Welcome to the United States of Elon
The Curious Case of Elon Musk’s Uncut Contracts
As the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) tears through federal programs with a chainsaw and a smirk — slashing everything from food assistance to disaster forecasting, one set of beneficiaries appears to be skating untouched: the private companies of DOGE's own architect, Elon Musk.
While libraries shutter, food assistance dries up, and mental health hotlines go dark, contracts with Musk-aligned enterprises like SpaceX and Starlink are not only untouched; they’re expanding. In fact, SpaceX is on track to receive more federal dollars in 2025 than in any previous year, and DOGE itself is reportedly building critical government systems with Musk's help, including the controversial new Gold Card citizenship platform.
This isn't just a story of favorable treatment. It's the story of how public austerity is being used to bankroll a private space empire, and how the rhetoric of "efficiency" masks a quiet restructuring of government in the image of one man.
Let's break it down.
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Cuts for You
The cuts coming out of DOGE aren’t abstract budget line items; they’re services millions rely on daily. Under Musk's direction, DOGE has targeted programs that provide tangible, visceral support to working- and middle-class Americans.
Food assistance: Funding for SNAP and school meal programs has been gutted, with $1 billion slashed from USDA nutrition programs alone.
Weather and disaster response: NOAA has laid off over 1,000 employees, reducing tornado and hurricane forecasting capability during peak seasons.
Libraries and museums: Overnight, over 1,000 community grants were terminated after DOGE froze operations at the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Mental health and addiction treatment: SAMHSA contracts were abruptly canceled, disrupting services for thousands in crisis.
Education and early childhood programs: Head Start grants were suspended, and nearly $900 million in Department of Education research contracts have been voided.
Veterans and seniors: The VA is undergoing massive restructuring, including tens of thousands of job cuts, while Social Security field offices have closed nationwide.
These aren’t luxuries. They’re the infrastructure of daily life, the programs that ensure people can eat, stay safe, stay sane, and have a shot at stability. And they’re being dismantled in the name of "efficiency."
The contrast becomes even starker when we look at what hasn't been touched and, in many cases, what has been supercharged under DOGE’s watch.
We’ve covered DOGE so extensively. Here is a sample:
Cash for Him
While public-facing services are stripped for parts, Musk's companies are thriving under the very system he oversees.
SpaceX received over $845 million in FY25 alone for national security space launches, the opening tranche of a $5.9 billion Pentagon contract that will run through 2029.
NASA awarded SpaceX an additional $843 million to develop a deorbit vehicle for the International Space Station, plus another $100 million to launch a new asteroid detection mission.
Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, is being actively tested and integrated into federal infrastructure. The FAA has already begun using it to modernize air traffic control communications. The FBI and DEA have both issued inquiries into expanding Starlink into their operational networks.
DOGE, Musk's federal brainchild, is developing a custom AI assistant for the General Services Administration, despite a Trump executive order mandating using existing commercial software wherever possible. No waiver has been disclosed.
DOGE is also building the digital backbone of the new "Gold Card" visa program, which would fast-track U.S. residency for wealthy immigrants who can pay $5 million upfront.
Not a single Musk-aligned contract has been canceled or reduced under DOGE. Not one. In fact, 2025 is shaping up to be the most profitable year yet for Musk's federal ventures, even as DOGE has walked back its own savings targets multiple times.
For all the belt-tightening rhetoric, this is where the money still flows. As always, it flows up.
Efficiency, it seems, is in the eye of the shareholder.
Our reporting on DOGE and Musk is extensive. Here’s one from our archive. Full full access to over 450 articles, exclusive reporting, and occasional early access, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Efficiency or Exception?
If DOGE were truly a crusade against waste, you’d expect its scalpel to cut in all directions. Instead, it slices downward.
Last week, the Trump administration signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to rely on existing commercial software rather than spend taxpayer dollars on custom builds. But DOGE is moving full steam ahead on a custom-built AI assistant for the General Services Administration. GSAi, as it’s called, is designed to analyze procurement data and boost worker productivity. It also appears to directly contradict the administration’s directive. No waiver has been made public.
At the same time, DOGE has repeatedly lowered its total savings target. The $3 trillion slash-and-burn promise made on day one has quietly become $2 trillion. Then $1.4 trillion. And now? Estimates suggest that DOGE's actual savings to date are below $300 billion, many from canceling programs that cost little or nothing to begin with.
In short, the austerity isn’t adding up. But the contracts are.
DOGE has become less about eliminating waste and more about rewriting the rules, in ways that seem tailor-made to benefit its creator.
The Bigger Game
This isn’t just about a few billion in contracts or a misaligned procurement policy. It’s about a strategic redirection of government power toward private hands. It’s about the shape of the federal government itself and who it now serves.
