Comment by insane_dreamer

> DOGE

Was saddened to read this section in the post. You'd think that smart people would be able to see through Elon-ego-filled-bullshit; but I'm afraid many have been in that circle so long they've drunk the Kool-Aid. I'm not steeped in the wealthy SV community, but I can tell you that the few I've personally met or am acquainted with, make me want to run the other way.

On DOGE, I'm quite sure every Gov department could benefit from greater efficiency, no argument there. I'm also quite sure that it won't actually reduce the Gov budget all that much (just take a look at where most discretionary spending goes). And more importantly, would it make the lives of ordinary Americans (not rich Americans) better? Or would it just be some "achievement unlocked" type of thing. It's clear to me that Elon mostly cares about the latter.

Now if Elon were to cut our military budget in half, now __that__ could have a significant impact. Except that even if he wanted to, Congress (both parties) wouldn't let him: one does not kill sacred cows.

But you know what worries me more a lot more than government waste? The fact that the richest man in the world was able to pay $250M to sway an election. I'm not saying Elon bought the election, because maybe Trump would have won without Elon spending a dime -- but we'll never know, will we? If this were in some other country we'd be talking about "banana republic government corruption" and our "model" constitutional democracy, etc.