The way you're calculating these "savings" is more accurate and to me, obvious! Why is Musk's narrative on savings going widely unchallenged when it's so clear he's doing cryptomath?
Right-wing propaganda, fear of specious lawsuits by legacy media, an epidemic of capitulation in advance, and an inability by Democratic lawmakers to communicate anything at all.
Have we also subtracted the salaries of Musk and his DOGE boys from the reported balance? I'm darn sure this is not being done out of the goodness of their cold hearts!
Another news outlet said some of the DOGE cyber vandals were making 6 figures. NPR reporting shows what they found about the startup $$..
“… DOGE began with about a $750,000 infusion, and that quickly grew to about $40 million of money that had been apportioned for DOGE within the first month of the administration. Much of that money is supposedly under the banner of technology modernization work or IT work.…”
They should also include any unemployment income that the fired employees may get, and also the amount of money not coming in because those employees are not paying taxes anymore. It adds up.
When I got fired for something I didn't do at the VA, (I was a temporary employee but the union took my money but didn't tell me they wouldn't help me). Then the federal government stole my 22 days vacation pay. But I beat the Fed government in unemployment court and got full benefits, and I used it well.
It also appears that most of the cuts are being overturned by the courts. None of the "savings" from USAID funding cuts have been found to be legal so far. Thanks for all of your wonderful work.
Invaluable breakdown here. Last point may be the most significant: nothing is saved that is still a Congressional appropriation, and nothing is saved that is redirected into the pockets of billionaires instead of dispensed as legislated.
I think this article missed the point. The audacity of the claims of 100 billion and 1 trillion. Anyone can make a website. The website itself doesn’t show any evidence. It discusses things in terms of millions of dollars. Sometimes tens of millions of dollars. But what does that have to do with 1 trillion? And are these programs really wasteful? Where is the evidence that the programs are not a benefit to the American people. All I’ve heard is a made up story about dead people getting money. Something that I’m sure they vetted as a story that would make people outraged. But I’m pretty sure a lot of people see through that. How was this allowed to begin with is another question I’d like to see answered. He’s not even a government employee is he? I get it. No one likes the government. But is what’s happening legal and in the best interest of American people? Why not a more efficient military? A stronger one that makes us safer and smarter? If you look at your paycheck sometimes as much as 25% is taken. So that percentage is gonna be drastically reduced right? If that kind of money would be saved where is it gonna go? No one talks about that. Because there’s no plan to give it back to the people right? And these $8000 checks they want to send out.. that’s just buying the complicity of putting the elderly on the street or making them work until death. The disabled in tent cities, I guess or if their disability is mental health then they will be working as slaves in “wellness camps“? Is that like when we had asylums back in the 1950s when America was great? As you can see, I have a lot of questions and none of them have been answered by this article. I’m sure I’m not a lone voice out here craving some reality.
This article isn’t intended to answer every question you have. Nor do I think any article can do so. It’s a more accurate way of evaluating how much has been cut. If you aren’t interested in that, no problem.
They're not gonna send out $8000 to anybody ever. (Except themselves and it will be a lot more than thousands of dollars) Giving money to people is a myth.
How does one accurately measure cost savings without counterbalancing the increased costs of healthcare from lost innovative health research and the losses from the international aid that would've prevented wars, famines and untold worldwide health issues that we will eventually need to become part of in order to save ourselves? Such a narrow-focus!
You are welcome to create your own database. You can structure it however you like don't forget to include the fired workers unemployment and the taxes they won't pay since they are out of work
What I like about your investigative journalism is that it covers the dry, factual, data based consequences of this administration Mainstream media isn't wrong that many Americans would find this reporting boring, hard to grasp and unworthy of their attention on TV or in a newspaper. Friends say " So they lie, everyone does, we all know that already"
We know liberal media will have anecdotes and predictions of the devastating impact on poor people all over the world. Conservative media will present the equally dire and distressing impacts of tax payer funded government activism ,inefficiency and waste.
And worse, most media will present this as an inevitable clash between different philosophies of government that courts and citizens/voters should referee.
I want you to translate for us ,in each area of gross misrepresentation of savings and efficiencies that you cover, what individuals , groups, organizations and countries are the big winners as DOGE blows up democratic processes.
