Newsletter  -  April 2025

 This month the newsletter will deal with the noise about Elon Musk and all of the supposed “damage” he is causing.  To the left he has become the personification of evil incarnate.

Before we proceed it is important to note for those who may not know: the United States is very close to bankruptcy. 

Now:  let’s take a look at DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency).  An Executive Order established DOGE to replace the old U.S. Digital Service, a part of the Office of Management and Budget that President Obama established in 2014 to help fix initial glitches in rolling out the 2010 health care law’s exchange portal, HealthCare.gov.  The new DOGE will keep some of the old Digital Service’s mission which is to “deliver better government services to the American people through technology and design.” Trump’s executive order states that the agency’s job will be to implement his agenda by “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” 

The people working with Musk at DOGE have been characterized in the press as young kids who are playing with the computer systems.  Let’s look at the truth.

There are seven men spearheading the work with Musk on DOGE.  They are:

Joe Gebbia, billionaire co-founder of Airbnb.  He has volunteered to modernize the retirement process for federal government employees.

Tom Krause, Silicon Valley CEO.  Aims to apply “public company standards to the federal government.”

Steve Davis, aerospace engineer and Musk’s top lieutenant from Space X is the head of operations for DOGE. 

Aram Moghaddassi, Silicon Valley software engineer who works for Musk’s company Neuralink.

Brad Smith, Nashville-based Rhodes Scholar is a health-care entrepreneur. 

Anthony Armstrong, former Morgan Stanely tech banker. 

Tyler Hassen, Texas energy company executive. 

Let’s take a closer look at what the DOGE team has found.

Joe Gebbia:  Federal Retirement System:  Every paper document for the retirement process has been housed in an underground mine in Pennsylvania and has not changed in 70 years.  Mr. Gebbia plans to digitize the 400 million pieces of paper in 22,000 filing cabinets.  He will create an “Apple Store-like experience” for government services. 

Tom Krause:  Apply public company standards to the federal government:  There is only one bank account that is used to disburse all monies from the federal government.  The government serves 580 plus agencies and there is no audit for the money being paid out.  There is $500 Billion of fraud, hundreds of Billions of improper payments and the government is not able to pass an audit.

Aram Moghaddassi:  This man is embedded in the Social Security Administration.  The computer systems are over 50 years old and vulnerable to fraud.  Antonio Gracias, CEO of Valor Equity Partners, researching Social Security has uncovered the fact that 2.1 million “non-citizens” received social security numbers in 2024.  Apparently, the previous administration allowed migrants to enter the country and then register for social security.  People walking into the country were released on their own recognizance and then were given a notice to appear in front of a judge.  The wait time to see a judge averaged six years.  There are only 700 judges and 5.5 Million people came into the country.  Once in the country, the migrant got asylum and then could apply for a work document.  After filing form 765, the migrant received a form called 766. Then the Social Security administration automatically sent the migrant a social security number in the mail.  No ID was required and there was no interview.

Non-Citizen Social Security numbers issued over past 4 years:

270,425 – 2021       590,193 – 2022   964,163 – 2023     2,095,2024 - 2024

Mr. Moghaddassi states that 40% of calls to Social Security are from thieves trying to steal retirees’ money.  A major discovery of DOGE regarding Social Security is that 15 Million people over 120 years of age are listed as “alive” in the Social Security system and are receiving money. (Let us know their secret for living so long). 

Anthony Armstrong serves as senior adviser to the director at the Office of Personnel Management which is the federal government’s human-resources department.  He aims to shrink the federal workforce by targeting “duplicative functions” and wasteful spending.  For example, there are 1400 people at the IRS whose job is to hand out laptops and cellphones to staff.

Tyler Hassen is at the Department of the Interior.  He describes a $905 Million contract for a very simple customer service survey.  After DOGE review, the contract was canceled saving all but $75 Million.  At the Veterans Administration it was discovered that $380,000 per month was spent for minor website modifications.

The average, normal business in the country would never survive if money was spent as it has been in the federal government.  Are some jobs going to be lost?  Yes. Will some of the jobs that were eliminated be brought back?  Yes. In a government this large there will be some mistakes. They can be corrected. 

One of the most disconcerting discoveries made by the Department of Government Efficiency is the fact that thousands of non-citizens are registered to vote.  Many of these people have voted.  Some of the people on the voter rolls are criminals and some matched names on the federal Terror Watch List.  Several states including Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Virginia and Ohio purged thousands of non-citizens from their voting rolls before the election.  Nonetheless, some of these non-citizens had already voted.  

News reports and many politicians have been talking about the fact that Social Security will be going broke in about 10 years.  Given the fraud discovered, that is not surprising. 

It might be a good idea if all the people so incensed about DOGE and Elon Musk stop and realize that it is the money of the American taxpayer that is being wasted and/or spent fraudulently.  An audit of the taxpayer’s money should be welcomed and done every year. 

This newsletter only exposes the tip of the iceberg of what is going on in our government.

Involved citizens need to pay attention to what is going on in their government.