(New York) Billionaire Elon Musk, boss of the automobile manufacturer Tesla, the space company SpaceX and the social network
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To the question “would you do it again?” », asked during the conservative program The Katie Miller Podcastthe richest man in the world replied: “No, I don’t think so.”
“I think that instead of doing DOGE, I would have simply (…) worked on my companies,” he explained about this ad hoc commission dedicated to reducing federal spending.
Former advisor and spokesperson for the DOGE commission, before being employed by the billionaire in the private sector, Katie Miller is married to the deputy chief of staff of the White House, Stephen Miller.
Mr. Musk nevertheless considered that DOGE had had “a little success”.
This commission, launched upon the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January, aimed to cut public spending and reduce bureaucracy.
Elon Musk had mentioned during the presidential campaign, in which he participated extensively, some 2,000 billion dollars in cuts, before lowering his expectations to 1,000 billion.
In the end, the amounts are much lower according to the commission’s own counter: $214 billion, as of the last update on October 4.
But an independent site, the “DOGE Tracker,” had a total of just $12 billion in May when Elon Musk left the commission amid acrimonious tensions with the president and problems for Tesla.
The manufacturer’s sales have indeed plunged worldwide, stores have been the target of demonstrations and damage, vehicles on the road have been damaged, and calls for a boycott have been raised.
To achieve these savings, the administration has increased incentives and layoffs of civil servants, radically reduced or eliminated public agencies and made massive cuts in international aid.
