The DOGE Solution

By Tim Tremblay

The U.S. has a Spending and Borrowing Problem

The U.S. federal government has grappled with a persistent and growing issue – overspending – for decades. While the debate over government spending often centers on the size and scope of the federal budget, the underlying concern is how much the U.S. must borrow to finance its operations. Overspending, coupled with rising debt, is a serious problem that has implications for the nation's fiscal health, economic stability, and future generations.

The U.S. is in a debt conundrum as President Trump takes office. The debt is currently over $36 trillion. Unfunded liabilities (e.g., Social Security and Medicare) are now over $220 trillion. Try to understand what this means: a billion is a thousand million... a trillion is a thousand billion. It's difficult to comprehend that the U.S. government can be this far in debt and yet politicians on both sides of the aisle just continue down this path to insolvency.

The main reason politicians vote to continue to pile up debt, as I see it, is that it's very difficult to get elected or reelected by campaigning on cutting costs.

The U.S federal budget, which outlines how much the government plans to spend in a given fiscal year, is staggering. In fiscal year 2023, the federal government spent $6.3 trillion (a number that far exceeds the economic output of most countries), while taking in just over $4 trillion.

Over the last 20 years, the federal debt has more than tripled, fueled by annual budget deficits that pile onto the existing debt. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the national debt now equals more than 120% of the nation's GDP – a level not seen since World War II.

If the U.S. Government were a business, it would already be in chapter 13 bankruptcy.

The problem does eventually resolve itself.

It's simple math.

Just look at countries such as Greece, Zimbabwe, Argentina, and more recently Venezuela. They all had to start over.

Unfortunately, however, their citizens were devastated as their economies collapsed.

If we are not careful, it could happen here.

Small Business Ideas and Policies

I have been in business with my independent financial services company for 27 years. For the first four years or so I wondered what I got myself into. Things that I took for granted as an employee were now my responsibility. There were so many things to consider: payroll, company debt, employee benefits, marketing, advertising, accounting, city, state, and federal taxes, property leases, and on and on. I realized early that if I did not take care of these responsibilities I would be out of business in a heartbeat.

Maybe, just maybe, the federal government could use small business ideas and policies that could make a huge difference. Small businesses throughout the United States are the heart of the economy. They have thrived over the years while paying great attention to their responsibilities, rules, and regulations. The federal government needs to do the same thing: take care of its responsibilities.

Along Comes DOGE

President Elect Donald Trump has come up with a significant potential debt solution. He has appointed two very successful businessmen – Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – to head up a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Donald Trump happens to be a very successful businessman as well. The three of them plan to isolate and then slash unnecessary spending and eliminate ridiculous regulations.

The President Elect explains that “DOGE will provide advice and guidance from outside government and partner with the White House Office of Budget and Management to drive large-scale structural reform. It potentially will become the ‘Manhattan Project’ of our time.” He notes too that, “Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of 'DOGE' for a very long time.”

DOGE has a Four Rule Process:

Rule #1: You can't spend money you don't have;

Rule #2: Slash excessive regulations;

Rule #3: Cut wasteful expenditures;

Rule #4: Restructure Federal Agencies.

Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy, Inc.

Musk has said he could cut $2 trillion of unnecessary spending right away. Ramaswamy has said he could eliminate 30 government agencies immediately as well as countless useless regulations. He plans to cut unnecessary contracts and organizations.

The U.S. government employs approximately 2.1 million civilian employees, not including the U.S. Postal Service, which operates as an independent entity. The total U.S. federal government payroll is around $550 billion per year. The bloated government budget has thousands of unnecessary bureaucratic jobs with unproductive "workers" that would have a hard time describing exactly what they do.

DOGE looks to do what Musk did with X (formerly Twitter) when he acquired the company. X is performing nicely with a fraction of the workforce Twitter had.

Look for DOGE to help establish new government jobs where employees will work efficiently with well-defined job responsibilities that are specific and easy to understand. Like small businesses throughout the country, government employees will be held responsible for their job performance and will understand what is expected of them.

“Trump, Musk, Ramaswamy, Inc.!”

Don't you like the sound of that company?

We can't wait to see what they have in store for the U.S. government's debt.

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Stay the course with "TMR, Inc!"