Sounds a bit worrying

[Nimos]

This to me sounds pretty concerning, like some people turning the US into a business for personal interests. I would be surprised if the average US citizen gets out on top in this and that they are not just left to their own accord.

CNN’s David Goldman looked this month at what Trump and Musk have said about a potential Musk role in government, which would be focused on steep spending cuts – Musk has said he could trim $2 trillion, perhaps with help from artificial intelligence – and rolling back regulations. But he’d do it in a nice way, apparently.

“Musk has promised a gentle touch, offering generous severance packages to laid-off government workers, while at the same time proposing an assessment system that threatens layoffs to wasteful employees,” Goldman wrote.

The problem, according to the former Treasury Secretary Larry Summer, is that there’s not $2 trillion to be gained from massive government layoffs.

“Respectfully, I think it is idiotic,” Summers said on Fox News this week. “These people think it’s like some business. But here’s the problem: Only 15% of the federal budget is for payroll. So even if you took all the employees, every single person working for the federal government out, you couldn’t save anything like $2 trillion.”

Summers has a point about payroll. The government spent about $271 billion to compensate 2.3 million civilian employees in 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Summers said that to achieve trillions in cuts, Musk would have to look at Social Security and Medicare benefits, something Trump has promised not to do.

 

[The Hammer]

It's gonna be a rough four years. Musk said so himself.

Welcome to the "new" America

 

[F1fan]

No way Musk could trim 2 billion by just cutting jobs. To meet this goal he would have to cut grants to states, social programs, maybe even social security. One of their agenda items is to eliminate the department of education, and this will surely mean an end to state grants that help fund their schools. The poorest states will struggle to cover the costs of eductaion and will have to eliminate teachers and/or increase taxes. School revenues come in part from property taxes, and if they go up in poor communities it could be devastating.

Does anyone think Musk will be concerned about schools, or students, or communities, or teachers where it comes to an abstract goal of cutting the federal budget? He's already stated there will be hardships for many, and said it as if it is the duty for citizens to struggle just so idealistic plans are implemented. Let's note that the rich will enjoy more tax cuts.

 

[Estro Felino]

No way Musk could trim 2 billion by just cutting jobs. To meet this goal he would have to cut grants to states, social programs, maybe even social security. One of their agenda items is to eliminate the department of education, and this will surely mean an end to state grants that help fund their schools. The poorest states will struggle to cover the costs of eductaion and will have to eliminate teachers and/or increase taxes. School revenues come in part from property taxes, and if they go up in poor communities it could be devastating.

Does anyone think Musk will be concerned about schools, or students, or communities, or teachers where it comes to an abstract goal of cutting the federal budget? He's already stated there will be hardships for many, and said it as if it is the duty for citizens to struggle just so idealistic plans are implemented. Let's note that the rich will enjoy more tax cuts.

Maybe you're confusing Trump with the Lord of Privatizations. Milei.

 

[Nimos]

No way Musk could trim 2 billion by just cutting jobs. To meet this goal he would have to cut grants to states, social programs, maybe even social security. One of their agenda items is to eliminate the department of education, and this will surely mean an end to state grants that help fund their schools. The poorest states will struggle to cover the costs of eductaion and will have to eliminate teachers and/or increase taxes. School revenues come in part from property taxes, and if they go up in poor communities it could be devastating.

Does anyone think Musk will be concerned about schools, or students, or communities, or teachers where it comes to an abstract goal of cutting the federal budget? He's already stated there will be hardships for many, and said it as if it is the duty for citizens to struggle just so idealistic plans are implemented. Let's note that the rich will enjoy more tax cuts.

He already made 15 billion from Trump winning

What I find interesting is his mentioning of AI, I could suspect that he has a personal interest in this given he is having a go at OpenAI and that is not going to well, but being involved in the White House and having a lot of influence over this would position him pretty strongly to make sure that AI goes in the direction he wants it.

I think people are fooling themselves if they honestly think these types of people care about the average person, these are people with ambitions larger than their wealth and ego.

If you have an amputated federal system, which seems to be the intention, then you have no one to look out for the small person. Businesses are not exactly famous for doing that.

They might throw breadcrumbs to the middle class because any improvement will be well received.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

He already made 15 billion from Trump winning

What I find interesting is his mentioning of AI, I could suspect that he has a personal interest in this given he is having a go at OpenAI and that is not going to well, but being involved in the White House and having a lot of influence over this would position him pretty strongly to make sure that AI goes in the direction he wants it.

I think people are fooling themselves if they honestly think these types of people care about the average person, these are people with ambitions larger than their wealth and ego.

If you have an amputated federal system, which seems to be the intention, then you have no one to look out for the small person. Businesses are not exactly famous for doing that.

They might throw breadcrumbs to the middle class because any improvement will be well received.

Uhu.

10 years ago I looked up to Musk thinking of him as some kind of Iron Man version of Bill Gates. A crazy rich scientist with wild ideas for innovation to turn society into the science fiction world of Start Trek.

Over the years though, this took a massive u-turn. To the point that I don't trust him for a second anymore.
And now that he is consolidating seats of power in government staff, it is just getting even worse.

Can't help but wonder what his agenda is. He successfully has wiggled his way into Trump's inner circle and I get this feeling that he's playing Trump like a violin. He has him eating out of his hand. I think he has tremendous influence on the dude. It looks as if his goal / agenda is to create an environment for himself in the US which will put his businesses and himself front and center. It reeks like a mega conflict of interests.

Just saw a few youtube clips of him also where he was ranting about worker rights and unions, and how he wants to be able to fire anyone at any time for whatever reason without having to explain himself. All together, it sounds pretty horrible.

I hope I'm wrong. If not, the future looks very bleak for your average Joe Employee in corporate America. And they were already not in the greatest shape compared to employees in say western Europe. This can potentially end extremely badly.

 

[Nimos]

Uhu.

10 years ago I looked up to Musk thinking of him as some kind of Iron Man version of Bill Gates. A crazy rich scientist with wild ideas for innovation to turn society into the science fiction world of Start Trek.

Over the years though, this took a massive u-turn. To the point that I don't trust him for a second anymore.
And now that he is consolidating seats of power in government staff, it is just getting even worse.

Can't help but wonder what his agenda is. He successfully has wiggled his way into Trump's inner circle and I get this feeling that he's playing Trump like a violin. He has him eating out of his hand. I think he has tremendous influence on the dude. It looks as if his goal / agenda is to create an environment for himself in the US which will put his businesses and himself front and center. It reeks like a mega conflict of interests.

Just saw a few youtube clips of him also where he was ranting about worker rights and unions, and how he wants to be able to fire anyone at any time for whatever reason without having to explain himself. All together, it sounds pretty horrible.

I hope I'm wrong. If not, the future looks very bleak for your average Joe Employee in corporate America. And they were already not in the greatest shape compared to employees in say western Europe. This can potentially end extremely badly.

Completely agree.

I used to think the same, but the more you listen to him and the things he does, he seems to have a hidden agenda. And I don't think he cares a lot about the average person, everything he does seems to be measured against how successful a business something is or how much influence he can gain.

I don't know what happened with politics over the years, but it seems to have slowly been replaced by businessmen whose sole intention is how they can make money and get things manipulated in such ways so it fits their own ambitions.

It's like watching the political system being hijacked in slow motion, without being able to do anything about it