How DOGE found the perfect analogy for government inefficiency
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Would you believe me if I told you that the effectiveness of a portion of the US government depends entirely on whether or not a 70-year-old elevator is working that day? In a limestone cave in Pennsylvania, the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found exactly that.
The words government and efficiency are rarely used together. In fact, for generations they have been mutually exclusive. The perfect example of why was shared by Elon Musk after his recent discovery that the ability to process retirement paperwork for government employees depends entirely on an old mine shaft elevator.
As part of the project to cut excessive bureaucratic roles in government, to reign in the ever-growing US federal budget, DOGE has been offering "deferred resignation" buyouts for government workers, allowing them to resign with continued salary and benefits until September 30, 2025.
Of course, this kind of downsizing is common in the corporate world, usually following a takeover or change of management.
In the corporate world, "downsizing" is a strategic, methodical process where a new management team streamlines a company by reducing its size (often bloat), by eliminating employee positions, departments or entire divisions; usually done through layoffs, early retirement programs or voluntary departures.
The goal of these measures is to rescue the company by cutting costs, streamlining operations, and improving efficiency, particularly during economic downturns or industry shifts. It can also involve selling off assets or closing facilities, depending on the situation. The new management in Washington, led by two lifelong CEOs, is hoping to do exactly that with the US government. So far, tens of thousands of government employees have accepted the deferred resignation offer, but it was this success that lead Musk and DOGE to a secret that has become the perfect analogy for government inefficiency. In a recent Oval Office press conference, Elon Musk highlighted the outdated processes involved in handling federal retirement paperwork. He described how these documents are manually processed and stored in an old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania. Musk emphasized that the speed at which the mine's elevator operates limits the number of federal employees who can retire each month, stating, "The limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move determines how many people can retire from the federal government." This facility, known as Iron Mountain, employs over 700 workers who process approximately 10,000 retirement applications monthly, all by hand. The reliance on such antiquated methods has led to significant delays in processing retirements, sometimes taking several months to complete. Musk's remarks underscore the need for modernizing government operations to improve efficiency and reduce bureaucratic delays.
Sadly, while many critical elements of important infrastructure in the nation hasn't been significantly updated since the 1950s and 1960s, the US government spent billions of dollars on pet projects that failed to provide any value to the taxpayers who were paying for them. DOGE has reported over $1 billion in savings just from eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) contracts across 30 federal agencies. The Department of Education alone was spending $101 million on 29 DEI training grants, while the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) was spending $900 million every year on this destructive – racist – propaganda. DOGE, after analyzing at least 104 other agencies, including the Department of the Treasury ($25 million) and the Department of Health & Human Services ($28 million), also stopped tens of millions of dollars in payments from being wasted on similar destructive programs. With the continuous flow of new information from DOGE unveiling the vast networks of corruption, the American people should be livid at what their hard earned dollars, taken from them with the promise that they would be used to build America, have been wasted on. While bridges collapsed and contaminants spilled across the nation due to faulty infrastructure, billions and billions of dollars were being spent to indoctrinate children and poison the national perspective against the very people whose dollars were taken to fund these programs. Americans thought their taxes were being spent on necessary administration – such as the filing of retirement paperwork. Instead, they funded "Central American gender assessment consultant services," "DEI scholarships in Burma," and condoms for Gaza ... or was it Mozambique? Even the US government is not quite sure.
Regardless, aligning those two words, "efficiency" and "government," at least for the sake of leaving a few dollars in the hands of hard working Americans who earned it, should be a welcome change for many.
Arthur is a former editor and consultant. Born in India to missionary parents, he spent his early career working in development for NGOs in Asia, Central America, and Africa.
Arthur has an educational background in history and psychology, with certifications from the University of Oxford and Leiden in the economics, politics, and ethics of mass migration and comparative theories in terrorism and counterterrorism. He is currently launching CivWest, a company focused on building capital to fund restorative projects and create resilient systems across the Western world.
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