During a meeting with former President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, proposed the creation of a “government efficiency commission” to reduce government waste and pledged to “help out” with the initiative.
During his almost two-hour talk with Trump on Monday night, Musk demanded the commission. Trump accepted the notion with outstanding openness. The pertinent discussion starts at around 1:44:00.
Musk told Trump, “I think it would be excellent to just have a government efficiency committee that looks at these things.” “And if we establish such a commission, I would be delighted to assist.”
“I would love it. You’re the best cutter ever,” Trump retorted. “I mean, I see your actions. As soon as you enter, you simply ask, “Do you want to quit?” I’ll keep the firm’s name anonymous, but when they go on strike, you tell them it’s alright because you’re all leaving.
He continued by saying that Musk “would enjoy it” and “would be extremely good” at the job.
Musk stressed previously in the conversation that the US needed to cut back on spending, stating that “government overspending causes inflation since government checks never bounce.”
He said, “I believe we’re presently adding a trillion dollars to the deficit every 100 days.” Furthermore, the national debt’s interest payments now outweigh the defense budget. It is almost one trillion dollars, and it is still growing.
Shortly after, Trump declared, “The waste is enormous, and nobody negotiates pricing,” expressing agreement with Musk that government spending has to be restrained.
During his administration, Trump cited Boeing’s price reduction of more than $1 billion for the Air Force I and another jet as an example of how he effectively reduced waste.
However, I said that I would not pay the $5.7 billion. I refuse to participate in it. “Who made the deal?” I asked. Trump reminisced, recalling that he had received news that the group, under former President Barack Obama, had achieved success.
“Well, then I know the bargain isn’t good,” I said. I will not carry it out. And in roughly four weeks, I was able to negotiate a $1.6 billion price reduction for the exact same aircraft by simply saying, “I’m not going to do it,” he said.
Trump instructed Musk to use the model “and multiply it out by hundreds of other things,” implying a far larger implementation of this strategy across the federal government.
That’s right. Increase it by a billion,” Musk said.
