Viewpoint Line | "World's Richest Man": "Commissioner Smith", see you later!
The battle between the "world's richest man" Musk and the "Commissioner Smiths" within the American bureaucratic system seems to have come to a conclusion. Musk, who claims to cut $2 trillion in government spending, has so far cut $160 billion in budget, while his personal wealth has also decreased by about $150 billion. In less than 100 days, one-third of his personal fortune has evaporated. This week, Musk told Tesla shareholders that he is ready to step down.
On April 22 local time, Musk announced at Tesla's earnings conference that from May, he will shift his focus from politics back to the company. This Silicon Valley maverick, who once brandished a chainsaw and shouted "cut bureaucracy," has suffered setbacks after three months in Washington. He was prepared for "bone-scraping treatment," but every attempt to cut the budget seemed to open another Pandora's box.
Whatever he checks goes wrong, whoever he investigates turns against him.
For instance, the "egg shortage" in the U.S. also has Musk's share of responsibility. The "Department of Government Efficiency" laid off employees from the Department of Agriculture, including those responsible for avian influenza prevention, leading to further spread of the avian influenza epidemic in the U.S., more hens being culled, and eggs becoming even harder to find in supermarkets. Of course, it's not just Musk's fault that eggs are hard to buy; the avian influenza in the U.S. had signs last year, and it's hard to say whether the Department of Agriculture's inaction was due to incompetence or intent. However, when the trouble arises, Musk, who is in the spotlight, naturally attracts more public fire than the bureaucrats behind the scenes.
The script of "laying off employees to the point of endangering national security" has played out more than once. When the Department of Energy laid off employees, they also laid off 300 employees from the Nuclear Safety Bureau. They didn't know these employees were responsible for maintaining America's nuclear warheads, and it took nearly a week to realize there was a "national security risk." But because they didn't retain contact information for the laid-off employees, some professionals were gone for good.
According to media reports, Musk and Treasury Secretary Bestante had a public argument at the White House on April 17, with both sides once "chest-to-chest" and "swearing like sailors."
The "coincidence" happened most with the Department of Defense. This department, which failed its audit for seven consecutive years, everyone knew it was difficult to investigate, but no one expected so many surprises to come out. Just as Musk received Trump's support to "streamline" the military, the Department of Defense received Trump's promise to increase defense spending to over $1 trillion per year, turning savings into increased spending. Department officials revealed that Musk intended to listen to the "U.S. China War Briefing," and the White House quickly denied it as "fake news." However, the media reported that Trump was very angry about this and swore: "What the hell is Elon doing? Make sure he doesn't attend." There was even a "literal explosion": on April 16, an explosion occurred at Northrop Grumman's factory. This company is responsible for supplying more than 90% of the solid rocket engines nationwide; if it stops operating, America's intercontinental missiles and space programs would be paralyzed.
Gold prices have soared, but the vaults won't let you check them anymore.
There were dramatic events, and there were abrupt endings, such as the repeatedly mentioned inspection of the vaults by Trump and Musk. At the time, Trump publicly said: "Elon and I are going to inspect Fort Knox (vault). Is anyone interested in coming with us? If the vaults are empty, we will be very sad."
And then nothing happened. The public's trust crisis in America's gold reserves reached such a level last time when the dollar decoupled from gold and the Bretton Woods system collapsed. At that time, the U.S. government chose to break precedent and allow some members of Congress and journalists to visit the vaults. Now that gold prices have hit record highs, people worldwide are scrambling to buy gold and sell dollars, and各界 are increasingly uneasy about America's gold reserves. Germany is also considering bringing back the 1,200 tons of gold stored in the U.S. Previously, Musk, who once promised to livestream checking the vaults, is now being very cautious and doesn't even mention it anymore.
Even the highly publicized inspection of social security by the White House has seen "reversals upon reversals." Musk uncovered more than 20 million "centenarians," saying someone had "revived" them to steal social security funds; after the Trump administration made corrections, the media found that over 6,000 living people had been "deemed dead"; looking at the bill, the U.S. Social Security expenditure increased by $10.8 billion in March compared to February.
Checking bad assets, checking himself into negative assets.
Musk cut budgets for three months, and the only major reduction was in his own wealth, which fell from over $450 billion to around $300 billion, with a decline equivalent to the money claimed to have been saved by the "Department of Government Efficiency." It's also a dark irony of fate. Worse than his loss of wealth was his reputation. This genius who once achieved groundbreaking progress in the automotive and aerospace industries has seen all his political promises fall flat.
Stephen Ratner, an American investor, mocked him: "The budget cuts promised from $2 trillion to $1 trillion, then to over $150 billion. Then The New York Times investigated this supposed $150 billion and found that $92 billion had no source and didn't know where it came from; the remaining $62 billion was also all wrong."
The person checking America's bad assets has turned himself into a "negative asset." This outsider who once boasted of breaking the "political black box" in Washington has done subtraction for himself, but the heavy layers of darkness within the American government may only increase and multiply with more revelations.
Source: CCTV News Client
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497504117678539305/
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