I think more folks have to see how the DOGE disruptive actions transfers even more power, wealth, influence to: Trump family , autocrats, oligarchs, unethical corporations.
Is it possible to end each section with the dirty secrets...eg.."This enables about X# of families making over 1 million a year to reduce their tax contribution to the federal government by $Y...or 'This enables 6 corporations operating private prisons, armies ,security forces to privately contract with federal govt with far less govt oversight
I think what Legum may be failing to realize is just how pissed off people are. I appreciate his efforts, but we already know they're corrupt. We want full proof of exactly how badly we're being fleeced as taxpayers. Will this information help us? Probably not, but it's part of the process--the anger stage of grief.
If the government cancels a contract without cause, often the contractor can go to court and get the remaining contracted funds as a penalty payment. Hence, no savings at all. DOGE is worthless and criminal and costing everybody a lot of money. It needs to go!
Many of these cancelled contracts are already ending up in court, which is what happens when you sign a contract with someone and then renege. Some of these companies hired employees, bought equipment, leased offices in support of that contract, and when the US government backs out without cause, they sue.
It'd be interesting to see how much money, if any, is "saved" after all those lawsuits are resolved. I suspect most of our taxpayer money is going to end up in these settlements and we'll have nothing to show for it.
Why do you amplify Musk's numbers with a big graphic touting his lie about savings? Every time someone sees his lies, the more they work their way into our thoughts and whether we like it or not. Even when you are pointing out their lies, put in bold, put in graphics a progressive framing of the problem, not the Musk/MAGA/Trump frame. (https://www.theframelab.org/why-are-fact-checks-vouching-trumps-lies/)
If the actual savings is $8.6B and they're claiming it's $105B, I think they're overstating the savings by 1221%, not 92%. 92% is the portion of their claim that's bogus, but their claim is over 12 times the actual amount. This is how you'd calculate gain on investments so I'd say their claim is a similar gain on reality.
The way you're calculating these "savings" is more accurate and to me, obvious! Why is Musk's narrative on savings going widely unchallenged when it's so clear he's doing cryptomath?
Right-wing propaganda, fear of specious lawsuits by legacy media, an epidemic of capitulation in advance, and an inability by Democratic lawmakers to communicate anything at all.
Arrgggh! It's so frustrating to watch the people who CAN do something just...do nothing.
10-4. Spot on HW
Have we also subtracted the salaries of Musk and his DOGE boys from the reported balance? I'm darn sure this is not being done out of the goodness of their cold hearts!
Another news outlet said some of the DOGE cyber vandals were making 6 figures. NPR reporting shows what they found about the startup $$..
“… DOGE began with about a $750,000 infusion, and that quickly grew to about $40 million of money that had been apportioned for DOGE within the first month of the administration. Much of that money is supposedly under the banner of technology modernization work or IT work.…”
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-s1-5310562/how-is-doge-funded
this!
They should also include any unemployment income that the fired employees may get, and also the amount of money not coming in because those employees are not paying taxes anymore. It adds up.
When I got fired for something I didn't do at the VA, (I was a temporary employee but the union took my money but didn't tell me they wouldn't help me). Then the federal government stole my 22 days vacation pay. But I beat the Fed government in unemployment court and got full benefits, and I used it well.
It also appears that most of the cuts are being overturned by the courts. None of the "savings" from USAID funding cuts have been found to be legal so far. Thanks for all of your wonderful work.
Invaluable breakdown here. Last point may be the most significant: nothing is saved that is still a Congressional appropriation, and nothing is saved that is redirected into the pockets of billionaires instead of dispensed as legislated.
Thank you for doing the math and discussing the formulas- the more people understand the system that is being dismantled the better right now.
