What does it really mean to run government 'like a business'?

Here & Now Anytime

WBUR

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4.6 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

The idea that running the federal government like a business would improve how it functions has been around for many decades. Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former Clinton administration who worked on government efficiency efforts, talks about President Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to streamline the government. The U.S. Department of Education is the latest federal agency to wind up on Trump's chopping block. Jon Valant, director of the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy, joins us to explain what this means for schools around the country. Then, Trump has made numerous claims about taking control of Gaza over the past week, referring to it as "a big real estate site" and putting forth plans to redevelop it under U.S. ownership. Khaled Elgindy, visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, joins us. And, Trump says he's directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies. Jeff Gore, founder of the group Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny, explains why it might make 'cents' to retire the coin.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	At the Super Bowl halftime show, Kendrick Lamar indeed performed his smash disc track,
0:05.3	Not Like Us, and brought out Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams, and Siza.
0:10.1	We're recapping the Super Bowl, including why we saw so many celebrities in commercials this year.
0:16.0	Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR.
0:20.5	The people voted for major government reform, and that's what the people are going to get.
0:24.6	Elon Musk joined President Trump in the Oval Office for the signing of an executive order
0:29.2	giving the world's richest man even more power in the federal government. It's Wednesday, February 12th, and this is here and now anytime.
0:45.6	From NPR and WBOR, I'm Chris Bentley.
0:51.3	Today on the show, Trump's plan to take over and develop the Gaza Strip came as a shock to many,
0:58.4	especially the millions of Palestinians who stand to lose their homes, if it were to happen.
1:03.5	But it didn't come out of nowhere.
1:05.3	It would be, I think, reckless to just look the other way or pretend it's not serious.
1:10.5	Also, a penny saved is a penny
1:12.5	earned, as they say. And squirreling away your pennies might soon be the only way that you'll have one.
1:18.5	Trump says he's directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies.
1:23.6	Blame inflation and the relatively high cost of producing one cent coins. But hey, there are
1:30.2	benefits to not having to lug all that change around. I think that the value of our time
1:35.3	wasted handling pennies is actually worth even more than the wasted materials. Before we get to that,
1:42.8	though, the trope of running government like a business
1:46.9	has been around for a long time. But what Elon Musk's Doge team is doing in the Trump administration
1:53.3	is a new twist. It's more like running government like a Silicon Valley startup. In fact, he might say
1:59.5	Trump is letting Musk do for the government what he
	...

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