As students become employed, one thing becomes certain, paying taxes. Taxes are vital for government infrastructure and development to benefit American livelihood for future generations. With taxpayer dollars, many different agencies and departments get their share of the pie. These vast departments can be challenging to track over time and can become out of reach from the American people, the ones who pay them. This has led to many studies and departments receiving funding, which can lead to corruption and deception if kept out of the public eye. To help combat this issue, the Trump organization has appointed billionaire and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, to help find and pinpoint unnecessary funding to help put more money back into the pockets of American citizens.
President Trump’s appointment of Elon Musk was met with great controversy. However, Musk has experience with budget cuts and auditing. In October 2022, Musk acquired Twitter, a social media company, for forty-four billion dollars, and completely re-branded the service, per Max Zahn at ABC News. The newly named “X”, fired over eighty percent of its workers, cutting its employment from 7,500 people to 1,500 employees, said Derek Saul at Forbes. The money saved from firing the former employees was re-distributed into their creator fund, which gave over twenty million to their trending users, per Aura Intelligence Company. Such acts have led to refocusing on tech hiring and employment opportunities, along with opening up the world of budget cuts and company improvements.
As the 2024 Presidential election commenced, Elon Musk wanted to replicate his work within the U.S. Government and became a vital part of Trump’s campaign for the White House. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was created to focus on federal spending. Upon Trump’s inauguration, Elon went to work finding illegitimate uses of American taxpayers’ dollars. The biggest budget cuts included the U.S. Agency of International Aid (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Education which accounted for seven billion dollars in savings, and cut contracts among many departments within the federal government. The tens of thousands of people laid off have led to over fifty-five billion dollars saved in total, per Alex Gangitano at The Hill. These budget cuts create transparency between the taxpayers and the government allowing for increased budgets for the safety and security of the American people.
With these cuts came much controversy. Many government officials have shown their disgust at the DOGE program and claim Elon’s role in auditing the government is unconstitutional, according to Zac Anderson at USA Today. As Musk has gone to work, lawsuits and outrage have followed his every step. These issues in court came right before DOGE’s discovery of a U.S. Treasury loophole that allowed previous administrations to spend about five trillion dollars unaccounted for, per Greg Wehner at Fox News. The multitude of layoffs and disbandments from an unelected official may seem illegal to most, but Elon’s role has no federal power over the country. Musk’s job is to find funds to be reviewed by the executive and legislative branches, which will help put money back into the Americans’ pockets. Elon gains little from this ordeal, as his position is voluntary without pay from the U.S. government. This new look into federal spending could change the landscape of Washington D.C. resembling a business rather than a power.
Why should a student care? With rising inflation and costs, essential items students pay for from gas and groceries to car insurance prices are steadily rising as are their taxes being spent on studies such as the Bubble Wrap Stress Relief study, which studied the effect bubble wrap had on mental health, per K. M. Dillon at the National Library of Medicine. These studies, while interesting should not be taken out of American wallets.
“No taxation without representation”, a quote that started the American Revolution, is ironic within the modern government. Even though we have representatives, they are “representing” themselves focusing on their sponsors. Elon’s Department of Government Efficiency creates an auditing system to help represent and further America’s livelihood. So, as students finish school and fulfill their “American Dreams”, they can also be certain their tax dollars are going to come full circle.
