The Government Waste That Broke Elon’s Brain

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Elon Musk, Kevin Jackson

The following article, The Government Waste That Broke Elon’s Brain, was first published on The Black Sphere.

We talk a lot about government waste—usually in abstract terms, like “bloated budgets” or “runaway deficits.” But nothing crystallizes the absurdity quite like watching Elon Musk, a man who sends rockets to Mars for fun, do a double-take at a SurveyMonkey invoice.

Musk recently highlighted a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic excess: a 10-question survey that would cost $10,000 on SurveyMonkey somehow ballooned into a billion-dollar government contract. That’s not a typo. That’s not hyperbole. That’s your tax dollars at work—or rather, at play.

The math is as brutal as it is simple: 100,000% markup. If a private company tried this, the CEO would be fired before the ink dried. But in Washington? It’s just another Tuesday.

The Democrat Defense: “But Elon Is the Real Grifter!”

The irony here is delicious. While progressive politicians paint Musk as a villain—accusing him of everything from market manipulation to robbing grandma’s Social Security—his real crime might be exposing the grift they’d prefer stay buried.

Because let’s be honest: that billion-dollar survey didn’t go to some faceless “contractor.” It went to a well-connected contractor. The kind with a D.C. lobbyist on speed dial, a history of campaign donations, and a cozy relationship with the party in power.

This isn’t incompetence. It’s payola.

DOGE Unleashed: The $32.4B Reality Check

Enter the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been on a tear lately—terminating 9,289 grants and 679 leases, clawing back $32.4 billion in savings. Their mission? Simple: Stop the bleeding.

This is exactly why we need ruthless accountability. The previous administration normalized this kind of bloated spending—$1B for a basic survey while veterans’ healthcare gets scraps.

DOGE’s findings read like a greatest-hits album of government waste:

  • IT “modernization” contracts that pay for time, not results, ensuring projects never finish.
  • Consultant rackets where $500M contracts produce nothing but invoices.
  • The IRS’s 1,400-employee tech distribution team—because apparently, handing out laptops requires a small army.

1400 permanent full-time IRS employees who if they hand it out one laptop and one cell phone per day could complete their job in 30 days ridiculous!

The Contractor Playbook: How the Swindle Works

As a former management consultant, I’ve seen this game up close. Here’s how it’s played:

  1. The “Vehicle” Scam: Companies secure blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) or basic ordering agreements (BOAs)—essentially blank checks for agencies to “streamline” spending.
  2. The Never-Ending Project: Contracts are structured to bill by the hour, not the outcome. Why deliver when you can bill indefinitely?
  3. The Nickel-and-Dime Heist: Every tiny change—a.k.a. “adds, moves, and changes”—jacks up the price. In government, those “nickels” add up to billions.

One insider example: A $500M IT contract  had $350M billed against it with zero deliverables. In the private sector, heads would roll. In D.C., it’s just “cost overruns.”

The Trumpian Twist: Letting the DOGE Out

Say what you will about Trump, but his administration’s creation of DOGE has been a rare bright spot in the fight against waste. The department’s no-nonsense approach—exposing scams, axing redundant programs, and redirecting funds to actual priorities—is a blueprint for sanity.

I’m glad President Trump “let the DOGE out.” I happen to like this pack of wild DOGE.

The Bottom Line: A System Built to Fail (Expensively)

Musk’s shock isn’t just about one survey. It’s about a system so broken that:

  • $1B surveys are normalized.
  • 1,400 people can be employed to do a 30-day job.
  • Contractors operate with impunity while veterans and taxpayers foot the bill.

The solution? Sunlight. DOGE’s transparency offensive is a start, but real change requires public outrage—the kind that turns “business as usual” into unacceptable.

Because if Elon Musk is surprised by the waste, imagine what the rest of us don’t know.

 

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