The US President’s proposal comes amidst the alleged savings skepticism from Elon Musk’s willingness to cut costs.
US President Donald Trump has proposed using some of the savings from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s willingness to cut costs to give Americans cash and pay off government debt.
Speaking at an investment summit hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund in Miami Beach, Florida, on Wednesday, Trump uses 20% of his savings to pay the public and pays off the federal government’s $36 trillion debt. He said he is considering using 20%.
“The numbers are incredible, Elon. Trump is hundreds of millions of dollars… hundreds of millions of dollars… hundreds of millions of dollars,” the priority summit for the Future Investment Initiative (FII) has been identified by Musk’s Government Efficiency (DOGE). He spoke with reference to his savings.
“We’re thinking about paying 20% back to American citizens and 20% paying off their debt.”
Trump’s proposal came the day after Doge adviser James Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria, proposed “Doge Dividend,” funded by a cost-cutting initiative.
In a four-page memo posted on X on Tuesday, Fishback said $5,000 for all tax-paying households, assuming that the mask task force will save $2 trillion by the time it finishes work in July 2026. He said he could send a check for.
In response to Fishback’s notes, Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said he would “check the president” at X.
Guo Xu, an associate professor at UC Berkeley Haas, has studied the efficiency of government bureaucrats and has been skeptical of the proposal.
“This seems to be a populist measure designed to make federal government’s impairment even more attractive,” Xu told Al Jazeera.
“Instead of cutting government and cutting checks, we need to invest in strengthening the country’s infrastructure, science and national security.”
During Trump’s election campaign, Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, predicted he could find $2 trillion in savings, but later betrayed the estimate, and in a January interview he said he had half of it. It suggested that there is a high chance of saving.
Doge, which is not the official government department, claims to have saved $55 billion so far, but has not released detailed documents to support that figure.
On Monday, Doge published a list of contracts. He said he cancelled to achieve $16 billion in savings.
However, the list mistakenly stated that the $8 million contract with immigration and customs enforcement was worth $8 billion.
Cannis Prendagast, professor at the University of Chicago Booth Business School and author of bureaucratic efficiency, expressed doubt that Doge would have a major impact on federal bureaucratic waste.
“My guess is that at least 100% of the ‘savings’ will be used to pay retirement payments to workers they let go,” Prendergast told Al Jazeera.
“There is no doubt that there are a lot of inefficiencies in the government. Finding it is something that is pretty difficult to do without ruining the service, or something politicians willing to touch on. For example, the United States Most of the federal budgets go to Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare, which no one touches on.
“I’m sure if we take a serious look at the government’s bureaucracy we’ll find valuable savings, but it’s unlikely to happen in 90 seconds, where the current administration seems to have thought of it.”
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