Reference News Network September 11 report: According to the U.S. "The Hill" newspaper website on September 10, billionaire Elon Musk, who briefly took charge of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency this year, said on September 9 that he believes the U.S. federal government is in a critical condition.
Musk said during an online event on that day: "The government is basically beyond saving."
Musk first talked about the U.S. Department of Defense and joked that the department had recently been renamed the "Department of War." He said: "It's good that there are excellent talents within the government, but look at our excessively high national debt. The interest payments alone exceed the budget of the Pentagon and keep rising."
He said: "If artificial intelligence and robot technology cannot solve our national debt problem, then we are completely doomed."
The report stated that Musk revealed that since May of this year, he has not returned to Washington. Previously, he had a fierce disagreement with President Trump over the Republican Party's "Big and Beautiful Act." This bill includes large-scale tax reduction provisions, which may rapidly increase the size of the national debt.
After Trump returned to the White House in January, he immediately established the Department of Government Efficiency led by Musk, aiming to comprehensively reform the federal government's personnel system to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse of power. Musk emphasized using technologies including artificial intelligence to promote the modernization of the government. However, this initiative quickly sparked opposition, thousands of federal government employees lost their jobs, several important projects and contracts were canceled, and employees of the Department of Government Efficiency were given access to sensitive data.
Musk did not directly respond to these criticisms on September 9, but he had previously publicly expressed dissatisfaction with government work and admitted that this experience damaged his business interests and personal reputation.
In May, when he was interviewed by the U.S. "Washington Post," he said: "The Department of Government Efficiency has become a scapegoat for all problems. No matter what bad things happen, even if they have nothing to do with us, they will be blamed on us."
(Translation by Wang Dongdong)
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7548802924957286912/
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