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Musk answers the question everyone is asking: Can DOGE put a dent in inflation?

April 1, 2025 | | Print Article

Elon Musk teased the potential of a “little bit higher” standard of living as he reasoned out the Department of Government Efficiency’s impact on inflation.

“By reducing waste and fraud, it will essentially make the economy more efficient…”

Ahead of Tuesday’s important state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, the world’s richest man traveled to the Badger State as part of a get-out-the-vote effort. While fielding questions, Musk was asked about a proposed DOGE dividend that led to him explaining just one of the avenues that President Donald Trump’s administration was taking that was expected to make American dollars go further.

“As government spending is made more efficient, as government spending is reduced, the tax by inflation is reduced,” the billionaire stated. “So one way or another, you will effectively be better off if resources in the U.S. are not wasted.”

“At least for some period of time, we’re going to make sure that your taxpayer money is spent at least 15% better,” he went on.  “I think it’s a reasonable goal. It’s a rational goal. It’s a sensible goal.”

“And the net result, I should say, if we have the combination of a $1 trillion increase in the economic output and $1 trillion decrease in the budget deficit, then the outcome should be that there is no inflation or very little inflation,” expressed Musk, contrasting the 40-year high inflation under the Biden administration.

“So at the end of next year, the prices will be — at the grocery store — will be very similar to what they are right now. Which means that, you know, the standard of living will actually probably be higher, a little bit higher,” contended the SpaceX CEO. “Whereas, we’ve had rampant inflation to date, and inflation is really just a pernicious tax that has been used by governments throughout history.”

Ahead of Trump’s return to the White House, Musk accepted an advisory role toward cutting waste, fraud, and abuse out of the federal government with a targeted goal of cutting $2 trillion from federal spending by July 4, 2026.

Toward that end, a proposal was introduced that would see some of the taxpayer money returned to the American people, amounting to a potential 80 million households receiving a check for $5,000. However, unlike the COVID-era stimulus checks that drove up the debt and contributed toward inflation, the argument was made that the DOGE dividend would be a win-win as the money had already been allocated.

Musk further pointed out to the Wisconsin crowd how the new approach stood in stark contrast to previous administrations, as “It’s very tempting for governments to use inflation as a tax because it’s indirect. People see the prices rising at the grocery store or for goods and services or for houses, and they tend to like, blame the store. But it’s not the store, it’s the government. The government has reduced the value of money, and as a result, prices rise.”

“By reducing waste and fraud, it will essentially make the economy more efficient and will shift people resources from the government to the private sector. And that will result in an increase in the output of goods and services, and so the average standard of living will therefore rise,” the tech entrepreneur reiterated.

Kevin Haggerty
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