The cost cutter's current projection of annual "savings" is 85 percent lower than the goal he set two months ago—and even that number can't be trusted.
That's the highest total outside of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now Congress wants to borrow even more.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist says the Iron Triangle of Politics must be defeated to cut down the government for good.
Taxes on imports cannot possibly deliver all the benefits the president is promising.
Despite efforts to rein in government debt, gold prices keep rising—suggesting investors aren’t buying the promises of fiscal responsibility.
Musk's fans and critics will keep debating whether DOGE is revolutionizing government or wrecking important institutions.
The cost-cutting initiative's calculation of "estimated savings" is mostly mysterious, and the parts we know about are riddled with errors.
The U.S. can defend itself at a lot less expense.
Entitlements are a much bigger expense, but that doesn't mean the waste doesn't matter.
The president's assertion is divorced from reality, and so are the "estimated savings" touted by Elon Musk.
It's great to have presidents talking about the need for a balanced budget, but Republicans are backing a plan that will increase borrowing.
Means-test Social Security, raise the retirement age, and let us invest our own money.
At the current rate of inflation, the dollar will lose 33 cents of purchasing power within a decade.
The presidential adviser's lack of formal authority complicates his cost-cutting mission.
"If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better," says Rep. Thomas Massie. He's right.
Democrats seem willing to tolerate a lot to get a larger government, but Republicans aren’t much better.
If Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is serious about reducing military spending, he will need to embrace a narrower understanding of national security.
It tries to offset as much as $4.8 trillion—mostly for tax cut extensions—with only $1.5 trillion in supposed spending reductions.
"The only way you get less waste is to give them less money to spend," says the libertarian-adjacent senator from Kentucky.
Elon Musk, the president's cost-cutting czar, has a habit of overpromising and underdelivering.
Even if the Department of Government Efficiency eliminates all improper payments and fraud, we'll still be facing a debt explosion—which requires structural reform.
The DOGE director wildly exaggerates what can be accomplished by tackling "waste, fraud, and abuse" in government spending without new legislation.
Plus: Vance's AI speech, bubble boy playgrounds, Delaware antagonizes founders, and more...
The pretend department’s downgraded mission reflects the gap between Trump’s promise of "smaller government" and the reality of what can be achieved without new legislation.
In the early 1990s, Bill Clinton's administration set out to "reinvent" government. What can the mercurial Tesla CEO learn from their efforts?
Republicans are betting trillions on the hope that the economy will grow fast enough to cover their deficit spree.
Eliminating the deficit requires cutting the biggest spending—defense, Medicare, Social Security. So far, Trump says he won't touch those.
The public worries about corruption and bureaucracy, but many want more of the same.
DOGE won't necessarily have to kill any of Republicans’ sacred cows—but they will have to be put on a diet.
This week's House Budget Committee hearing showed bipartisan agreement about the seriousness of America's fiscal problems.
Ambitious budget cuts will meet political reality in Trump’s second administration.
It would take nearly $8 trillion in budget cuts merely to stabilize the national debt so it does not grow faster than the economy.
Even before the pandemic spending increase, the budget deficit was approaching $1 trillion. The GOP has the chance to embrace fiscal sanity this time if they can find the political will.
Narrowly understood, the president-elect's familiar-sounding plan to tackle "massive waste and fraud" may not give us "smaller government" in any meaningful sense.
The president-elect’s record and campaign positions belie Elon Musk’s talk of spending cuts.
If Musk is truly serious about fiscal discipline, he'll advise the president-elect to eschew many of the policies he promised on the campaign trail.
With control of the House still undecided, a Democratic majority could serve as the strongest check on Trump's worst impulses.
AFIP is an "unnecessary bureaucracy" that stifles economic freedom, says Milei's government.
The former president's increasingly lopsided economic policy proposals have the feel of throwing spaghetti at the wall.
When they entered the White House, the budget deficit was a pandemic-influenced $2.3 trillion, and it was set to fall to $905 billion by 2024. It's now twice what it was supposed to be.
Spending increased by 10 percent last year, while tax revenue increased by 11 percent. Interest payments on the debt shot up by 34 percent.
If the former president wins the 2024 race, the circumstances he would inherit are far more challenging, and several of his policy ideas are destructive.
The budget could be balanced by cutting just six pennies from every dollar the government spends. It used to require even less.
Plus: The Federal Reserve cut interest rates, Congress still isn't cutting spending, and more....
Vice President Kamala Harris would add about $2 trillion to the deficit.
Lawmakers must be willing to reform so-called "mandatory spending," Pence's nonprofit argues in a new document.
Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.
This modal will close in 10
