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.

  • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
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    1 hour ago

    Fun idea: Flood their contact addresses with fake applications and fake credentials like certificates with high scores on made-up IQ tests or Mensa membership cards.

  • lurklurk@lemmy.world
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    5 minutes ago

    I think this will be easy to hire for; imagine the damage you can do to competition, or the low cost regulatory capture you can achieve, by just getting one clever manipulator near this not too bright narcissist

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    42 minutes ago

    Nobody was smart as he thinks they should be will work for free - especially not for him and the orange idiot.

  • Freefall@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    You can’t just make a department. Sorry Leon, only maga morons believe that. The actual government and CONSTITUTION work differently than what you think…

    • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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      2 hours ago

      Yeah, they would also need the other two institutions to pull this off. Oh wait, shit. Well the supreme court should be able to stop this. Oh wait, fuck.

      • JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee
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        3 minutes ago

        What do you think Clarence Thomas would do for a Klondike bar? Do you think he’d support this weird, smart person recruiting bullshit? Absolutely.

      • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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        39 minutes ago

        yes they tried that in Turkey, president’s highly incompetent son in law was made minister of Finance. At the start (2018) of this I think pounds/Turkish lira was sth like 4. He stayed for two years and it ended with maybe something like 10-12. As of now it is around 50 (people after him weren’t that great either). Since nowadays production of almost anything in Turkey is tied to imports, prices of daily consumption goods as well as rent, housing etc went up by that amount too (salary increases not even comparable). good luck USA

    • Archer@lemmy.world
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      5 minutes ago

      It’s really great that is government efficiency department is in fact duplicative. An excellent microcosm

  • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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    13 hours ago

    No high-iq individual will work 2 weeks per week with no pay in a society that requires money to live.

    • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
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      1 hour ago

      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.

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      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.

      • Vash63@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        This is what I was thinking also. It will be filled with people getting paid by corps and special interests.

    • meco03211@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      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.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      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…?

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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      12 hours ago

      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.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        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.

        • would_be_appreciated@lemmy.ml
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          8 hours ago

          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.

    • ChocoboRocket@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      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

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        7 hours ago

        My goodness we’re gonna be MAGA’d so hard*, can’t wait

        *some people (with the best words) are saying this

  • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Department of Government Efficiency is the name of the department that ends up involved in creating Soylent green or some crazy human organ harvesting thing.

    This sets off all sorts of red flags that bother the shit out of me. Like I’ll take boring dystopia over human slaughterhouses TYVM

  • superglue@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 hours ago

    Just to make sure I understand. Musk is going to run an orgination who will advise the federal government to cut regulations that are in the way of him making more money. And this is in no way a conflict of interest.

    • londos@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      That’s specifically why it won’t be a government agency. So they won’t be bound by any ethics rules. Make no mistake, this is not a silly one-off. This is the first step of privatizing the government.