DOGE.Gov Looking Under the Hood Of Government Spending

My friend Sam always says: “Information wants to be free.” By this, he means both without cost and readily available, free access to information. The newly introduced DOGE Department Of Government Efficiency has taken the most significant step in providing the average citizen with a minute-by-minute update on the financial condition of America. It’s impossible to overstate the long-term effect this will have on our Government’s budgets and spending.

Over the past half-century, I’ve seen this sort of information revolution in the country’s financial markets.

When I began my career as a Stock Broker in 1972, brokers had a monopoly over the distribution of information. If someone wished to know the current price of their stocks, they had to call a broker. There was no other readily available method (unless one purchased their own stock quote terminal).

Later, information would be distributed across the internet via computers and smartphones. By allowing investors a free flow of news and data, investors were assured of the legitimacy of the financial markets. The invested capital of the nation exploded. Consequently, the value of US stocks went from roughly $1 trillion in 1972 to today’s $62 trillion. The public was more than willing to invest now that they had the “full picture,” the complete and up-to-the-moment news, information, and prospects for the shares they wanted to purchase.

When Americans are presented with the whole story, they are more than willing to stand by any company or government entity that is forthright and honest and has the stakeholder’s best interest at heart.

Today, many citizens have lost confidence in our Government. Taxpayers have watched as trillions are spent on foreign wars, wasteful social experiments, and pseudo-scientific schemes, which, if they ever pay a return it will be long after our lifetimes.

The most recent poll conducted by Pew Research indicated that 24% trusted the Federal Government to “do what’s right most of the time, or just about always.” Put another way, three-quarters of Americans do NOT feel that the Government will do what’s right most of the time. That’s an awful indictment of our nation’s leaders and the systems and institutions that make up the Government.

Aside from outright malfeasance and corruption (improper arrests, immoral conduct, violence, etc.), much of the nation’s lack of trust stems from financial mismanagement or pilfering.

Today, the nation’s debt stands at an incredible $36 Trillion, and if you go to usdebtclock.org, you can watch the amount increase at a dizzying rate, so much so that our debt may have already risen by the time you read this.

To rein in these out-of-control expenditures, DOGE, The Department Of Government Efficiency, was created shortly after President Donald Trump’s Inauguration. Headed by the multi-billionaire Elon Mush, the Department is tasked with reducing spending and waste.

Unfortunately, today’s headlines are full of protesting government employees and Representatives who want to maintain the status quo. They need to change. From a purely dispassionate perspective, the country cannot continue to add debt willy-nilly. Further, many in Congress want to retain their control by obscuring how our money is spent. For years, it’s been apparent that Congressional and Bureaucratic control hides the financial realities of overspending, ignoring budgets, and, in light of recent DOGE revelations, even outright corruption.

We are entering a time when confidential budgets and hidden spending will no longer be permitted. DOGE has swung the doors wide open. The secret recesses of Government expenditures are coming under the watchful eyes of you and me, the American People. And once released, there will be no way to put this genie back in its bottle. Fading fast are the top-secret, black budgets. We will now see what portion of our taxes were spent on some obscure vision for the environment, or to induce social change, or to enrich some faraway country. The budgets of all government agencies, including three letter agencies, will eventually be available for all to see.

One of the most innovative aspects of the DOGE’s website is the “DOGE Tracker,” an up-to-the-minute report on new savings and un-budgeted spending. As I write this article, over $2 billion has already been recaptured by the new Department (remember, DOGE is only a couple of weeks old). As you would expect, most of these savings have come from USAID, where over $400 million has been cut. Additionally, $100 million in savings has come from the Department of Agriculture and over $50 million from the Department of Health and Human Services—an admirable start by any perspective.

These numbers represent savings in this fiscal year, ending September 30, 2025, and a portion of next year, up until July 4, 2026.

Finally, one last data point, DOGE, is the first place to show both the amount budgeted versus the amount actually spent for the current fiscal year. This is a critical first step in appreciating how profligate Federal spending has been. For the past many years, Government Agencies and Departments have “blown through” their budget in an effort to spend, and spend, and spend. Now, we, the people, can see up-to-date evidence of the Government’s overspending – expenditures that go beyond their Congressional allocation. It will create a revolution in accountability and oversight.

Sam, after all, was right. Indeed, information should be free. Even more, the information DOGE is uncovering could end our accursed debt and set us, the people of the United States, free from the hidden and oppressive federal Government’s current financial system.

PowerInbox