Summary
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) began recruiting “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” willing to work 80+ hours per week with no pay to help slash federal spending.
Appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, the panel is tasked with recommending spending cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and agency restructuring by July 4, 2026.
Musk and Ramaswamy advocate for drastic measures, including cutting grants to nonprofits and potential mass layoffs.
No high-iq individual will work 2 weeks per week with no pay in a society that requires money to live.
Can you think of any other types of people who might be financially able to volunteer their time here…?
Maybe those who have a vested interest in any number of outcomes that may result from their work there…?
Or those willing to be paid in order to influence recommendations to the highest bidder
They’ll get paid by conservative think-tanks under the table so the Dept of Efficiency looks good and can pretend that it’s efficient.
This is what I was thinking also. It will be filled with people getting paid by corps and special interests.
Or corporations who want to have a say. BP Oil will happily drop off a shipping container of cash at a “volunteer’s” house if it means that they eliminate inspections of oil platforms in the gulf.
Rich assholes who want to influence government will.
Rich assholes who believe they are smart as a side effect of being rich assholes.
This isn’t aimed at the idiots who would line up around the block and work for free to be called high IQ by Musk. Doesn’t really matter though, it’s all performative
They already know exactly what they want to cut, and billionaires don’t need a salary to realize profits from deregulation.
The job being “no salary” isn’t indicative of how cost effictive a volunteer public servant could be - it is a dinner bell for the wealthy
My goodness we’re gonna be MAGA’d so hard*, can’t wait
*some people (with the best words) are saying this
I want to believe this, too. But considering how there are smart people clubs with upwards of 50,000 members in the US that treat “passing” an IQ test as their sole entry criterion, I am sure there are some. Not all who have intelligence also have the wisdom to use it well.
Evil ones will.
That’s a common tactic in scams. You want to weed out the actual intelligent people as early as possible lest they disrupt your scam. That’s why scam emails tend to have misspellings and grammatical errors. Smarter people instantly ignore that. Dumb people click on through.
So you’re saying we all should apply?
So that we can disrupt this shit
Actually not a bad idea. Flood the department with bullshit resumes.
I like this idea
im saying get in and get that cut, and also disrupt their agenda, i mean someone is gonna take that bribe, might as well take it and fuck their plan.
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No they won’t… but rich people who can afford to support themselves while indulging in their love of making poor people suffer will be lined up around the block.
Making a position unpaid is a classic tactic to keep out the poors.
It’s disappointing so many aren’t getting this…
It’s the same as “unpaid internships” being advantage to rich kids who can afford to work without pay.
Like, there is an inordinate amount of rich assholes that would love to spend 80 hours a week finding way to cut taxes, regulations, and the social safety net.
If you’re rich enough to begin with, this could pay a hell of a lot better than anything else you would spend your time on. Couple hundred million in the bank or stock market, and it would be more profitable than any actual job.
And let’s be honest, Musk and Trump aren’t judging IQ by the freaking Wechsler exam, when rich idiots talk about IQ, they mean zeros in a bank account.
People with that kind of money don’t work, they own. They’ll hire somebody to do those 80 hours while they rape underage trafficked girls.
So, if you own a coal plant and the government is spending time and money on regulating your livelihood, then that would be an obvious thing to cut from the budget.
As a hypothetical sure…
But we broke fossil fuel production records under trump, we broke them under Biden, and there’s no reason to think trump won’t break them again.
For fucks sake, they had both of the only two options be pro-fracking this time…
Billion dollar fossil fuel corporations don’t have to worry, they already bought both parties. And have been lobbying trump to leave Biden’s “signature climate change legislation” intact, because it makes them a bunch of money and comes with zero negatives.
So as a hypothetical you’re example would fit.
Except no one is doing this but currently:
Right, but stick with me here… what if they could make MORE money? All they need to do is stop requiring them to clean out the lead in the toxic waste that they dump on their worker’s towns and the owners can put that money into another vacation house.
And why does the government need to have so many people inspecting industrial facilities? Can’t a single person handle the entire country? On second thought, that takes money, and the goal was to cut spending. Just have the companies send reports every 20 years and we’re all good. I’m sure they’ll do a great job with notifying the government if something violates regulations.