The Department of Government Efficiency is looking at $2 trillion of cuts and “massive deregulation” and patting itself on the back a lot.
It’s like Reagan and Thatcher adopting a toy dog. Deregulation is a sort of conservative porn thing. It was one of the planks of Brexit, no Brussels regulations.
It’s made Britain what it is today – A ridiculous laughingstock with a hyper-expensive self-inflicted disaster to manage. The habitability of some parts of the country is now also in question.
Severe deregulation could do the same and a whole lot worse in America.
Bearing in mind that:
Musk has no experience at all in government.
Trump’s main experience in this area is in being charged under regulations.
A lot of the related finances are off the Treasury books, like riders on legislation, etc. There are trillions of dollars worth of these.
American government inefficiency is based largely on decades of refusal to modernize.
All laws include regulations for enforcement purposes.
The American revenue system is condemned to borrowing thanks largely to the refusal of people to pay taxes. Many of those people are extremely rich.
Federal laws and state laws are intermixed and interact. Any changes in regulation will have to be matched by the states. That could take decades.
DOGE cuts are always making news. The news until recently has been about what they’re not going to cut. Now, it’s much more grandiose.
Let’s start with that $2 trillion figure. Can you imagine a $2 trillion hit anywhere in the American economy without a lot of crashing and burning? They’ve been very non-specific about what they’re not cutting.
They’ve spent most of their time saying they won’t cut Social Security. That falls well short of any degree of reassurance about everything from food stamps to health.
The theory of efficiency has a few lighter moments and cautionary tales:
Argentina’s president says DOGE should go to extremes. Argentina went bankrupt again recently.
In 2008 the private sector had to be bailed out by the public sector. The sheer complexity of direct US government involvement in America’s dubious commerce like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, etc, doesn’t bode well for a smooth ride for DOGE.
There’s one other thing that might have an impact on DOGE. The country has been fossilizing for decades. It’s not just outdated ideologies. It really is “an antique land” with horrendous levels of crime, poverty and decay.
How surprised could you be to see these words on America’s tombstone:
Died of Greed and Excess.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
