Musk's DOGE Suggests Giving $5,000 Checks To Taxpayers But Greatly Overstates How Much The Department Has Saved In Federal Spending
Proverbs 25:14 Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
There is a proposal this week that offers to give $5,000 checks to U.S. taxpayers, reparations of sorts collected from cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has raised a lot of questions as to how this would work, who exactly gets the proposed money, and the potential for additional government burdens down the road.
The proposal was first introduced by James Fishback, CEO of Azoria investment firm, which reallocate funds cut and collected by DOGE.
posted the full proposal here.
The so-called “DOGE Dividend” would divvy up 20% of the projected $2 trillion Musk and DOGE purportedly hope to cut by 2026 to roughly 79 million U.S. households.
Musk has hinted he would support the idea.
However, The WinePress noted in January Musk was a little unsure if he and his team could reach that original $2 trillion goal.
“We’ll try for $2 trillion. I think that’s like the best-case outcome,” Musk told Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of marketing business Stagwell, in a live interview on X.
“I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting one. In terms of saving money in the government, well, as you know, it’s a very target-rich environment for saving money. It was like, ‘Where will you find places to save money?’ I’m like, ‘It’s like being in a room full of targets,’” Musk explained.
Nevertheless, DOGE so far claims it has saved around $55 billion in excess federal spending, per its official government website.
However, a plethora of reports citing independent analysis cross-examining DOGE’s alleged cuts are being greatly overblown.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, February 19th:
The federal cost-cutting effort dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency says it has saved $55 billion in federal spending so far, but its website only accounts for $16.6 billion of that.
And that’s before factoring in an error in the data published on DOGE’s website that mislabels a contract as $8 billion, which was later corrected in the federal database to only be $8 million. That cuts nearly in half the total of DOGE’s itemized savings, including from contracts and leases, to about $8.6 billion.
But DOGE’s accounting raises questions about the reliability of their self-reporting and their level of accountability. Despite its name, it’s not a department, but rather an office within the White House that operates outside the gaze of traditional federal watchdogs, including inspectors general.
As of Wednesday morning, the DOGE website had been updated to show an $8 million savings value for the contract that had previously been listed as $8 billion, though it retains the $55 billion top-line savings claim.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed claims that DOGE had found an estimated $50 billion savings so far, in an interview with Fox News Tuesday, and called it a “very good start.”
Trump, in a joint appearance alongside Musk with Fox News host Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday, said Musk’s effort is “finding billions — and it will be hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of fraud.” Musk, meanwhile, reiterated his overall goal to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion.
Yet it’s unclear how DOGE would get to those sums even with deep cuts, especially as Trump has pledged it won’t touch Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Today, the Wall Street Journal also provided their own analysis, and it too finds that DOGE has reported incorrect data, claiming that the savings are even less than first reported by outlets such as Bloomberg. WSJ reports:
A Wall Street Journal analysis of government contract data showed a much different picture: “woke” cuts were a tiny fraction of the total, and many claims of savings were overstated.
While DOGE hasn’t offered details about all of the stated savings, it has posted a list of more than 1,100 canceled contracts to its website. As of Friday, it said the savings from these contracts amounted to about $7 billion.
The Journal analysis projects the actual savings could be closer to $2.6 billion over the next year if spending levels remained constant—and about 2% of the funds would have gone to contracts related to DEI.
Agency contract amounts are often akin to credit card limits, said Deniece Peterson, senior director of federal market analysis at Deltek.
“If I have a credit card with a $30,000 limit and I have a $2,000 balance and I cancel the credit card, I’m not saving $28,000,” she said. “What I’m seeing in many of these transactions is not savings.”But more than 50 of the contracts listed on DOGE’s website list virtually all of their maximum as savings, a number rarely hit, according to Nat Malkus, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “The totals [DOGE] put up as receipts on their website raise basic questions about how well these receipts were prepared and what they actually capture.”
