Last month, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) founder Elon Musk swung a chainsaw at a gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference to dedicate his commitment to slashing federal spending. The prop was a gift from Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei and represented the two men's shared vision of smaller, leaner government. The DOGE is off to a respectable start, but there's a lot more wasteful and damaging spending that could benefit from a dose of chainsaw. Consider, for example, the grants, subsidies, and tax breaks that fall under the umbrella of corporate welfare.
Throwing Gold Bars Off the Titanic
"We're just trying to get the money out as fast as possible before they come in and stop it all," Brent Efron of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told an undercover interviewer after last year's election. "It truly feels like we're on the Titanic. We're throwing gold bars off the edge."
