Tesla CEO Elon Musk, tapped by President-elect to guide a brand new Division of Authorities Effectivity, spoke on the America First Coverage Institute at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.
Elon Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy are already taking a look at what components of the federal government might be slashed as they workforce as much as lead President-elect Donald Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE). The Tesla CEO on Wednesday pointed to famed economist Milton Friedman’s opinion from many years in the past about how bloated the federal government had turn into.
“Milton Friedman was the very best,” Musk wrote in a put up on X, sharing an interview the late Nobel laureate gave, whereby he went via an inventory of total federal businesses that ought to by no means have been created within the first place, in addition to people who he felt had been necessary.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks throughout an America PAC city corridor on Oct. 26, 2024, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Photographs)
Within the interview, Friedman was requested to present a thumbs up or thumbs down on whether or not sure businesses ought to be stored or abolished.
Friedman mentioned the Division of Agriculture (USDA) and the Commerce Division ought to each be “gone,” proper off the bat, however mentioned the U.S. ought to preserve in place its Division of Protection.
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He mentioned the Division of Schooling ought to be abolished, in addition to the Division of Power, apart from the components that cope with nuclear, which ought to be moved underneath the Protection Division.
When requested in regards to the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS), Friedman mentioned “there’s some room for public well being actions to forestall the contagion,” however argued half of the company ought to be eradicated.
The economist, who died in 2006, additionally mentioned the Division of Housing and City Improvement (HUD) must also go, saying it “had performed an unlimited quantity of hurt.”
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Friedman went on to say the Division of the Inside may stay in place till the federal authorities sells off all of the land it owns – excluding the land its buildings sit on – after which it must also be scrapped.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman poses with a sculpture of himself in 1986. (George Rose/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
The Division of Justice should stay, Friedman mentioned within the interview, in addition to the State Division and the Treasury, so as to acquire taxes. However the Division of Labor and the Division of Transportation are each pointless, he mentioned.
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Friedman mentioned it is very important pay the salaries of those that have served within the armed forces, however the Division of Veterans Affairs needn’t exist for that to occur.
In his opinion, Friedman mentioned, the federal authorities ought to be stripped all the way down to its primary capabilities, which he mentioned are to “protect the peace, defend the nation, [and] present a mechanism whereby people can adjudicate their disputes.”
