Musk said “compensation is zero” for the “revolutionaries” who will advise on cuts to the federal budget.

Summary

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) began recruiting “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” willing to work 80+ hours per week with no pay to help slash federal spending.

Appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, the panel is tasked with recommending spending cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and agency restructuring by July 4, 2026.

Musk and Ramaswamy advocate for drastic measures, including cutting grants to nonprofits and potential mass layoffs.

  • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
    92·
    6 days ago

    I don’t know about you all but as soon as Trump was elected I immediately resolved to cut my personal spending by as much as humanly possible. I’ve already canceled many of my subscription services and I have reduced my use of Amazon and other online purchases to absolute zero. I’m going to work on paying down every dime of debt I owe as soon as possible and save every penny. Because shit’s going to get fucked in the next 4 years with these clowns in charge. It’s gonna be a light Christmas in my household this year.

    I highly recommend you all do the same. Don’t be the last one holding the bag when the music stops and reality sets in. For example, look at the people in the UK after Brexit.

    • tetris11@lemmy.ml
      7·
      6 days ago

      The UK was shit before Brexit, it was 14 years of austerity policies (read: cut health services, cut benefits, cut social housing, deregulation of services, legalisation of toxic dumping, I can go on…) by a right-wing “fiscally responsible” government who has left the current one with a sizeable financial black hole… that has brought the country to its knees.

      If we had Brexit but still maintained public services, there’s a good chance the country would have been fine.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        51·
        6 days ago

        If we had Brexit but still maintained public services, there’s a good chance the country would have been fine.

        It’s almost as if you couldn’t…

        • tetris11@lemmy.ml
          3·
          6 days ago

          Well, I hear you. The NHS was dependent on an international talent of overworked nurses who dried up once Brexit went into effect. That indeed would have suffered regardless under any government. But cutting benefits, awarding billions of taxpayer money to non-existent PPE firms, and generally spitting on the public could have been mitigated I feel

      • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 days ago

        Interest rates aren’t a fixed number. And I suspect that they will increase by multiple factors relatively soon (like a year from now at the very least). Having credit card debt will soon be as burdensome as having a tuition debt. (Which is also extremely fucked but I digress.)