Given the task of balancing the federal budget, artificial intelligence (AI) put forth a plan that was not all that surprising but proposes harsh austerity measures that would never fly with Washington’s political class.
Scott Adams, of “Dilbert” fame, turned to ChatGPT, a chatbot and virtual assistant developed by OpenAI, to propose $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts. Despite all the clamoring on the left about defense spending, other discretionary spending saw the steepest cut at $200 billion.
“Other Departments and Programs” saw a $1175 billion reduction, while Medicare and Medicaid were reduced by $150 billion. Defense spending saw a $100 billion cut.
What would it take to balance the budget? I asked ChatGPT.
Budget Cuts to Eliminate $1.2 Trillion Deficit:
•Defense Spending: $100 billion (14.3% cut from $700 billion)
•Medicare and Medicaid: $150 billion (12.5% cut from $1.2 trillion)
•Social Security: $150 billion…
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) July 11, 2024
And while you could probably count on one hand the politicians with enough courage to vote for such deep cuts, the truth is the federal government has grown into an insatiable behemoth employing nearly 3 million people.
There’s a fair argument more than one federal department could be eliminated entirely — the Department of Education usually tops this list.
As one social media user noted, there’s much to be learned from Elon Musk, who shocked the social media world when he fired 80 percent — more than 6,000 employees — from Twitter’s staff when he took over and the product seemed to benefit.
The ChatGPT proposal prompted plenty of interesting discussions on X — here’s a sampling of some of the responses to the story:
Elon fired 80% of Twitter employees and it was more productive than before.
Do the same to the federal government. Eliminate programs. Eliminate departments. Slash regulations. Slash staff. Eliminate the government union. Automate. Outsource. Decentralize.
— Mark Philipsen (@philipsen_mark) July 11, 2024
Eliminating all of it wouldn’t help much. It isn’t an overhead issue.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) July 11, 2024
The eliminations not only reduce expenditures obviously but at the same time actually lead to increased revenues that can at least start chipping away at the debt
— Mazinkaiser (@tuefelhunde1) July 11, 2024
Interesting. I wonder if you just stopped paying out SSI and Medicaid benefits to non-citizens/illegals, how much that would save on the Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid side of things?
— Doug Fitler (@DougFitler) July 11, 2024
They see SS as a government benefit, it is not, that is money we contribute for our retirement.
Not for the confort of those who never contributed a dime and get benefits, including many who are illegally in the country.
Stop giving away OUR money.
And it is all our money,…— QuestionEverything (@skeptic_ape) July 11, 2024
why not 100% for dept of Education – we didnt need it to land on the moon!
— GoogleJoe (@n3ckf) July 11, 2024
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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