100 Days, a Trillion Dollars: DOGE’s Costs Keep Adding Up
Congratulations! You’ve survived 100 of the 1461 total days Trump is scheduled to serve as President.
In honor of the occasion, I wanted to pull together three accounts of DOGE, which suggest DOGE and related cuts have cost Americans over a trillion dollars.
First, there’s this WaPo story from March, which describes the cuts to IRS may cost 10% of revenue — or $500 billion a year.
Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people with knowledge of tax projections.
Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year. For context, the U.S. government spent $825 billion on the Defense Department in fiscal 2024.
NYT reported last week (in a piece that discussed, but did not put a price tag on, other costs) that the way Elon carried out personnel cuts may have created $135 billion in personnel costs, partly because Elon fucked up firings and so Russ Vought had to do it again.
The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization that studies the federal work force, has used budget figures to produce a rough estimate that firings, re-hirings, lost productivity and paid leave of thousands of workers will cost upward of $135 billion this fiscal year.
And today, Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray released a tracker that lays out $430 billion in spending that taxpayers have paid for, but for which the services have been withdrawn or frozen.
As the tracker details, President Trump has—through a variety of different means—frozen, cancelled, clawed back, illegally impounded, and slow-walked federal funding for all manner of key priorities. Among much else, this includes investments in:
- Critical research into Alzheimer’s disease, women’s health, cancer, diabetes, and much more, throwing research already conducted into the shredder and setting back treatments and cures.
- Public safety, including COPS grants, Office of Violence Against Women grants, and programs to help victims of crime.
- Relief for states and communities responding to and recovering from natural disasters.
- Farmers and local agriculture businesses, making it more expensive for hardworking people to run their farms and cutting off research they count on.
- School lunches and food for child care institutions at the detriment of the farmers who rely on these local markets.
- Head Start. Head Start programs are already beginning to close their doors as this administration slow-walks funding, kicking kids out of their classrooms and sending parents scrambling to find new preschool options.
- Critical investments in transportation projects—for roads and bridges, airports, public transit, ports, and more—and energy projects across the country that are creating new, good jobs and lowering families’ monthly energy bills.
- Our national security and efforts to prevent and end global conflicts.
- Essential health services like birth control and cancer screenings for over 800,000 patients—and resources to protect people from public health threats.
As a reminder, I’m collecting these and other DOGE debunkings here.
Altogether, that’s $1.065 trillion (of which the $430 billion includes stuff Elon touts as “cost savings”).
Elon Musk came in promising (at various times) to save a trillion dollars.
Instead, a hundred days in, and we’re already a trillion in the hole, and that’s before you consider defending these unlawful cuts, the increased costs that disease and extreme weather and wars will incur because we’ve defunded their mitigation, or increased borrowing costs arising from Trump’s trade war.
And this doesn’t even begin to cover the knock-on costs of things like critical workers taking the Deferred Retirement offer then realizing you’ve got to rehire some of these folks because too many want to leave.
Fortunately, the GOP Congress is on top of these things . . . or not:
The number of “How Not to Do Things” case studies that will come out of the last three months will be stunning.
And then there are the losses in tourist dollars, income from foreign students and researchers, lost sales of military aircraft, the damage to more intangible stuff like the USA’s reputation or soft power. And the lives lost due to cancelled scientific research or aid spending. Etc, etc.
Many, many case studies for any academics who are left after Trump’s attacks on universities and scientific research. Assuming Trump’s minions haven’t deleted all the data. (If you want a literary reference, A Canticle for Leibowitz might do.)
And a big Darwin award for the Trump regime and its apparent attempt to wipe out his voters by increasing infant and maternal mortality and stopping any attempts to control disease outbreaks whilst relaxing restrictions on toxic chemicals in the water and air that Americans depend upon. Again, etc, etc.
Really good to see the American public out in the streets like the nans against nazis in the UK. Trump’s a typical bully: when people stand up to him, he backs down. If enough of the public refuse to go along with this stuff, he can’t win, or so one hopes. It’s certainly a very big stress test for the Great Man theory of history.
