The Trump Administration’s March Towards Economic Oblivion
As Donald Trump draws together the cabinet for his forthcoming administration, it appears the once and future president is more determined than ever to fundamentally – and perhaps irrevocably – alter the sociopolitical fabric of the United States. It should, of course, come as no surprise to anyone that Trump’s anticipated “reforms” are sure to benefit the country’s wealthiest individuals and institutions at the expense of working-class and poverty-stricken Americans. Indeed, as point men for Trump’s meme-inspired Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have overtly signaled that tumultuous times lie just ahead, and they’re proudly modeling their efforts on those of another infamous right-wing populist, Argentinian President Javier Milei.
Milei and the Argentinian Experience
Much like the U.S. president-elect, Javier Milei’s formula for political success is a history of raucous television appearances, a penchant for outlandish rhetoric, and a full-scale embrace of unabashed right-wing populism. Milei’s “Decree 70/2023,” which was signed into law on December 20, 2023, gave the economist-turned-demagogue sweeping and unilateral authority to impose his economic theories upon the Argentinian people.
The Decree establishes the foundations for the deregulation of the economy, the services, the industry, and the Argentine State…
The Decree repeals many laws and decrees which regulate public and private matters. The reform measures cover the public sector, state-owned companies, specific sectors of the economy, foreign trade, flexibilization of labor contracts, deregulation of commercial aviation, and contractual rules, among other matters.
“Emergency Decree 70/2023: Reconstruction of the Argentine Economy.” Dentons, Dec. 22, 2023.
Right-wing outlets tout early “successes” of Milei’s economic policies, including changes to key indicators of Argentina’s cost of living:
“Since Javier Milei became president in December (2023), monthly inflation has rapidly dropped from 25 percent to stabilize around 3.5 percent.”
“Javier Milei’s Economic Reforms Are Already Paying Off in Argentina.” Reason, Oct. 24 2024.
But little has changed with regard to structural poverty in Argentina, and the country’s unemployment rate has reached dizzying new heights.
“Food prices have often outpaced headline inflation.”
Poverty Traps In Argentina: Poverty and Equity Assessment.World Bank Group, September 2024.
“Argentina’s poverty rate rocketed to 52.9% in the first half of 2024, the government’s INDEC statistics agency said on Thursday, surging from 40.1% a year earlier.”
“Argentina poverty rate soars to nearly 53% in first half of 2024.” Reuters, Sep. 26, 2024.
Ramaswamy, Musk, and the Right-wing Echo Chamber
With almost 3 million employees, the U.S. Federal government is the largest employer in America and its employees are squarely in the crosshairs of the DOGE initiative. Trump’s hatchet men aspire to drastically reduce the size of the government with a series of measures that include large-scale cuts to the federal workforce. The plan is reminiscent of Grover Norquist’s Bush-era plan “to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub,” but the pace and scope envisioned by Musk and Ramaswamy are arguably even more aggressive and potentially more disastrous.
Musk has openly called for cutting a third of government spending — a plan that, as executed by Argentina’s Trump-friendly strongman Javier Milei, caused the poverty rate to reach 50% in the ensuing months. Even some conservatives have said Musk’s plans to take a chainsaw to government spending are absurd.
“Trump’s meme-ified ‘efficiency’ ‘department’ is equal parts cockamamie and conflict.” The ReidOut Blog, Nov. 13, 2024
“A reasonable formula to fix the U.S. government: Milei-style cuts, on steroids.”
Vivek Ramaswamy via social media platform X, Nov. 18, 2024.
Ramaswamy has already called for a 75% reduction in the federal workforce. Donald Trump has indicated that the work of Ramaswamy and Musk – which he calls “the Manhattan Project of our time” will be completed in only 18 months.
Trump said Republicans have long dreamed of accomplishing his new commission’s goals and said it could be the “Manhattan Project of our time.” He promised their work would conclude by July 4, 2026, in time for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
“Trump vows to ‘dismantle federal bureaucracy’ and ‘restructure’ agencies with new, Musk-led commission.”Government Executive, Nov. 12, 2024.
As of November 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated the current unemployment rate at 4.1%, or 6.984 million Americans. While labor experts and pundits are somewhat skeptical that DOGE will be successful in cutting the government workforce by 75%, large-scale terminations of 50% or 60% federal employees would result in a significant increase to the employment rate and potentially kick off a chain reaction of economic consequences, including an increase in unemployment, food, and Medicaid assistance, rental defaults, and mortgage foreclosures.
But the drastic cuts envisioned by Trump and his acolytes are only the beginning of a larger plan to roll back government oversight and regulations and eliminate social programs. The duo has explicitly stated they will target government spending that is “unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended,” including longstanding political targets of the American Right, including Planned Parenthood and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Many more agencies and programs are at risk of massive cuts or eliminations under DOGE.
The programs mentioned by Musk and Ramaswamy are relatively tiny compared with other areas that are unauthorized, such as veterans’ health care.
The next biggest sources of expired authorizations, after veterans’ health care, include programs that invest in opioid treatment, the State Department and housing assistance. Some smaller programs with expired funding include Head Start, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. The latter provides weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring, among other tasks.
“Musk and Ramaswamy say DOGE will target $500 billion in spending. Here’s where they say they’ll cut.” CBS News, Nov. 26, 2024.
The Road Ahead
Musk, whose business endeavors have received over $20 billion dollars from government contracts thus far, is characteristically cavalier when discussing his aspirations for cutting spending elsewhere.
In his October 26, 2024 town hall, Musk shrugged off the potential for economic catastrophe, stating his measures would:
“… involve some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity … And if it’s not done, we’ll just go bankrupt.”
“Musk Says Trump Win Would Result In ‘Hardship’ For Some Americans.” Rolling Stone, Oct. 27, 2024.
Via X, Musk also overtly acknowledged that real-world consequences loom as a direct consequence of the Trumpist policies that Musk and Ramaswamy hope to implement.
“Musk … confirmed his belief that the economy will suffer if Trump is elected and implements his policy plans. In response to an X user who posted there will be ‘an initial severe overreaction in the economy’ and “markets will tumble,” Musk tweeted Tuesday: ‘Sounds about right.’”
“Musk says Americans will have to face ‘hardship’ if Trump wins.” The ReidOut Blog, Oct. 29, 2024
On November 24, 2024, The Wall Street Journal published an Op-Ed piece by Musk and Ramaswamy in which the pair shared the most expansive conceptual framework of their aspirations to date. Although some critics have expressed skepticism that legal and regulatory safeguards will ultimately impede the DOGE initiative, Musk and Ramaswamy are banking on the power of unilateral Executive action, much like the methods employed by Javier Milei in Argentina.
The complete indifference of Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy to the impending real-world consequences of their ill-conceived experiments is demonstrative of their virtual contempt for those who lack the resources of the wealthy. A hard road is ahead for the United States under Trump and Co., and the only hope for eventual improvement rests in the possibility that Americans will someday understand the purpose and necessity of class struggle. As Frederick Engels once observed, “history is made in such a way that the final result always arises from conflicts between many individual wills,” and, thus, not only through the whims of a handful of the super-rich.
