Yes, ELON MUSK is right. But there's more: In 1986, my mentor, sagacious United States Department of Labor Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt, who served in that role from 1979-1995, said that any government budget can be cut by 10%. Our often-lazy local, state and federal governments generally don't even try. Unjust stewards and public serpents too often lack courage, agility and basic critical thinking and management skills. The simple palpitating truth of the matter is that there is often immense government waste, fraud and abuse in government contracting. The the richest person in the world, ELON MUSK, his companies and his keiretsu are large government contractors. Let's scrutinize them, all government contractor, and the arms merchants, which President Dwight David Eisenhower warned against in his Farewell Address. During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton's administration actually encouraged defense contractors to merge, resulting in even higher costs for planes, aircraft carriers and other weapons, "Immense expense is mainly in defense," as the late great Colorado Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder once sang, to the tune of "the Rain in Spain," in an guest star appearance with The Capitol Steps comedy troupe in Washington, D.C. Instead of picking on poor and working people, hospitals and physicians, let's scrutinize strictly the oleaginous oligopolists among us, overcharging our governments. No-bid contracts and false claims of "sole source procurement' inflate the price of everything from health care to mosquito control to defense contracting. Once upon a time in America, we were blessed to have a small, nimble federal agency called the Renegotiation Board, which renegotiated government contracts to recover excess profits. Under pressure from louche lobbyists for government contractors, led by the nasty National Association of Manufacturers, Congress unwisely abolished the Renegotiation Board in 1977. Dumb mistake, making possible billions in excess profits ever since. Let's consider reviving the Renegotiation Board. Remember that, during WWII, then-Senator Harry Truman exposed government waste in contracting, including Big Oil companies that charged "phantom freight" charges on every barrel of oil and petroleum products shipped from the Middle East to Europe, as if they came from Texas. Meanwhile, three Big Oil companies had cartel arrangements with Nazi German chemical cartelists, suppressing competition for synthetic oil, giving Hitler 100 octane aviation gasoline, and resulting in gasoline rationing to conserve rubber because the Japanese had taken rubber plantations by military conquest. As Senator, Harry S Truman. called it "treason." During the Arab oil embargo, Jimmy Carter called Big Oil's actions the equivalent of "war profiteering." Let's not tolerate Big Business cat's paws and their rote rodomontade against health care amidst their own massive monopolistic and oligopolistic rip-offs by Corporate America. From Variety:
Elon Musk Slams Trump’s Spending Bill: ‘A Disgusting Abomination’
A serious rift has apparently erupted between Elon Musk and President Trump over the massive government spending bill the president has urged Congress to pass.
Musk, who donated nearly $275 million toward Trump’s 2024 election campaign, on Tuesday posted on X an unambiguous denunciation of the bill, which is called the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk wrote. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.” The tech mogul wrote that the bill “will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit” and that “Congress is making America bankrupt.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, also posted a warningthat voters would “fire all politicians who betrayed the American people” in the 2026 midterm elections.
The bill, in its current form, would add $3.1 trillion to the U.S. debt including interest over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
On May 28, Musk announced he was ending his tenure as a “special government employee” leading the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, after 128 days. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, a person cannot serve in such a role for more than 130 days in a consecutive year. Trump held a press conference on Friday, May 30, in the Oval Office with Musk (pictured above) to thank Musk for his work. Musk had said DOGE would cut $1 trillion from the federal budget (down from his previous estimate of more than $2 trillion); currently, the DOGE website claims to have been responsible for $180 billion in cuts.
Sen. Ran Paul (R-Kentucky) was among those chiming in to agree with Musk. “We have both seen the massive waste in government spending and we know another $5 trillion in debt is a huge mistake. We can and must do better,” he wrote, quoting Musk’s post.
Trump, on Truth Social, earlier Tuesday slammed Paul’s objections to the bill, writing that “Rand Paul has very little understanding of the [Big Beautiful Bill], especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming. He loves voting ‘NO’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!”
At a White House press briefing Tuesday, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt “how mad do you think President Trump is going to be” about Musk’s comments? Leavitt responded that Trump “already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it.”
The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act last month passed the Republican-controlled House by a narrow one-vote margin but has yet to clear the Senate. Republicans are aiming to get the legislation through the Senate for Trump’s signature by July 4. The legislation would make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent (with wealthy Americans benefiting the most) and increase funding for the U.S. military and immigration enforcement. In addition, the version that passed the House cuts funding for health, nutrition, education and clean energy programs.
Musk has criticized the bill before, but using tamer terminology. Last week, for example, Musk criticized Trump’s “massive spending bill” in an interview with CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” saying the legislation “undermines the work” of DOGE.
1 comment:
The right wing culls itself eventually. Implodes in a spectacular display of infighting, incompetence, malfeasance, and lawlessness.
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