Under DOGE, Musk isn’t just supplying services to the government—he’s helping design them. His team is building the digital spine of the Gold Card visa system, creating a fast lane for the ultra-wealthy to buy U.S. residency. He’s developing custom government AIs. The FBI, the DEA, and the FAA are exploring the deployment of his satellite network.
And looming on the horizon is the Golden Dome: a proposed orbital missile defense shield, inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome but on a scale that could cost hundreds of billions. Early reports list SpaceX as a frontrunner. Musk has said publicly that he hasn’t bid on the project. But he also said he’d be "happy to help."
We’ve even seen DOGE begin shifting key agency communications to X, Musk’s own platform, including the Social Security Administration. For the millions of seniors without internet access or social media accounts, it’s not just inconvenient. It’s exclusion by design. Want answers? You’ll have to come to his platform.
This isn’t a government investing in public infrastructure. It’s a government outsourcing its core functions to a private CEO, while gutting the programs that serve ordinary people.
It’s not about doing more with less. It’s about doing more for the few and less for everyone else.
See more of our coverage of Musk and DOGE including this piece from February 2nd. It’s more than 45 days old now, so it lives in the archive.
The Cost of One Man's Vision
If government is a reflection of what a society values, then the story of DOGE is a portrait in distortion.
Because what we’re witnessing isn't fiscal discipline. It’s the abandonment of the working class for the hobbies of the elite.
A government that can't afford tornado forecasting somehow finds room for a space-based missile shield. A country that tells seniors to wait six months for Social Security help can deliver a $5 million residency pass to the world’s wealthiest in a matter of days. Food aid is slashed, but AI chatbots for procurement? Approved.
This isn’t about waste. It’s about priorities. And they’ve never been clearer.
The federal government is no longer merely contracting with Elon Musk. It is being reshaped around his interests, businesses, and worldview—a worldview that once infamously declared, "The problem with Western society is too much empathy."
Now we know what a government looks like when that belief becomes policy.
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Bibliography:
Clark, Stephen. “NASA Awards SpaceX $843 Million Contract to Build ISS Deorbit Vehicle.” Reuters, June 26, 2024.
Erwin, Sandra. “SpaceX Secures Majority of NSSL Phase 3 Fiscal Year 2025 Missions.” SpaceNews, February 28, 2025.
Wattles, Jackie. “FAA to Use Starlink to Modernize Its Air Traffic Control Network.” CNN, February 25, 2025.
Cerullo, Megan. “Musk’s Starlink Tapped for Broader Use by FBI, DEA.” FedScoop, April 16, 2025.
Abell, John. “Elon Musk's DOGE Team Building AI Chatbot for GSA Despite Software Procurement Order.” Wired, April 15, 2025.
Nelson, Samantha. “Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ Could Be SpaceX’s Biggest Defense Contract Yet.” Reuters, April 17, 2025.
Satariano, Adam. “Trump’s Gold Card Immigration System Designed by DOGE, Reports Say.” Vanity Fair, April 10, 2025.
Specht, Paul. “Trump Budget Plan Would Cut $230 Billion from SNAP.” The American Prospect, April 11, 2025.
Murphy, Sarah. “USDA and DOGE Slash $1 Billion in School Meal Funding.” Food Processing News, March 4, 2025.
Harris, Derrick. “NOAA Layoffs Impact Storm Forecasting.” Business Insider, March 15, 2025.
Neuman, Scott. “DOGE Cuts to IMLS Freeze Over 1,000 Library Grants.” NPR, March 31, 2025.
Kaplan, Emily. “DOGE Cuts Mental Health Grants, Disrupts Treatment Nationwide.” The Tennessean, April 14, 2025.
Tabor, Nikki. “DOGE Halts Head Start Grants Nationwide.” Fortune, April 2, 2025.
Goldman, Arlene. “VA Hit Hard by DOGE Job Cuts.” PBS NewsHour, March 22, 2025.
White House Press Office. “Fact Sheet: Trump Signs Executive Order Requiring Use of Commercial Products in Federal Contracts.” WhiteHouse.gov, April 15, 2025.
Rowland, Jenny. “DOGE Pushes SSA and Other Agencies to Use X as Primary Communications Platform.” Wired, April 16, 2025.
Marshall, Kate. “Social Security’s Shift to X Raises Accessibility Concerns.” Cointelegraph, April 17, 2025.
I've been saying this about that muskrat all along!! He has decimated people's lives, firing 10's of thousands of workers, stripping money from all sorts of programs that help people in need. Yet, he has not touched any of the contracts with his name on them. He has destroyed the agencies that were investigating him & no one is talking about it. WTH is wrong with people? I'm a nobody who saw what he was doing from jump. These assholes in congress are worried about their political careers if they go against the felon, yet they are so fucking stupid that they don't realize that their political careers are already over. The way they spit in the faces of their constituents is going to bite them in the ass. THEY ARE DONE!!!!
Who is plantar or planatir? Another muskrat type power hungry entity already entrenched with humpty?