Donald Trump’s plan to save ‘trillions’- Elon Musk to head government efficiency commission

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the US Presidential elections, made a major announcement on Thursday regarding wasteful spending in the country. The 78-year-old former US President disclosed a plan to install tech billionaire Elon Musk at the head of a government efficiency commission to avoid wasteful expenditure and save "trillions" of dollars.

The 53-year-old Tesla chief and SpaceX CEO has been in the spotlight again amid intense US politics regarding allegations of transforming social media platform X (formerly Twitter) into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories since its take-over in 2022.

While addressing the public in New York, the Republican candidate announced that the tech billionaire would oversee a "complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government" in a second Trump administration, reported AFP.

“As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months. This will save trillions of dollars,” AFP quoted Donald Trump as saying.

Vice President Kamala Harris is contesting against Donald Trump in the November 5 elections. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has been setting out her own economic vision. Ahead of a high-stakes televised presidential debate scheduled to take place on September 10, Donald Trump's statement could mark a major turning point.

Trump's administration saw the national debt increase by $8.2 trillion. This figure is nearly double that of President Joe Biden's administration. According to AFP report, experts are sceptical about the size of the savings.

In response to these recent remarks, a former economic official in Joe Biden's White House, Bharat Ramamurti, in a post on X, said, “By definition, this would mean Trump supports cutting Social Security, Medicare, or veterans benefits.” Questioning the feasibility of this move, he further suggested that Donald Trump is proposing trillions in tax cuts for the rich, which would ensure more money for the rich and less for everyone else.

(With inputs from AFP)