More than a quarter of the contracts listed by DOGE were actually already paid, the Journal found, saving no money. For instance, DOGE listed $168,000 in savings for terminating a contract with HHS for an Anthony Fauci museum exhibit. It had already been fully paid.
With that in mind, a $5,000 check is probably not going to be achievable, as that would mean the 20% dividend payout would be around $11 per taxpayer instead. Other sources such as Investopedia report, “$41 if DOGE's tally is accurate or $1.50 if the unaccounted-for savings do not materialize.”
Some argue this will be inflationary. Forbes reported:
Budget experts caution in a MarketWatch report that distributing such substantial sums could exacerbate inflationary pressures, reminiscent of concerns raised during previous stimulus efforts. This would be especially ironic given that Republicans were the primary opponents of additional stimulus during the pandemic. Preston Brashers, a research fellow for tax policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, echoed this on X: “Love what DOGE is doing, but this is a bad idea. There’s no need to send ‘dividend checks.’ The dividend we get from slashing spending is that it brings inflation into check. But if the government sends out stimmy checks, inflation will come back with a vengeance.”
However, it should be clearly understood that a dividend is not the same as a stimulus check like the ones doled out to Americans several times by Presidents Trump and Biden during the Covid era.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Proverbs 25:14 Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
Last week in my report covering Oracle’s Larry Ellison’s very draconian and creepy statements regarding AI and collecting everyone’s very private and intrinsic data, I said this in regard to Musk and his role in the government:
Do not get lost in the rhetoric and wild headlines of purported tens of millions going to fund finger-puppet theater in the Middle East: pay attention to the underbelly, what’s really going on. MAGA media only wants to point out the fraud being funded by Democrats, but will cheer and rejoice with anon at being enslaved and marching into a social credit score, tokenized economy, a transcontinental panopticon wrapped in stars and stripes.
And so - surprise, surprise - once again, the government lied. Are you shocked?
DOGE is not going to be making any meaningful cuts on a large scale; and if it did, then it would cause our GDP to take a hit because government and military spending are big contributors to that artificially inflated number, not to mention a lot of these bloated departments that don’t do a whole lot. Plus, (and this is by design) if they, DOGE, are serious about cutting and consolidating departments, then it is going to send tons of ripple effects and tidal waves because so many miscellaneous things are shoved under these departments. Because most things are daisy-chained together, making certain cuts and consolidations will end up cutting out so many other things that were not intended on being cut. This is why making meaningful cuts has never been successful or really ever attempted, by design.
Be that as it may, that doesn’t mean Trump, Musk and MAGA media are going to stop constantly telling you and I that we are “winning.” Believe me, I am totally for cutting useless government spending and returning money to taxpayers, but these cuts are fractional; and when you realize DOGE is inflating the numbers it’s not much of a headline.
As for the proposed dividend checks, I honestly don’t see this happening, but we’ll see. IF it is a true non-taxable dividend check, then that’s one thing; but IF it comes in the form of a stimulus check, then that will be super inflationary, and I honestly would not be shocked if there are future attempts to send out stimulus checks masquerading as dividends and rebates. Time will tell.
Make sure your faith and hope is appropriated in the correct space…
Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. [9] It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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I see it a bit differently. Keep in mind the end goal. The goal is tokenization, the beast tracking system. $5,000.00 is a lot of money to most people. For several years now, many are hurting and have had to make drastic personal budget changes. They are using a carrot instead of a stick. They know if they offer you a large enough sum, most people will do what is required to get it. They won't think past, $5,000.00! They are corralling people behind the pen that will entrap them.
While it's tempting to think benevolence is at play, that's highly unlikely. Keep your guard up.
Bro. Jacob, you should check out 'Hugo Talks' latest video. There's now a "Third Term Project" pushing for Trump to stay as president, styling him after the Roman emperors. Kinda funny since Trump said that we "won't have to vote for him anymore" because "it will be so fixed". 🤔 Just thought I'd bring it to your attention.