DOGE Failed — Unless It Was About Ulterior Motives – CleanTechnica

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Elon Musk recently announced that he was leaving his role as the head of DOGE (the “Department of Government Efficiency”). Supposedly, after a few months in the job, he got a lot done. However, he really didn’t.

Yes, DOGE fired a lot of federal workers, demolished USAID, and killed DEI initiatives. However, it probably cost the United States money in net. Even if you’re optimistic about the activities and somehow don’t think that the costs are going to outweigh the savings, you have to come to the conclusion that the savings are absolutely tiny compared to the overall federal budget and US deficit. But let’s dive into some of these matters in a bit more detail before getting to big potential ulterior motives.

First of all, we’ve covered before that DOGE’s estimated savings, as announced by Elon Musk, are well below estimated costs from the mass layoffs. And that’s taking Musk’s word for it on the saving, despite repeatedly claiming incorrect savings due to typos, counting things that were already finished or cancelled previously, and other basic mistakes. Also, that’s not even taking into account public health and safety problems from having far fewer air traffic controllers (there have been several airplane crashes and associated deaths this year alone after having none during the Biden administration), EPA staff keeping toxins and pollution out of our air and water, the cost of disease outbreaks from USAID being axed, and numerous other public health and safety costs from mass layoffs. That also doesn’t take into account the billions of dollars the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has saved consumers and DOGE deciding to shut it down for no clear reason. Here’s what Americans for Financial Reform reports regarding the CFPB:

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In the last 14 years, the CFPB has already:

• • Obtained over $21 billion in relief for over 200 million people in the form of restitution or cancelled debts, through its supervision and enforcement powers. The agency kept many billions more in people’s pockets through new rules, guidance and other effective oversight policies;
  • Collected $5 billion in civil money penalties for misconduct and wrongdoing;
  • Returned $363 million back to servicemembers and veterans through 39 public enforcement actions, including six Military Lending Act violations;
  • Helped eliminate medical debt from credit reports of 22.8 million people with at least one medical debt collection removed from their credit reports;
  • Ordered $100 million in redress for harmed student borrowers and put an end to Navient’s abusive and illegal actions.

The CFPB cracked down on junk fees and has:

The Bureau continues to improve the fairness and accuracy of credit reports.

• • The medical debt rule will protect 15 million people with unfairly lowered credit scores due to medical debt. The CFPB’s final rule to remove medical bills from most credit reports will prohibit credit reporting companies like Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian from sharing medical debt information with lenders as well as barring lenders from considering these medical debts in underwriting decisions. Keeping medical debt on credit reports may make loans more expensive, block access to credit, and harm someone’s ability to rent an apartment or get a job.

The CFPB works to keep our personal financial data safe and make it easier for consumers to switch financial service providers.

• • The proposed data broker rule will protect online privacy and prevent fraud. The CFPB’s proposed data broker rule will protect consumers from unscrupulous data brokers that sell sensitive personal and financial information and limit the sale of personal identifiers such as Social Security Numbers and phone numbers. Data brokers that sell sensitive consumer information would need to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and its accuracy requirements, provide consumers access to their information, and maintain safeguards against data misuse.
  • The recently finalized Personal Financial Data Rights rule will create a more consumer-friendly and competitive financial services marketplace. This open-banking proposal empowers consumers to control their own financial data and allows consumers to more easily switch financial service providers and move their personal financial data at no extra charge. Covered data would also need to be standardized and consistently presented, so consumers can more easily comparison shop between financial service providers.

The CFPB holds Walls Street, predatory lenders, and Big Tech accountable when they hurt and defraud people.

• • The Big Tech Larger Participants rule will bring much needed oversight and supervision to nonbank fintech providers, so they do not facilitate fraud and provide the same oversight for their payment apps as banks and credit unions. As it becomes much more common for consumers to use digital wallets and payment apps to make purchases, large nonbank fintech providers such as Google Pay or Apply Pay, must take payment fraud more seriously and also adhere to the same compliance measures followed by banks and credit unions’ payment apps, including data privacy laws and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA).

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Why would you shut down the CFPB? Honestly, why would you take a chainsaw to an agency that’s dedicated to protecting Americans from financial fraud and abuse?

Well, the CFPB would oversee Elon Musk’s X, and in particular, “Just a few days before Musk’s DOGE agents targeted the CFPB, the social media platform X launched a new payment system — X Money — that the ‘agency might have scrutinized,’ said The Washington Post.” Going on, The Week writes: “The bureau has ‘vast powers’ to go after ‘unfair, deceptive and predatory corporate practices,’ and it has used those powers to closely examine banks and tech giants that have offered digital banking-style services. Musk’s work to dismantle the bureau is like a ‘bank robber trying to fire the cops and turn off the alarms before he strolls in the lobby,’ said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).”

It has also been reported that Musk noted some of his friends were bothered by the CFPB. I wonder why that would be.

More broadly, it turned out that the agencies Musk was quickest to go after as head of DOGE had connections to Musk’s companies, including several investigations. But, hey, when you’re above the regulators who regulate you, what is there to worry about? Just mass fire people, claim it’s for a noble cause, and watch all your problems go away.

This is the definition of foxes being put in charge of the henhouse. Now, superfans of Elon Musk have claimed that any investigations into Musk and his companies must have been corrupt and useless. But, objectively, that’s absurd. Also, Musk has been known to cut corners and break rules in order to do things he wants to do — this is a clear characteristic or tendency of his, and one he and his fans flout. So, how can one assume that none of these investigations were warranted, or even very important?

More critically, look at all the harm that’s been done to our country from mass layoffs at important agencies.

Of course, the side effect that has gone and hurt Musk is that many people will no longer consider buying products from his companies, like Tesla cars. The question is how far that’s going to go.

Oh yeah, and it turns out Musk’s new buddies in the Grand Old Party don’t care about the deficit that much anyway. They are on the verge of passing a budget bill that will balloon the federal deficit, adding trillions to US debt. Where is the outrage from Musk, the bashing of those politicians, and the heroic effort to save the United States? It’s almost like it was all a charade.