DOGE - Nothing Burger

“DOGE’s $55 Billion ‘Savings’: A Drop in the Ocean of Trillion-Dollar Tax Cuts”

In the grand theater of fiscal policy, the Trump administration has unveiled a plan to bestow tax cuts ranging from $5 trillion to $11 trillion over the next decade, primarily benefiting the wealthiest Americans. To offset this monumental giveaway, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) proudly touts $55 billion in savings achieved through slashing federal employees and programs. However, when juxtaposed against the colossal tax cuts, these purported savings amount to little more than a rounding error.

Understanding a Trillion Dollars

To grasp the disparity, consider this: one trillion dollars is equivalent to a thousand billion dollars. It’s a figure so vast that spending a million dollars daily would take nearly 2,740 years to exhaust a trillion. The U.S. national debt, as of January 2025, stands at a staggering $36.1 trillion.

The Illusion of DOGE’s Savings

DOGE’s claimed $55 billion in savings, while seemingly substantial, pales in comparison to the proposed tax cuts. Even if these savings are genuine—a point of contention among experts—they would cover a mere fraction of the tax cuts’ cost. To put it in perspective, $55 billion is just over 1% of $5 trillion, the lower estimate of the proposed tax cuts.

A ‘Nothing Burger’ in Fiscal Terms

Labeling DOGE’s savings as a “nothing burger” isn’t mere hyperbole. The scale of the proposed tax cuts dwarfs these savings to the point of insignificance. Moreover, the national deficit continues to swell, with projections indicating it will reach $2.5 trillion by 2035. In this context, $55 billion is a drop in an ever-expanding ocean of debt.

The Bottom Line

While trimming government expenditures can be a prudent measure, presenting DOGE’s $55 billion in cuts as a solution to finance multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks is, at best, misleading. The numbers simply don’t add up, and the purported savings offer no meaningful offset to the massive fiscal impact of the proposed tax cuts for the wealthy.

Don’t be fooled, I’m not!

Julie Bolejack, MBA

P.S. My financial observations are not meant to minimize the impact on private citizens, government agencies or the people who rely on their services. There are responsible ways to address the issues Trump’s administration is claiming they are addressing with Musk’s DOGE. What they are doing IS IRRESPONSIBLE and CRUEL!