Dep. Of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

[Chester7]

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1857112441529700671

Far be it for me to think I'm smarter, but I'd think compensation would be the best way to go about this.

[avromie7]

Far be it for me to think I'm smarter, but I'd think compensation would be the best way to go about this.

What do you want to do? Pay him $100k?

[aygart]

What do you want to do? Pay him $100k?

50% of savings for 2 years.

[yungermanchik]

What do you want to do? Pay him $100k?

1% commission.

[avromie7]

It's hard to imagine that cutting out wasteful govt spending is anything but a never-ending job, let alone completing it in less than 2 years.

However this is Elon, and I'm probably thinking about it the wrong way. He doesn't think on the same scale as us and can solve extremely difficult issues better than anyone on the planet. Assuming he will probably approach it by creating a system of cutting out spending that doesn't need continual input. Excited to see what he proposes.

It's like cleaning your house. There is always something new that needs to be cleaned, but the government now is like a hoarder house. Just start scooping out shovelfuls of waste, then move to more tedious cleaning, then set up systems to keep it as clean as possible.

[aygart]

Tons of dumb waste is being done on purpose. I know of a housing authority that got bids for their energy that were much lower than their previous contract. They told the supplier they needed the price higher because if they showed that their budget dropped by that much, they would get a funding cut. It ended up with such high margin to the supplier that their system wouldn't allow it and they needed to get all sorts of corporate approvals to override manually.

[yelped]

Tons of dumb waste is being done on purpose. I know of a housing authority that got bids for their energy that were much lower than their previous contract. They told the supplier they needed the price higher because if they showed that their budget dropped by that much, they would get a funding cut. It ended up with such high margin to the supplier that their system wouldn't allow it and they needed to get all sorts of corporate approvals to override manually.

Prime example of how all government agencies and NGOs work.

[EliJelly]

because if they showed that their budget dropped by that much, they would get a funding cut.

מעשים בכל יום, Every dept in government needs to use up their funds in order to maintain the same funding and avoid cuts. They'll always look for waste spending to meet that. People who deal with govt contracts and employees hear that first hand.

[yuneeq]

Tons of dumb waste is being done on purpose. I know of a housing authority that got bids for their energy that were much lower than their previous contract. They told the supplier they needed the price higher because if they showed that their budget dropped by that much, they would get a funding cut. It ended up with such high margin to the supplier that their system wouldn't allow it and they needed to get all sorts of corporate approvals to override manually.

This is the type of infrastructural issues that Elon can potentially overhaul and have a major impact, without even delving into any specific agency.

Labor management is another.

[gozalim]

מעשים בכל יום, Every dept in government needs to use up their funds in order to maintain the same funding and avoid cuts. They'll always look for waste spending to meet that. People who deal with govt contracts and employees hear that first hand.

The incentive structure (in all bureaucracies) is inverted. and it runs through, top to bottom.
incentive to maintain spending levels at the top, and employees aren't incentivized to work efficiently, just to keep things moving along peacefully.
unions help protect that as well, but in public sector there's no way you can remove those...
(to some extent this happens in some large corporations as well. but public sector has the added disadvantage that 'the bottom line' can't be used as a metric/motivator, when the goal isn't profit)

Find a way to flip the motivation scale, and the efficiencies will create themselves


manage to invert the incentive structure, the efficiencies will happen by themselves.

[Alexsei]

https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1858524650336367000

[aygart]

I just hope they live up to the hype. I am skeptical.

[mevinyavin]

FT editorial

[Alexsei]

https://x.com/TheRabbitHole84/status/1858552385267769798

[Ver hut gazugt]

https://x.com/TheRabbitHole84/status/1858552385267769798

is it?. That is over 50-60 years any comparison to the inflation rate over those years.

[avromie7]

is it?. That is over 50-60 years any comparison to the inflation rate over those years.

it's inflation adjusted. It says in 2023 dollars

[skyguy918]

https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1858524650336367000

Community noted. But even if it were true, it really depends on the details. Work from home does not mean expendable. And bringing those employees back into office can easily be less efficient instead of more. I presume he posted this because Elon is a known as anti-WFH.

[avromie7]

Community noted. But even if it were true, it really depends on the details. Work from home does not mean expendable. And bringing those employees back into office can easily be less efficient instead of more. I presume he posted this because Elon is a known as anti-WFH.

Ending WFH is a silent layoff technique companies have been using for the past couple of years. Government employees are notoriously difficult to fire, so making some of them quit is one way to reduce headcount. That won't make the remaining staff more efficient, but it will allow the other efficiency improvements to have their desired effect of reducing cost.

[skyguy918]

Ending WFH is a silent layoff technique companies have been using for the past couple of years. Government employees are notoriously difficult to fire, so making some of them quit is one way to reduce headcount. That won't make the remaining staff more efficient, but it will allow the other efficiency improvements to have their desired effect of reducing cost.

That may or may not be true. My point was that the tweet was nonsense. He may have found some stat somewhere with the 85% or 17%, but he doesn't source it, so who knows. And then he goes on to extrapolate that 'many' hold other jobs - again without a source. And implies that WFH = not working ('looting operation').

[gubevo18]

That may or may not be true. My point was that the tweet was nonsense. He may have found some stat somewhere with the 85% or 17%, but he doesn't source it, so who knows. And then he goes on to extrapolate that 'many' hold other jobs - again without a source. And implies that WFH = not working ('looting operation').

FWIW I know multiple federal employees who hold other jobs, and I don't know that many federal employees...