IMO we haven’t even seen the worst effects of how his disastrous policies are impacting the tourism industry. I live in Maine, which depends heavily on Canadian tourism. My niece has had three short term rentals for the summer already cancel. Florida was largely spared, for now, the worst impact because the Canadians and other foreigners had already booked and planned their winter vacations there. Wait until this summer and tourism will be hurt nationwide. Next year we have the World Cup and the LA Olympics are in 2028. Foreigners will definitely avoid the WC, particularly since some games are split between the US, Canada, and Mexico. Given the stories of foreigners trying to reenter the US on their tourist visas after popping into Mexico or a quick trip into Canada, they would be wise to avoid the US entirely.
The Felon Guy and his enablers and associates – every mistake of the last 350 years, being repeated on very-fast-forward.
When Scott Walker came in as WI governor, his pet GOP legislature immediately passed a huge tax cut and by golly, a huge deficit resulted. Instead of reversing course, the legislature and Walker passed Act 10 to gut the public unions (ending most organized resistance), followed by gerrymandering to ensure a permanent majority. Relevant history is not very far back, and these maniacs need to be crushed, no deals.
As for any promises of restoring funding to various backtracks (i.e. FEMA, even in red states), I don’t recall seeing any actual implementation. Like we have seen with the immigration fiasco, Convict-1 / Krasnov’s minions are big on tactical promises but crappy on following through. ‘Show us the money’, but at least Elno got his data.
a good friend is a scientist who has been working in AIDS/HIV research for years, with a focus on Africa. her funding runs out in four weeks, and 20 years of research is at risk for disappearing. she is understandably upset and beyond stressed out.
They’re now going after the funding for local public schools. (per news5Cleveland.com) Sick.
The Shaker Heights (Ohio) City School District voted this week not to sign a letter from the U.S. Department of Education regarding DEI, federal civil rights laws, and federal funding. Earlier this month, the Department asked states to collect their certification form from K-12 school districts across the state, pledging that schools are in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The document said any violation of Title VI, “including the use of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (‘DEI’) programs to advantage one’s race over another—is impermissible.” It also stated, “the continued use of illegal DEI practices may subject the individual or entity using such practices to serious consequences,” including legal action and the elimination of federal funding.
The court ruling was supposed to only apply to colleges, not to elementary and secondary schools.
This is one of those times when I wonder why the US Dept of Education isn’t already dead. If they want it dead why are they screwing with K-12 schools?
Don’t misinterpret that — I’d rather the Dept of Ed was alive and well and serving all K-12 students in public education. But under both Trump administrations and under Betsy DeVos and Linda McMahon it’s been nothing but a means to harass educators and students alike.
They’re acting as if the plan is to gut departments and wait for them to collapse into irrelevance, rather than go for the jugular with an act of Congress that would put pressure on RINOs there. Makes sense, and ups fhe fear and chaos factor, so win/win.
Trump wants to pretend he needs no acts of Congress to wield the power he claims he has. He rules the world, after all. That choice happily coincides with Trump’s inability to organize and network to arrange the votes Johnson and Thune would need to pass them.
But it does leave his claims and actions open to copious legal challenges. He’s banking on the courts to take too long to do anything to effectively obstruct his will – a reliance that’s worked for him for decades, barring a few decisions in NY state.
Congress is completely irrelevant now. Judiciary is the last guardrail and it’s by no means robust, especially with compromised scotus.
What is the goal? Total psychological, financial and spiritual immiseration of the US citizenry? I do not understand the goal of gutting all our structural agencies, firing federal workers, etc. Especially since we all knew it would not save money.
Collapse institutions, divide the spoils among favored oligarchs – power consolidated, dictatorship finalized. Immiseration of the population is a side effect of these ambitions.
Privatization of everything, country controlled by oligarchs. Liberal use of AI tech.
Widespread surveillance and use of secret police.
This is something I keep wondering…and maybe I’m being too simplistic. But once it is all broken down and no one – except for the filthy rich – has any expendable income….who will be the customers? Isn’t the US consumer the backbone or the foundation of the global economy?
That’s something I’ve wondered.
