Can Elon Musk save the US Government $2 trillion?
More or Less: Behind the Stats
BBC
4.6 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 30 November 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Elect Donald Trump has created a new government advisory group – the Department of Government Efficiency or ‘DOGE’ - to help cut the US budget.
The world richest man, Elon Musk, will co-head the department and has pledged to cut ‘at least $2 trillion’ to ‘balance the budget’. But is this possible? We talk to Professor Linda Bilmes about what DOGE could or couldn’t do and how she balanced the budget in the 1990’s.
Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Sound Mix: Andrew Mills Editor: Richard Vadon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.8 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.5 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to |
| 0:22.4 | helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put |
| 0:28.3 | together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life, |
| 0:35.0 | check out BBC Sounds. Hello and thanks for downloading the more or less podcast. |
| 0:40.4 | We're the program that looks at the numbers in the news and I'm Charlotte McDonald. |
| 0:45.4 | Since President-elect Donald Trump's decisive victory in this year's American election, |
| 0:50.1 | he's been busy appointing key members of his new cabinet, one of which was... |
| 0:55.6 | We have a man who has a seriously high IQ. |
| 0:59.0 | You know, I'm a person that believes... |
| 1:00.2 | Any guesses? |
| 1:00.9 | He launched a rocket three weeks ago and then he went to... |
| 1:03.9 | Still not sure? |
| 1:04.7 | How about this? |
| 1:05.6 | Give it up for the greatest capitalist in the history of the United States of America. |
| 1:13.3 | Elon Musk. |
| 1:15.6 | Elon Musk, famous entrepreneur, meme lover and the world's richest man, according to Forbes. |
| 1:22.4 | He's settling his sights on tackling the U.S. economy as he co-heads the proposed Department of Government |
| 1:28.0 | Efficiency or Doge. |
| 1:30.7 | Now, some of you might recognise Doge. |
... |
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