Summary

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) began recruiting “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” willing to work 80+ hours per week with no pay to help slash federal spending.

Appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, the panel is tasked with recommending spending cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and agency restructuring by July 4, 2026.

Musk and Ramaswamy advocate for drastic measures, including cutting grants to nonprofits and potential mass layoffs.

  • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    No high-iq individual will work 2 weeks per week with no pay in a society that requires money to live.

    • meco03211@lemmy.world
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      That’s a common tactic in scams. You want to weed out the actual intelligent people as early as possible lest they disrupt your scam. That’s why scam emails tend to have misspellings and grammatical errors. Smarter people instantly ignore that. Dumb people click on through.

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      No they won’t… but rich people who can afford to support themselves while indulging in their love of making poor people suffer will be lined up around the block.

      Making a position unpaid is a classic tactic to keep out the poors.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It’s disappointing so many aren’t getting this…

        It’s the same as “unpaid internships” being advantage to rich kids who can afford to work without pay.

        Like, there is an inordinate amount of rich assholes that would love to spend 80 hours a week finding way to cut taxes, regulations, and the social safety net.

        If you’re rich enough to begin with, this could pay a hell of a lot better than anything else you would spend your time on. Couple hundred million in the bank or stock market, and it would be more profitable than any actual job.

        And let’s be honest, Musk and Trump aren’t judging IQ by the freaking Wechsler exam, when rich idiots talk about IQ, they mean zeros in a bank account.

        • would_be_appreciated@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          People with that kind of money don’t work, they own. They’ll hire somebody to do those 80 hours while they rape underage trafficked girls.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Can you think of any other types of people who might be financially able to volunteer their time here…?

      Maybe those who have a vested interest in any number of outcomes that may result from their work there…?

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      They’ll get paid by conservative think-tanks under the table so the Dept of Efficiency looks good and can pretend that it’s efficient.

      • Vash63@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        This is what I was thinking also. It will be filled with people getting paid by corps and special interests.

      • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Or corporations who want to have a say. BP Oil will happily drop off a shipping container of cash at a “volunteer’s” house if it means that they eliminate inspections of oil platforms in the gulf.

    • ChocoboRocket@lemmy.world
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      This isn’t aimed at the idiots who would line up around the block and work for free to be called high IQ by Musk. Doesn’t really matter though, it’s all performative

      They already know exactly what they want to cut, and billionaires don’t need a salary to realize profits from deregulation.

      The job being “no salary” isn’t indicative of how cost effictive a volunteer public servant could be - it is a dinner bell for the wealthy

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        My goodness we’re gonna be MAGA’d so hard*, can’t wait

        *some people (with the best words) are saying this

    • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
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      I want to believe this, too. But considering how there are smart people clubs with upwards of 50,000 members in the US that treat “passing” an IQ test as their sole entry criterion, I am sure there are some. Not all who have intelligence also have the wisdom to use it well.

      • SquatDingloid@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Drinking asbestos paste lets you escape the simulation

        And it’s delicious

        The government doesn’t want you to know this

        They want it all for themselves

  • superkret@feddit.org
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    1 month ago

    Spoiler

    Lot’s of people are gonna apply, cause the payment is the chance for grifting

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    So a billionaire wants people to work 80 hour weeks for nothing. People tell him to fuck right off. As in, find a cliff and keep walking.

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org
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      I don’t think these positions will remain empty. Corporations will send a few lobbyists to check if the cost/power ratio is beneficial and if so, just flood the department.

      • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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        I hadn’t thought of that, but this is 100% exactly what will happen. BP oil will surely pay someone VERY handsomely to ‘volunteer’ 80 hours a week toward eliminating all oversight of drilling rigs in the gulf.

      • TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyz
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        1 month ago

        My first thought was spies… because they are already on someone else’s payroll.
        Also, bootlickers and extremely desperate people that would take on any job.

        • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org
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          People “desperate for any job” are actually desperate for money and willing to work for it. They won’t take an unpaid position, what are you thinking?

    • Archer@lemmy.world
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      It’s really great that his government efficiency department is in fact duplicative. An excellent microcosm

        • kautau@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Like when the FBI investigated Trump and found corruption and therefore he was removed from ever running in our elections?

  • superglue@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 month ago

    Just to make sure I understand. Musk is going to run an orgination who will advise the federal government to cut regulations that are in the way of him making more money. And this is in no way a conflict of interest.

    • londos@lemmy.world
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      That’s specifically why it won’t be a government agency. So they won’t be bound by any ethics rules. Make no mistake, this is not a silly one-off. This is the first step of privatizing the government.

  • sibachian@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    do “high-IQ” individuals even exist on the republican isle? why would a lefty want to get involved in this shit, especially unpaid? what idiot would accept unpaid labour under a multi-billionaire?

    • laserm@lemmy.world
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      High IQ individuals definitely exist on the republican side. The only thing is that they are the most selfish kind (hence why they are republican) and hence they won’t work for free.

      • voldage@lemmy.world
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        IQ tests intentionally omit any questions related to empathy, emotional intelligence and creativity, so it can favour people from the top of the pile and act as accurate perdictor of success in ruthless capitalist society. It implicitly promotes lack of those traits in individuals and explicitly promotes the definition of intelligence that’s unrelated to them. While you don’t get lower scores if you’re highly creative or empathetic person, so it’s not directly a detrimental for society and can be a useful metric for some cases like specific jobs, it’s image as sole measure of intelect is manufactured to promote “specific kind of people”, to which group many republican businessmen would belong.

        I’m not disagreeing with what you said, just thought I’d expand on that.

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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    Good grief. It’s like he asked ChatGPT “how do I hire people suffering from the Dunning-Kruger Effect?”

    Dear meme-lords: I need something with much more facepalm than the Picard one. A “super facepalm” if you will. Thank you.

  • Please_Do_Not@lemm.ee
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    Much like unpaid internships, this is also a method to prevent anyone who is not independently wealthy from applying, so they can fill the department with the same people already benefiting from the current system and allow them to design one that benefits them even further.

    No one that this department is ostensibly built to serve can afford to work on it, so who is it really (clearly) for?