Elon Musk birthed Tesla and the EV industry, he perfected SpaceX, he provides satellite internet communications globally, and will take us to Mars and dominate the galaxies. He is the big mover in AI and of course he bought Twitter and renamed it X, as a form of absolute freedom of speech. After cutting 80% of the headcount, it’s working better than ever. Face it, Musk is everywhere and a force to contend with. Read his impressive biography written by Walter Issacson for the details and complete storyline.
Already we see that Elon, now aka Dark MAGA, is willing to accept the mantle to radically transform government: what it is, what it does, and what it costs. There is no one, anyone, so able to fix things, to make them right and efficient, more so than Musk. But make no mistake, it is a huge task, so I am personally volunteering to help him. And President Trump has agreed to take his advice and plan to once and for all — deconstruct the Administrative State.
The original DOGE was elected by the heads of the various merchant guilds which – together – ruled the mercantile Republic of Venice – lasting from 697 to 1797, unlike other competing city-states nearby run by king claiming divine right that suffered less illustrious fates. The very word in Latin, Dux, means “leader” – and except for the later creation of the Archdukes, were second only to Kings in the hierarchy of aristocracy. Royally-appointed Viceroys – Vice-Kings, in the same sense as a Vice-President serves as number two –would rule over the various vice-royalties created by European empires also trace back their status as a deputized sovereign to the Venetian DOGE who could unite the merchant houses behind him.
Musk can be the same kind of leader without ever serving in the cabinet – forced to attend endless boring and laborious policy meetings or be bogged down by the inept bureaucracy or what we nowadays rightly refer to as “the swamp.”
Yet the power and effect of a new Department of Government Efficiency would be unparalleled. It could be a short one year all-knowing and authoritative power commissioned by the 47th President to turn things around and then cease to exist, or perhaps, reconvene annually to re-gig things and make sure they are on course.
The DOGE would be backed up by Executive Orders, Congressional enactment and budgetary mandates. It is meant to achieve two things and those only. It cannot become a bloated agency or a blue-ribbon cadre of bipartisan luminaries – casting around ideas that go nowhere. On the contrary, it is meant to act quickly, decisively, and demonstrably to cut the unnecessary presence of government in our lives and to make government services less costly and more efficient.
FULL STOP.
What would such an entity actually do?
With a federal budget currently posting 7% of GDP deficits every year, the DOGE has to be a tool for real thorough reform, not some easy PR ploy to ignore or sideline what is inevitably controversial change – every dollar of that spending has a recipient who will defend it. It can’t be about political optics or gimmicks, either. It has to save more than a trillion dollars to be successful.
The failure of past Commissions is legion. Think of Simpson-Bowles, in 2010, on fiscal policy. It had many good and sound suggestions but, in the end, amounted to naught because there was simply no political will to carry through the extensive recommendations – the same old swamp won again.
With Musk at the right hand, working for Trump alone—no committee or delegation, the outcome would need a guarantee: Enforcement. All government agencies would have to accept and prioritize the DOGE. In other words, this cannot be a meaningless symbolic gesture or a series of infighting. It has to amount to greater accountability in government – including prosecuting negligent and corrupt officials where necessary.
Here are five preliminary places where the DOGE could shift the tides and fix our outmoded present system.
- Stop Fraud
The federal government loses nearly $5 billion dollars a year to fraud. Yes. What Musk could do in an all-encompassing audit is show that in livid detail and apply technology and data analytics to completely modernize financial controls. The limits of WW2-era thinking, and organizational methods showed during the pandemic – it is time for the public sector to finally benefit from 75+ years of management innovations – Musk is the man for this job.
The US government makes about $200 billion in improper payments a year. That amounts to $3 trillion over twenty years. Musk can crack down on waste and abuse, curtailing – for good – certain practices, efforts, and penalizing others. Claw backs of misspent, misallocated and outright stolen funds are very much in order. And yes, certain Departments and Agencies will have to be shuttered and closed down for good.
- Regulatory Streamlining of Red Tape
Trump loves to do away with regulations. Why not for every new regulation we cut 50 already in place? And then we sunset all regulations after ten years, unless they are legislated for renewal. The repealing of the doctrine of Chevron Deference necessitates a sea-change for administrative law matters – the blob has so far continued unbothered as if the status quo ante still stands.
- Modernize Information Technology and Cybersecurity
The government spends well over $100 billion a year on IT, and it is not getting its money’s worth. What we have are old legacy systems that are cumbersome, hackable, and outdated. Cybersecurity, where the risks abound, is the worst culprit. Musk can change the whole paradigm and make it better and more efficient. The private sector is light years ahead on this front and needs to be copied.
- Use AI to streamline all government programs
Musk knows what AI can deliver and it means we can replace over half of all federal workers. That will mean huge savings. We can move many remaining workers into the field and out of the District of Columbia to do real work.
All this revolves around a philosophy of limited government. It needs to see Government as a Service (GAAS) to coin a phrase.
As citizens we deserve to get what we pay for in our taxes. It must be efficient and cost much less.
Government should be disentangled from many existing services rather than reforming their delivery through government. But as Musk surely knows we can do a lot better. We can save big time, privatize, and get more for less without all the waste and fraud.
Watch the DOGE and see.
Theodore Roosevelt Malloch is the acclaimed author of three books on Trump. Hired: An Insider’s Look at the Trump Victory, with an afterword by Nigel Farage; The Plot to Destroy Trump, with a foreword by Roger Stone; and Trump’s World: Geo Deus, with a foreword by Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of Interior, Matteo Salvini.
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