A lot of people seem to think that the wealthy are the consumers who keep the economy running, but they don’t put a lot of money into it, by proportion. It’s the rest of us, who spend much of our incomes, who do that.
They keep the yacht and some home building economy going. Devos needs one yacht everywhere. Taylor Swift needs a different house every day of the year.
“the goal of gutting all our structural agencies, firing federal workers, etc.” to hand Putin a win which the Soviets couldn’t do.
Fascism.
“There are two kinds of Fascists: those who give orders and those who take them. A popular base gives Fascism the legs it needs to march, the lungs it uses to proclaim, and the muscle it relies on to menace—but that’s Fascism from the neck down. To create tyranny out of the fears and hopes of average people, money is required, and so, too, ambition and twisted ideas.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning
The goal is no free shit for black people. Fight your way through all the code words, dog whistles, and racist demoguary, and it always ends up there.
My now former Fox-watching friend insisted that the only way to balance the budget is to cut spending. He became furious when I said you can also increase revenue by raising taxes on the rich. Ironic because after I helped him install a tv antenna to cut his cable he continued to pay for cable and never used the antenna.
He abandoned Fox for Newsmax and OAN?
Ha ha. Former friend who watched Fox.
Poll: Trump has lowest 100-day approval rating of any president in 8 decades
As President Donald Trump closes in on the first 100 days of his presidency, it appears more Americans are losing faith in his administration’s leadership.
https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/poll-trump-has-lowest-100-day-approval-rating-of-any-president-in-8-decades
========
In a related story…
Trump rips Fox News over ‘fake’ polls
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4762384-trump-rips-fox-news-polls-cnn/
Even Fox gets into the dog house with Trump. One is only good with Trump as the last fawning compliment of him.
Minor point: the link is to a story about Fox News from 2024 …
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A little entertainment, Shark Tank O’Leary on the American Dream and supposedly not even a US citizen, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R13wTFo1TuE
Off-topic: last wednesday in the Abrego Garcia v. Noem case, after a sealed filing from the gov’t and a sealed response from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, Judge Xinis stayed the expedited discovery for 7 days, which was until 5:00 PM tomorrow (Wed April 30th).
I’ve been hoping in vain to hear something about the reason for this stay, and today the gov’t filed another sealed motion? (ecf 104, here’s a courtlistener page for the case)
Anyone have any guesses what it might be? Is the gov’t working behind the scenes to get him back from El Salvador? (if not, why else would Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have agreed to the stay?) Is today’s sealed motion perhaps the gov’t asking for a few more days?
But also today, I saw some reporting that Senator Van Hollen sent a letter to Trump mentioning that he heard from Salvadoran leaders that they haven’t been asked to return him?
Trump admitted during that bonkers interview with Terry Moran of ABC News, that he could get Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador with a phone call, but refused to do so. (CNN story, there are many others).
He again tried to fob off the responsibility on his lawyers.
If the gov’t is not actually making secret efforts to comply with Judge Xinis’ and the Supreme Court’s orders to return Abrego Garcia and give him the constitutionally-mandatory due process, why the heck was the expedited discovery process paused?
There’s a new docket entry in the case, which reads:
I notice that Judge Xinis has issued a Revised Scheduling Order regarding expedited discovery today, before the 5:00 PM expiry of the stay.
wtf with whitmer! https://bsky.app/profile/notalawyer.bsky.social/post/3lnykxm2e622h
It’s expected when you have to appear with him.
I don’t understand “have to appear”.
Was she subpoenaed to appear?
A few weeks ago she covered her face when she “had to appear“.
Don’t make me go off on you like I did Rugger_9. You realize that orange-tinted bawbag eased tariffs on cars THIS WEEK, yes?
You realize Michigan’s largest industries by revenues are Automobile & Light Duty Motor Vehicle Manufacturing, Auto Parts Wholesaling and Automobile Wholesaling, yes?
You realize that the workers for those industries vote either side of the aisle, and they remember who saved their jobs and who didn’t?
