DOGE Year-End Review: Has Elon Musk's 100-Day Innovation Made an Impact?An experiment cut short
Federal employees successfully reduced by 271,000, a 9% decrease, setting the record for the largest layoffs during peacetime. However, at the same time, federal total spending did not decrease but instead surged from $6.75-7.135 trillion in 2024 to $7.01-7.6 trillion, a net increase of $248 billion to $480 billion. This phenomenon of "shrinking but gaining weight" is at the core of the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) reform's contradictions.
Initially led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, this "external advisory" agency promised to dismantle the government bureaucracy using commercial methods, cut unnecessary regulations, and reduce wasteful spending, ultimately saving $2 trillion to balance the federal budget. This ambitious plan was expected to last until July 2026, giving them 18 months to transform the government. However, reality proved far more brutal than expected: Musk resigned hastily in May, having only fulfilled 13
PANews·2025-12-31 00:10