Kerby Anderson

Yesterday, I talked about the rising amount of national debt because we have increased the deficit over the last six months by $1 trillion. You might logically wonder if the government could find some ways to save some money by cutting spending.

Let me illustrate how difficult that has been by taking us back to last year when Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency tried cutting spending. A few months ago, the New York Times did an analysis, which I will use to make a point.

Their analysis looked at the 40 biggest claims on the DOGE list and found that only 12 appeared to be accurate. Part of the problem is that many of the cuts weren’t really cut by the government. Two of the largest cuts were in the Defense Department, but both are still alive. And DOGE was not allowed to make cuts in entitlement programs, which account for 60 percent of the federal budget.

Here are a few of the other errors. One was double counting. The analysis found that DOGE took credit for cancelling the same Department of Energy grant twice. Another problem was timeline errors. DOGE claimed credit for a contract that was terminated by the Biden Administration. And some of the other DOGE cuts did take place, but were later resurrected by court rulings.

It turns out that the DOGE cuts were merely a small nick in the overall budget of the federal government. But you would think from the reaction from the public that these were massive, draconian cuts. Do you remember the marches in the streets? Do you remember the number of Tesla cars or car dealerships attacked by angry protestors?

These small, insignificant cuts generated an enormous reaction. And that is why no politician wants to be cutting spending.