DOGE: Elon & Vivek as Hercules, Cleaning the Augean Stables in DC

Donald Trump’s post-election blitzkrieg (see! He is Hitler!) has shocked and awed the ruling class. One of his moves that has attracted the most attention is his announcement of a “Department of Governmental Efficiency” (“DOGE”) to be headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk has promised to use the yet-to-be-formally-established non-department department to trim trillions of dollars from federal spending (although it is somewhat unclear if this is an annual number or a cumulative total over some period).

The mechanism by which this laudable goal can be accomplished is unclear, given Congress’ power of the purse, and previous Supreme Court rulings regarding things like impoundment by which the president can thwart Congressional appropriations. Various stratagems have been floated, but these will set up a Constitutional clash, which, ironically, will get bogged down in the political and judicial quagmire that is the source of much inefficiency.

Moreover, it must be recognized that the room for budgetary maneuver is quite limited. Entitlements plus interest (including spending on veterans in entitlements) consume about 53 percent of federal spending. Discretionary spending accounts for “only” $1.6 trillion, half of which is for the Pentagon. Even axing entire departments, like the Department of Education, would only free up modest sums: Department of Education spending accounts for 4 percent of the budget, and no doubt closing down the entire monstrosity would result in a lot of that spending being shuffled elsewhere. (The case for eliminating Education rests–and rests quite firmly–on non-budgetary grounds, namely its destructive effects on American education at all levels).

Looking at trends, the Covid spending spikes (which added appreciably to debt and per the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level were a major contributor to inflation) stand out, but so does the increase in the growth rate of federal spending under Biden.

Notably, Federal spending plateaued during the post-2010 period of divided government, then ticked up under Trump (no budget hawk he), and accelerated markedly under Biden.

Therefore, the best outcome is to try to recapture the (relative) budget discipline that prevailed post-GFC, and post-Republican capture of the House in 2010. This is something that will have to come from Congress, and from Trump. Not from Elon and Vivek.

This is not to say that DOGE is futile. It can–and should–focus on non-spending sources of government inefficiency, but particularly on the inefficiencies that the government inflicts on the private sector through regulation. Especially during the Biden administration, the administrative agencies have run amok in imposing new rules, interpreting existing ones in pernicious ways, and regulating by enforcement. The new administration has considerable–though not untrammeled–power to cut back on this thicket, and pretty much complete discretion at not adding to it.

This is exactly the domain which exercised Musk most, as epitomized by his Parable of the Sharks and Whales:

Gulliver Musk’s SpaceX in particular (but Tesla too) has been attacked by regulatory Lilliputians. And X would clearly have been in a Harris administration’s regulatory cross hairs.

Here DOGE can perform yeoman’s service to propose, but it will still be up to the agencies to dispose. And those efforts will also trigger protracted legal battles. But there are battles that must be waged, and DOGE can perform a vital role of identifying the most egregious problems, the fixing of which would generate the most benefits.

This is also the area where the name-and-shame aspect of DOGE can work best. Lacking any real authority, DOGE can best serve as a bully pulpit (and hopefully a bullying pulpit) to galvanize public support for anti-regulatory efforts. As a strategy guide, I recommend Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Virtually all of them could be quite useful to DOGE, including “ridicule is man’s most potent weapon” and “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

Back in the day, Senator William Proxmire had his Golden Fleece Award that ridiculed particularly absurd examples of government spending. DOGE should initiate something like that, perhaps even on a weekly basis. It could echo Proxmire’s focus on spending, but it should especially focus on regulatory outrages and absurdities.

It could also serve as a clearinghouse for complaints about regulatory abuse. You know, sort of like from the days when the doges ruled Venice:

No doubt the most useful information would come from within the agencies themselves, as many of the apparatchiks within said agencies will no doubt be waging guerrilla war against de-regulatory efforts and only their peers will be able to expose them.

There are two ways to rescue the United States from its parlous fiscal circumstances: cut spending, or increase growth. I doubt DOGE can do much regarding the first, but can contribute materially to the second. Attacking regulation-induced economic sclerosis would provide a much needed fillip to the American economy, which would spur federal revenues and help boost primary surpluses. This would also have salutary effects on inflation, again per the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level.

I wish Musk and Ramaswamy and those they attract to DOGE the best. They have set for themselves the Herculean task of cleaning the Augean Stables in DC. The best way to perform it is to prioritize and to optimize the use of the tools at hand. Given the numerous obstacles to tackling spending directly, this dictates a focus on regulation, and the mobilization through transparency of popular awareness of its myriad perversities.

Note. According to Wikipedia, the word “doge” “originally referring to any military leader, becoming in the Late Roman Empire the title for a leader of an expeditionary force formed by detachments (vexillationes) from the frontier army (limitanei), separate from, but subject to, the governor of a province, authorized to conduct operations beyond provincial boundaries.” That actually seems quite appropriate here, especially the authorization to conduct operations beyond boundaries.