As has been said by many readers, watch your back, Judd. You're a necessity for us
I think this article missed the point. The audacity of the claims of 100 billion and 1 trillion. Anyone can make a website. The website itself doesn’t show any evidence. It discusses things in terms of millions of dollars. Sometimes tens of millions of dollars. But what does that have to do with 1 trillion? And are these programs really wasteful? Where is the evidence that the programs are not a benefit to the American people. All I’ve heard is a made up story about dead people getting money. Something that I’m sure they vetted as a story that would make people outraged. But I’m pretty sure a lot of people see through that. How was this allowed to begin with is another question I’d like to see answered. He’s not even a government employee is he? I get it. No one likes the government. But is what’s happening legal and in the best interest of American people? Why not a more efficient military? A stronger one that makes us safer and smarter? If you look at your paycheck sometimes as much as 25% is taken. So that percentage is gonna be drastically reduced right? If that kind of money would be saved where is it gonna go? No one talks about that. Because there’s no plan to give it back to the people right? And these $8000 checks they want to send out.. that’s just buying the complicity of putting the elderly on the street or making them work until death. The disabled in tent cities, I guess or if their disability is mental health then they will be working as slaves in “wellness camps“? Is that like when we had asylums back in the 1950s when America was great? As you can see, I have a lot of questions and none of them have been answered by this article. I’m sure I’m not a lone voice out here craving some reality.
This article isn’t intended to answer every question you have. Nor do I think any article can do so. It’s a more accurate way of evaluating how much has been cut. If you aren’t interested in that, no problem.
They're not gonna send out $8000 to anybody ever. (Except themselves and it will be a lot more than thousands of dollars) Giving money to people is a myth.
How does one accurately measure cost savings without counterbalancing the increased costs of healthcare from lost innovative health research and the losses from the international aid that would've prevented wars, famines and untold worldwide health issues that we will eventually need to become part of in order to save ourselves? Such a narrow-focus!
You are welcome to create your own database. You can structure it however you like don't forget to include the fired workers unemployment and the taxes they won't pay since they are out of work
What I like about your investigative journalism is that it covers the dry, factual, data based consequences of this administration Mainstream media isn't wrong that many Americans would find this reporting boring, hard to grasp and unworthy of their attention on TV or in a newspaper. Friends say " So they lie, everyone does, we all know that already"
We know liberal media will have anecdotes and predictions of the devastating impact on poor people all over the world. Conservative media will present the equally dire and distressing impacts of tax payer funded government activism ,inefficiency and waste.
And worse, most media will present this as an inevitable clash between different philosophies of government that courts and citizens/voters should referee.
I want you to translate for us ,in each area of gross misrepresentation of savings and efficiencies that you cover, what individuals , groups, organizations and countries are the big winners as DOGE blows up democratic processes.
I think more folks have to see how the DOGE disruptive actions transfers even more power, wealth, influence to: Trump family , autocrats, oligarchs, unethical corporations.
Is it possible to end each section with the dirty secrets...eg.."This enables about X# of families making over 1 million a year to reduce their tax contribution to the federal government by $Y...or 'This enables 6 corporations operating private prisons, armies ,security forces to privately contract with federal govt with far less govt oversight
I think what Legum may be failing to realize is just how pissed off people are. I appreciate his efforts, but we already know they're corrupt. We want full proof of exactly how badly we're being fleeced as taxpayers. Will this information help us? Probably not, but it's part of the process--the anger stage of grief.
If the government cancels a contract without cause, often the contractor can go to court and get the remaining contracted funds as a penalty payment. Hence, no savings at all. DOGE is worthless and criminal and costing everybody a lot of money. It needs to go!
Many of these cancelled contracts are already ending up in court, which is what happens when you sign a contract with someone and then renege. Some of these companies hired employees, bought equipment, leased offices in support of that contract, and when the US government backs out without cause, they sue.
It'd be interesting to see how much money, if any, is "saved" after all those lawsuits are resolved. I suspect most of our taxpayer money is going to end up in these settlements and we'll have nothing to show for it.
Once again you lead the way with must know information that is clear, cogent, concise and trustworthy. True journalism at its best.
Thank you.
Why do you amplify Musk's numbers with a big graphic touting his lie about savings? Every time someone sees his lies, the more they work their way into our thoughts and whether we like it or not. Even when you are pointing out their lies, put in bold, put in graphics a progressive framing of the problem, not the Musk/MAGA/Trump frame. (https://www.theframelab.org/why-are-fact-checks-vouching-trumps-lies/)
Your comment strikes a discordant, negative tone — and that negativity seeps into our souls and our brains and rots our insides. Please stop. ✋
Lol
I just watch where the flies go.
If the actual savings is $8.6B and they're claiming it's $105B, I think they're overstating the savings by 1221%, not 92%. 92% is the portion of their claim that's bogus, but their claim is over 12 times the actual amount. This is how you'd calculate gain on investments so I'd say their claim is a similar gain on reality.