Elon Musk aims for $2 trillion in federal budget cuts

| January 9, 2025 | 28 Comments

During an interview, Elon Musk described $2 trillion worth of federal budget cuts as a good goal to reach. During the review of what could be cut, Musk and his team discovered government waste “in all directions”. Musk utilized a metaphor of being in a room full of targets in every direction. Even if you were “blindfolded”, you would still hit a target. Musk acknowledged that there are people in the government willing to wisely spend other people’s money, but the system prevents them from doing so.

From Newsmax:

While admitting that the target goal of cutting $2 trillion from the U.S. budget is overly optimistic, Elon Musk said his plan still could result in “an epic outcome” of “no inflation.”

After Musk and fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were named by President-elect Donald Trump to head the advisory Department of Government Efficiency, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he could save the government at least $2 trillion.

During an X interview Wednesday with political strategist Mark Penn, Musk admitted the goal was high.

“I think we’ll try for $2 trillion. I think that’s like the best-case outcome,” Musk told Penn. “But I do think that you kind of have to have some overage. I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting one.

“And if we drop the budget deficit from $2 trillion to $1 trillion and kind of free up the economy to have additional growth such that the output of goods and services keeps pace with the increase in the money supply, then there will be no inflation. That, I think, would be an epic outcome.”

Musk added that the current “target-rich” government environment — “if you look in any direction” — offers many ways to save money.

“It’s like being in a room with targets,” he said. “You could close your eyes and you can’t miss.

“There’s just a lot of waste in government because … especially the federal government … you just got a situation where the checks never bounce. Like they’ve got the infinite money computer.”

Additional Reading:

McCarthy, C. (2025, January 9). Musk: $2T in budget cuts ‘best-case outcome’. Newsmax. Link.

Category: Government Incompetence

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Graybeard

Get real business men in control, and a lot of that waste will disappear.

Please, Lord, guide them!

KoB

Good luck Mr. Musk. I can give you 535 reasons why you’re going to need it.

Slow Joe

435 in the House of Representatives and 100 in the Senate?

Mason

And 10,000 times that number in the deep state that doesn’t exist.

5JC

How long has been since we had someone who understands the economy trying to fix things? Years? Decades? Ever?

26Limabeans

Everything is already “fixed”. Isn’t that at least half the problem?
Looking forward to the next four years though.

Amateur Historian

Good! Start with FEMA.

Mason

The FBI’s emergency response team head that said the New Orleans attack wasn’t terrorism would be my first choice. Dude was literally flying a giant ISIS flag from the hitch of his truck.

SgtM

That and ole “no goods English” with the nose ring needs to go. All the FBI chasing socker moms at school boards can go too, they are useless.

Sapper3307

SooN

screenshot-2024-12-25-at-4.09.09pm
MustangCryppie

My favorite photo of all time and will forever remain so!

Deckie

Wasn’t it Coolidge in the 1920s who managed to make a huge dent in the deficit by tightening the purse strings on the entire government? Think I recall reading that if you worked in a government office building and needed a new pencil you had to show that it was sharpened down to a stub before they’d get you one from a stationary closet.

We need that.

MarineDad61

Who hasn’t belonged to 2 or more units,
where the phrase “use it or lose it” is openly discussed with the lower ranks?

Accompanied with claims to the effect of….
if we don’t spend out this years budget (for extras and the unnecessary),
our budget for next fiscal year will be reduced.

Last edited 12 days ago by MarineDad61
AW1 Rod

Yup. Every squadron with which I ever flew. It’s criminal.

Graybeard

My state office for 20 years had that mentality. But we had some who would give it up if they really didn’t need it. Some others bought stuff they didn’t really need to not face a reduction next cycle.

I’ve seen good bureaucrats and stereotypical bureaucrats. Most of the time in our little office they were good ones. We did have one lady “promoted” to an office which did nothing for the rest of the system, to which no-one reported, and which kept her busy doing things that no-one cared about until she retired. They couldn’t fire her (more’s the pity) but they kept her from harming anything further.
I’ve wondered if she ever realized that she was the epitome of useless and inconsequential.

timactual

I worked for a municipal government agency once and shortly before the end of the fiscal year the order came down to order as much equipment and supplies as we could in order to use up an embarrassing budget surplus before the agency had to submit a new budget. That particular agency was run by a retired Naval officer.

USAFRetired

How about dusting off the Grace Report from the 80s and see if things that were recommended for cutting back then are still going strong after not being acted on.

KoB

TL Davis has a comment or two on this. Worth the read.

Prepare….

https://tldavis.substack.com/p/the-civil-war-rages-in-dc

Mark L.

Musk said the very first two things he wants to cut are Medicare and Social Security, and I’m loving it. I hope they eliminate both.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Oh, goodie.
Someone kicked over Sparkle Mark L’s rock.
Or he ran out of kleenex for his self gratification.

I get the feeling this cretin think itself clever by posting what it knows is patently ridiculous, just to see the commenters here “take the bait”.

No, silly child. Those of us whose lives and time are filled with important matters enjoy and even need to occasionally engage with inane simps. What we do as we both live and run the real world, is taxing. A little levity, particularly at the expensive of one who is willfully, intentionally, demonstrably incapable of being other than irrelevant, is just what the doctor ordered.

So, thanks for stopping by and reminding us why who we are and what we do is so critically important.

RGR 4-78

Malarky Mark is in the house.

SgtM

Your momm should have listened to pedo and Nancy and aborted your ass.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Yo momma shoulda swallowed

Marine0331

And to think I was afraid that we ran you off. Welcome back. Your immature, silly and malignant comments do provide a bit of humor to this site.

SFC D

Marky, your word on this means nothing. Show me the proof, provide the receipts. And then get your ass back on that buffer. I want that floor shining like a diamond in a goat’s ass. Now git!

Last edited 11 days ago by SFC D
MSG Eric

It’s a good goal. I’m guessing they’ll hit about 1 trillion in cuts though.