Billionaire Elon Musk, appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to curb U.S. government spending, has raised concerns that the country may be edging toward bankruptcy. Musk, the world’s richest man and a close advisor to Trump, is set to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the incoming Republican administration. His task is to identify ways to reduce taxpayer burden by eliminating wasteful government expenditures.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk commented, “America is currently headed for bankruptcy super fast,” responding to a post from the DOGE account, which highlighted that the U.S. government spent $6.16 trillion in 2023, while only generating $4.47 trillion in revenue. The DOGE account added, “This trend must be reversed, and we must balance the budget.”
One of Trump’s campaign promises was the creation of the DOGE department to reduce bureaucracy and government waste. Earlier, Trump had also suggested using Bitcoin to help address the country’s mounting debt, which surpassed $34 trillion in 2024, largely due to COVID-19 relief measures and inflation-driven interest rate hikes.
Musk and fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are tasked with providing recommendations on how to tackle the nation’s growing debt, which many experts see as unsustainable. Musk reiterated the point in another post, noting, “Excess government spending is driving America into bankruptcy,” stressing the importance of reversing the trend.
The name of the DOGE department is a nod to the famous Shiba Inu dog meme from 2013, which is also linked to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. Musk has expressed his fondness for Dogecoin, which is accepted as payment by his company, Tesla.
As the U.S. faces record-high debt, discussions around digital currencies like Bitcoin, which operates independently of government oversight, are gaining momentum. Bitcoin, currently priced at $97,455.70, has risen by 4.31% in the last 24 hours.
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