Musk Sets Record on DOGE Salaries & $55B Federal Savings: Elon Musk’s talent for parasitic cost-cutting has so far followed through reducing hundreds of small contracts which he alleges saved American taxpayers $8.5 billion, according to an analysis by Reuters of partial information released by his team, a fraction of what the federal government spends in contracts every year.
Most of the targeted contracts collected by the Department of Government Efficiency resulted in mean savings of approximately $7.7 million each, according to the analysis of records published on the DOGE website. These were targeted more on lower-cost support services, these being mainly for computer systems and workforce training.
The site acknowledges that of approximately 1,100 canceled contracts and 100 canceled leases, the itemized totals did not equal $55 billion, and stated that it would continue publishing new material on a rolling basis.
The data provided the broadest, albeit still very sketchy, view of efforts during the Trump administration to pare away on government costs thus far. Further, they displayed just how long they have to go to meet Musk’s $1 trillion federal spending cut.
Elon Musk chipped in with the equally charged: “Will check with the President.” This escalated speculation over the viability of giving 79 million Americans checks worth $5,000 from the $55 billion in savings DOGE reportedly saved for the federal government.
DOGE Dividends for All Americans?
The DOGE Dividend concept was proposed in X by Fishback, having reported that he is the CEO of the investment firm Azoria and that he is presumably an outside advisor to DOGE. Fishback takes a long post on the site to tag Elon Musk to propose that “tax-paying” American households receive a “tax refund check” of about $5,000 after the expiration of DOGE in July 2026.
One X user requested Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, to split the funds saved by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) among all tax-paying Americans. The user suggested that with the funds saved, Musk could provide $5000 ( ₹4.3 lakh) per household. The Tesla CEO replied stating that he “will check with the President.”.
As entrepreneur James Fishback reports, DOGE is said to be saving $1 billion per day. The department was established shortly after President Donald Trump’s January inauguration this year. Headed by Musk, who says he does not receive pay to work at the government agency, the department’s mission is solely cutting government spending.
But the plan charges 20 percent of DOGE’s goal of $2 trillion in savings to be returned to the 79 million tax-paying households,” which Fishback stated would amount to roughly a $5,000 return per household.
Musk reacted to Fishback’s offer, stating he “will check with the president.”
Nevertheless, the proposal credits 20 percent of DOGE’s projected $2 trillion in savings to be sent back to the 79 million tax-paying households, which Fishback explained would see roughly a $5,000 return for every household.
Musk reacted to Fishback’s suggestion that he “will check with the president.”
Updated Feb. 17, the site says DOGE is in the process of uploading “all this data” in a “digestible and fully transparent” way.
Yet, whereas DOGE has taken credit for $55 billion of federal savings, reports by the Washington Post and the New York Times observe inconsistencies in the figures reported and those claimed.
