- The US government faces a “fork on the road”, just as Twitter did when Musk bought the company in 2022.
- Musk’s Twitter cuts were partially driven by the need to save money for large debt payments.
- US government debt has also increased, leaving annual interest payments over $ 1 trillion.
President Donald TrumpThe administration has begun a comprehensive federal workforce adjustment, starting with an open offer this week: get a purchase And leave, or commit to a new era of office seats and performance that “exceeds expectations”.
Mass, detailed in an email for federal workers, follows a Rto Order issued during the first week of Trump in office – a directive that requires most federal employees report to the physical offices five days a week.
Parallels to Elon MuskThe shocked taking Twitter, now X, are impossible to ignore. In 2022, the technology billionaire sent a similar email to Twitter employees asking them to engage in aextremely hardcore“Program or Removal. The subject line was”A fork on the road“ – The same referred by the Trump administration on Tuesday.
These are bets that aggressive workforce cuts, relentless demands of productivity, and a culture of loyalty and long hours can reformulate institutions. The question is whether the Musk’s play book, which left Twitter Financially shaky and broken cultural, it can work for the US government.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday evening.
Similar projects
The US Personnel Management Office, which is sending email to federal workers, pledged to reward senior performers and rapidly address sub-performing. This reflects the Midnight Misa Misa for Twitter staff, who demanded “extraordinary performance” as “the only passing grade” and the projected work cuts that eliminated about 80% of the company’s workforce.
OPM also promised a poorer work force, noting that while protection and security agencies can increase, most federal departments will face down holidays, permits, and reclassifying roles as “willing” employment, while eroded civil service protection that have been protecting workers for decades. Federal employees must also meet the raised standards of credibility, loyalty and reliability, according to OPM.
The project echoes the rapid restructuring of Elon Musk Twitter. Immediately after buying the platform, Musk told employees that they had 40 hours to engage in a “extremely hardcore“ work environment or accept secession. More than 6,000 staff on Twitter eventually left or fired, including engineers and content moderators. Musk also released RTO mandates.
Risks and Debt Increase
The risks of musk access are well documented. The increase in Twitter user stuck after taking on stage, and its brand reputation was tasked as advertisers left after controversial policy shifts.
For Trump, gambling is potentially more dangerous. Twitter had about 7,800 pre-muscles; The federal government employs approximately 2.3 million. Massive stretching or withdrawal can destabilize everything, from social security processing to disaster response.
However, the administration is loading forward, adapting the regulation as an attempt to reign in government spending and control of national debt.
When Musk won Twitter In 2022, he admitted he paid a lot after he was forced to close the $ 44 billion transaction from a judge. It was a highly promoted agreement that left the company with many debt and great interest payments. This partially brought the drastic cuts of Musk’s work as he hurried to save money and prevent Twitter from paying.
By 2023, he would cut more than 6,000 employees. He described the holidays from work as ”painful“And” one of the most difficult things “he had to do as the boss of Twitter.
The US government has also owed a lot of debt in recent years. While no one expects an American default soon, national debt has grown from about $ 3.4 trillion in 1980 to more than $ 35 trillion in 2024. Approximately $ 10 trillion in debt has been collected since 2017, according to the Treasury Department data.
Increasing the rates has increased the cost of paying interest on this massive debt load. In 2023, these annual payments at the top 1 trillion dollarsarousing the concern among some economists about government spending.
This is partly that is pushing the Trump administration to try to make the US government more efficient. Trump has also pledged to follow taxationeven more pressure on its administration to find other ways of controlling the national balloon debt.
Trump’s efficiency drive has already caused unrest. Some government workers said his federal grant freezing has thrown agency disordercreating confusion.
When Musk eliminated thousands of work on Twitter, some employees in the company were worried that the social media platform could stop working because the cuts were so deep and fast. There were some interruptions, but the company’s technical supports worked relatively well over the past year.