Mark Cuban Says He’s ‘All for DOGE’ — but Has This Problem With How Musk Is Doing It
Written by
Vance Cariaga
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Zuri Anderson
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Elon Musk’s work as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has come under heavy criticism in certain quarters — partly because of anger that the world’s richest person is cutting government programs designed to help lower- and middle-income Americans. One critic is billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, though his problem isn’t necessarily with DOGE’s mission.
In fact, Cuban said he’s “all for DOGE” during a recent appearance on Scott Galloway’s podcast, “The Prof G Pod.” The problem, according to Cuban, is the way DOGE has been implemented.
“I’m all for DOGE,” he said. “I think it’s a great idea to cut government. It’s too big. It’s too expensive. But you don’t do it all at once. That is the definition of lack of strategic thinking.”
GOBankingRates breaks down Cuban’s line of thinking when it comes to his criticism of the new federal agency and Musk.
Who’s Been Hurt By DOGE Cuts?
DOGE is a non-official organization created by President Donald Trump to drastically downsize the federal government. Musk initially said he would slash $2 trillion from the federal budget, The Atlantic reported. But that target has since been revised downward to as low as $150 billion. Meanwhile, Musk recently announced plans to “step back” from DOGE and focus on his job as Tesla CEO.
Even though the DOGE savings have been revised downward, the human impact is already substantial. Roughly 200,000 federal workers have been laid off since Trump took office, according to White House figures cited by Reuters. Whole agencies have been eliminated — and numerous U.S. communities are scrambling to deal with it.
“When you do it all at once, there’s no chance for communities, cities, states to adapt at all, or participate, or put in processes or plans, or help people find other jobs, or replace lost revenue,” Cuban said. “Small cities… [are] far more reliant on federal spending than bigger cities are.”
As an example, he pointed to a U.S. Treasury Department office in Parkersburg, West Virginia, that has faced DOGE cuts. The office employees about 2,000 people in a town of only 29,000 residents, according to Cuban.
“If those cuts continue, that’s a disproportionate impact on Parkersburg and the area,” he said.
‘Elon Might Have Been a Hero’
Cuban also cited cuts to coal mining safety programs and jobs throughout Appalachia.
“They’ve cut back on the monitors and the people who evaluate safety,” he said. “That has a significant impact on those communities. Not only did they lose the jobs, but there’s nobody dealing with mining safety.”
Cuban’s recommendation would have been to stagger the cuts over 12 to 18 months so communities would have more time to prepare for job losses.
“If they had done it that way, Elon might have been a hero for doing it the right way,” he said.
Cuban isn’t the only billionaire to push back against Musk and DOGE. Philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates blasted Musk for cutting funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency set up to provide food and care for impoverished communities worldwide.
“The world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children,” Gates said in a recent interview with The New York Times Magazine.
Editor’s note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com.
More From GOBankingRates
Sources
- The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway (YouTube), “Mark Cuban – Do We Need an Elon of the Left? | Raging Moderates.”
- The Atlantic, “The Actual Math Behind DOGE’s Cuts.”
- Reuters, “US federal employment drops again as DOGE cuts stack up.”
- The New York Times Magazine, “The $200 Billion Gamble: Bill Gates’s Plan to Wind Down His Foundation.”
