DOGE Is Not the Enemy

Since President Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by businessman Elon Musk, DOGE has pursued its assignment - reduce federal spending and improve operational efficiency, meaning identify and cut "waste, fraud, and abuse," with vigor and rather startling effectiveness. Not everyone agrees, of course. Not media, not Democrats, not the Left, maybe others who lost or believe they will lose their federal jobs. For these, it seems DOGE is the enemy.

But polls demonstrate a majority of Americans like what they see and agree this is what they voted for in electing Donald J. Trump to the presidency. And for many, they realize that DOGE is not the enemy. Debt is the enemy. Waste, fraud, and abuse, along with potential insolvency or default, these are the enemy. 

Few people would have predicted DOGE would be as successful as it has so far been, in part because neither Democrats or Republicans ever dared to to this before. But for a nation touting a near $37 trillion national deficit, this or a similar action must be done--now.

For more Christian commentary, check my website at www.rexmrogers.com, or see my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video. #Debt #Deficit #DOGE #Profligacy #Budgets 

Transcript

To hear major media, you’d think DOGE is little more than a fox in the henhouse, but is it? Why does DOGE exist and what really can it accomplish?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #205 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

I’ve talked about debt before but feel compelled to do so again.  

Debt is sometimes necessary. It is not a sin per se. But it is dangerous, for sure for individuals or families but also for organizations or countries.

“Debt, once it passes the Rubicon from extreme to just plain madness, destroys nations. Just ask the former Spanish, British or Dutch empires. Or ask the inter-war Germans. Ask the Yugoslavians of the 1990's or ask a historian of Ancient Rome or a merchant in modern Argentina. It's all pretty much the same story, just different a different stage or curtain call.”

The current U.S. National Debt stands at $36.790 trillion. This is as I write. By the time you read this or hear it, it will be racing past $37 trillion, each penny a new record.

“The WSJ recently wrote that "deficits finally matter." Hmmm. They have mattered for a long time.”

And the U.S. is not alone in this. Not at all. “In 2025, total global debt is projected to reach $322.9 trillion. This represents a significant increase compared to previous years.”

“A total of 52 countries—almost 40 per cent of the developing world are in “serious debt trouble.” 

“Debt distress now looms over more than half of the 68 low-income countries eligible for the International Monetary Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust – more than double the number in 2015…In 2023, developing nations paid $847 billion in net interest, a 26% increase from 2021…When governments must prioritize debt repayments over public services and investments, people pay the price. Schools are underfunded, hospitals lack supplies and infrastructure crumbles. Yet, because existing debt workout mechanisms are inefficient and costly, most governments avoid default at all costs – even if it means sacrificing development goals and climate action. As a result, countries may not default on their debt, but they default on their development.”

“If debt repayments become impossible, a government typically has to ‘declare default,’ letting its creditors know that further repayments under the original terms are no longer possible. Debt defaults cause substantial and long-lasting economic damage…For ordinary people, a default means higher food costs from inflation, as the government prints money to cover its costs. It means unemployment, as businesses and government agencies cut spending. And it means reductions in essential services such as health care and education. All this increases political pressure on a government to resolve the default as rapidly as possible…Protracted debt restructurings have real impacts on the lives of the people in the country affected. These burdens fall most heavily on the poorest—poor families focus on food and fuel and cut back spending on what they see as non-essentials, such as education and visits to health care clinics. This leads to increased poverty, decreases in national GDP, lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality rates, and more human suffering.”

“1) Poorly managed nations get too drunk on debt, and then 2) debase their currency to pay their debt; thereafter, 3) inflation comes, followed by 4) rising rates to fight that inflation, which in turn means 5) higher debt service costs, which means 6) more inflationary currency creation is rolled out to pay those higher rates.”

So, we are in a global debt crisis, and the U.S. is right there in the middle of it. The U.S. is not invulnerable to economic realities, nor is it “too big to fail.” What American political leaders on both sides of the aisle have been doing for decades is simply operating on a perceived unlimited credit card designed to give the people what they want – no matter if it is unhealthy, unaffordable, unwise, unsustainable – simply to keep officials in office. 

The Department of Government Efficiency was created by President Trump’s executive order on January 20, 2025, to directly address this issue. DOGE was tasked with reducing federal spending and improving operational efficiency. The initiative sought to achieve savings by eliminating wasteful contracts, reducing agency budgets, and streamlining operations, or by what we’ve heard often, identifying and cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. 

As of April 20, 2025, the DOGE website claims it has, so far, saved $160 billion or $993.79 per taxpayer.

Probably the most high-profile action has been eliminating USAID, though many more departments have been shuttered, and as of April 14, 2025, the second Trump administration announced more than 275,000 federal civil service layoffs. These cuts represent about 12% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workers. 

Now in a perfect world as they say, this all makes sense. It’s logical, isn’t it? If the U.S. government is woefully bloated, irresponsibly allowing waste, fraud, and abuse, and either way, up past its ears in unsustainable debt, shouldn’t we take action to reduce the financial bleeding? Any reasonable business would do so. If you’re in over your head, you cut costs, and you don’t wait, you act.

This is what DOGE, with the President’s direction, has done. But how have people reacted? Media have cried about every job that’s been cut. Now as I’ve said before, there is no easy way to hear you’ve lost your job. It is a severance, a sometimes necessary one that, frankly, is not the end of the world as we know it.

DOGE is not there to secure, reinforce, protect, or expand government employment. DOGE is not there to preserve everyone’s job who is working for the federal government. DOGE is there to protect the government, or more specifically, to preserve and protect the future of the United States. 

Certainly, it is far easier to add jobs than to reduce them. No one likes participating in a reduction in force, but those who sidestep this necessity when the writing is on the wall eliminate not just a job but everyone’s jobs if not the organization itself.

I’m not arguing that every decision DOGE has made or will make is without flaw. DOGE has and will make mistakes, but these errors are missteps, not its mission. Overall, the point is to try to curtail the US multi-trillion national debt. This cannot be done without pain. 

But DOGE is not the enemy. Debt is the enemy. Waste is the enemy. Fraud is the enemy. Abuse is the enemy. Corruption is the enemy.

Not doing anything to curtail the debt would be the inept thing to do. Not cutting waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, unnecessary bloated government programs would be the foolish thing to do. Not taking action now, while there’s still time, is to commit the nation to a future of brokenness and default, of “massive economic and social destabilization so that citizens would beg for authoritarian control in exchange for survival.” Not to take action to reduce the size and power of the federal government bureaucracy is to consign the nation to historic inflation, a debilitated middle class, and increase in crime and drug use as desperate people do desperate things.

This is an Orwellian future of permanent dependence on the state that, trust me, we do not want. 

DOGE is not the enemy. Our own profligacy is the enemy.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025     

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.