Michigan has been a purple state for some time. Just because we have a Dem governor/AG/SOS doesn’t mean this state is blue; it voted for a split state legislature this last election, and before Whitmer it voted for a GOP governor/AG/SOS AND state legislature for eight years.
Point your anger where it belongs instead of Michigan’s governor who is held hostage by a fucking felon with cognitive deficits. She has to save this state’s jobs because Michigan’s already in serious hurt from the loss of federal funding to myriad grants and programs, and it still needs disaster relief. No governor should have to abase themselves to serve their people like Whitmer has to get federal aid but failing to do so could be catastrophic to a state with the 10th largest number of electoral votes AND an open senate seat in 2026.
I appreciate the nasty task Whitmer has, and I would also note she’s doing the best of the possible options. I don’t know for certain whether MI can sustain significant damage to this manufacturing sector that is particularly vulnerable to supply chain disruption and has several international streams by relying on other sectors of MI’s economy. I hope for MI’s sake it works, but the returns from WV, NC, GA and AR (where Convict-1 / Krasnov is blowing off his own press secretary) don’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. However, I will agree now that Whitmer had to try.
CA is better suited to handle one sector being held hostage (we’re #4 in the world if one believes recent reporting), so what is Governor Goodhair Gavin’s excuse? Nothing that can stand up to scrutiny.
Every state is in “serious hurt from the loss of federal funding to myriad grants and programs”.
And unless he’s changed his mind, he won’t even give disaster relief to begging Huckabee-Sanders’ NE.
With the destruction of USAID how many millions of people will die of starvation or disease?
Any empathy out there in GOP land?
No. There never was.
I never want to hear about Biden’s dementia again.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/full-transcript-trumps-exclusive-100-days-broadcast-interview/story?id=121291672
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: — at his hand. He had MS-13 —
TERRY MORAN: Fair enough, he did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I’m not an expert on them.
I want to turn to Ukraine, sir —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no. Terry —
TERRY MORAN: I– I want to get to Ukraine–
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Terry, no, no. No, no. He had MS as clear as you can be. Not “interpreted.” This is why people —
The fact is we don’t know if he’s willfully constructed an alternative reality; was simply gaslighting Moran; is that stupid; or a lethal combination of all three.
A friend of mine who works for the DoD was going to retire this year anyway. But he’s taken the buyout. He’ll get paid until September and has been told that as of tomorrow (May 1) he can come to work or not. Why would he?
But on the other side of the ledger from DOGE’s $trillion-plus cost: Let’s not forget about the new tax revenues that will be generated by Trump & Cronies corrupt crypto earnings, because they would NEVER set up those corporate entities in ways that would avoid or minimize taxes – Would they?
Julia Angwin with GIFT Link:
https://bsky.app/profile/juliaangwin.com/post/3lnzohihmjs2d
April 30, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Links to: Opinion / Guest Essay
Musk’s Parting Gift: The Construction of a Surveillance State
Julia Angwin April 30, 2025, 5:02 a.m. ET
I see that Whiskey Pete has cancelled the Women Peace and Security Program because he apparently gives him cooties and because he blamed Biden for starting it.
Unfortunately for Whiskey Pete, it was co-sponsored by Kristi Noem (then a House member) and then-Senator Marco Rubio and signed into law by Convict-1 / Krasnov. There is some speculation that the staff is letting Hegseth hang himself, which has a fine military tradition. In short, follow the orders exactly as they are issued.
As an example, there was a ship getting underway and as part of the process the rudder needs to be checked for full motion, but in order to do that the jacking gear (which slowly moves the rudder in port to prevent buildup from impeding movement) has to be disengaged. So Ensign Jerkus decides to throw his weight around and orders the watch to cycle the rudder without disengaging the jack. The watch says ‘aye aye’ and complies after ducking because bits of the jacking gear fly about after a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Ensign Jerkus gets nailed for the responsibility and is on his way to a desk job in the civilian world.
DOGE was never about saving taxpayer money. If you look at its targets – USAID, CFPB, and so on – it was to eliminate spending on liberal priorities.
Needless to say, the Trump administration doesn’t care about the collateral damage suffered by real people as a result of those cuts either.