Elon Musk compared the US to a drunken sailor over government spending

The US will go bankrupt if the government continues to spend money like a drunken sailor. This was stated on Monday, February 10, by the head of the American Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), businessman Elon Musk.

This is how he commented on the words of former United States Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who wrote on the social network X that, together with four other American ex-Treasurers, he was “alarmed by the risks of arbitrary and capricious political control over federal payments”.

Earlier, The New York Times published their joint letter, in which the former ministers, in particular, expressed concern about the activities of DOGE.

 Americas”Listen, Larry, we have to stop the government spending on fraud and waste like a drunk sailor, otherwise America will go bankrupt. This means that many scammers will lose their money and complain loudly about it. Very bad. Put up with it,” Musk wrote in response to Summers.

Earlier, The New York Times (NYT), citing sources, reported that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant gave several DOGE representatives access to the federal payment system to control and limit government spending. According to the newspaper, in 2023 this system processed information on payments worth more than 5 trillion dollars. Musk claimed that the Treasury Department's actions were fraudulent.

US legal and security experts are concerned that DOGE's access to the Treasury Department's payment database violates privacy and cybersecurity laws and poses a risk of leaks of personal and financial information.