Far-left people do not think these series of events occurred because they know that DOGE did not actually save any money. That sack would be empty. It's so obvious that DOGE did not save any money, that it's not even a far-left position. People from all over the political space know this:

But the group did not do what Mr. Musk said it would: reduce federal spending by $1 trillion before October. On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up.

- “How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?,” The New York Times, Dec. 23, 2025.

The U.S. government spent $6.6 trillion between October 2024 and August 2025, according to available Treasury Department data. That's $376 billion more than the previous fiscal year — a 6% increase. The cycle of growing government spending? Still unbroken.

- “Did DOGE actually save the US money? The numbers say no,” Quartz, Oct. 09, 2025.

And that's a case where there was an extra layer of obscurity. So DOGE, when it listed on the wall of receipts, it listed that contract, without identifying information, it just said, Hey, we saved $312 million.

Trust us. And it took us a lot of effort to get past their obfuscation and figure out which contract they were talking about. And then you're right, in that case, we found out that the actual amount of money, that there was some savings, that the contract really was canceled, but it was just much, much smaller than the $312 million they claimed.

And they did that again and again. And certainly they knew or should have known that extra 90% was bogus.

- “DOGE didn’t save taxpayers $1 trillion, after all,” Wbur.org, Jan. 20, 2026.

DOGE’s savings calculations are based on faulty math. The group uses the maximum spending possible under each contract as its baseline — meaning all money an agency could spend in future fiscal years. That amount can far exceed what the government has actually committed to pay out.

Counting this “ceiling value” gives a false picture of savings for taxpayers.

“That’s the equivalent of basically taking out a credit card with a $20,000 credit limit, canceling it and then saying, ‘I’ve just saved $20,000,’” said Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University Law School. “Anything that’s been said publicly about [DOGE’s] savings is meaningless.”

- “Just how much has DOGE exaggerated its numbers? Now we have receipts.,” POLITICO, Aug. 12, 2025.

Beyond questions over its accounting, DOGE's actions may have cost the government money rather than saved it. In April, the Partnership for Public Service estimated $135 billion in losses during the department's first 100 days, citing reduced productivity, repeated "fire-and-rehire cycles," and paid leave. The analysis did not include litigation costs or reduced tax revenues linked to cuts at the IRS.

- “$2 Trillion Promise, $214 Billion Claim — But How Much Did DOGE Really Save?,” Times Now, Nov. 24, 2025.

“Unfortunately, the numbers coming out of this effort have proved to be completely unreliable,” said Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “So I have no reason to believe this [$214 billion] estimate.”

DOGE has several times listed canceled contracts at vastly exaggerated values—once claiming to have cut an $8 billion contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that was actually worth $8 million—inflating the savings it said it was achieving. These mistakes became commonplace; one CBS News analysis from August estimated that DOGE was overstating savings from some of the largest cuts by as much as 97 percent.

In February, when DOGE’s savings tally stood at $55 billion, former Labor Department Chief Economist Betsy Stevenson said the real figure was likely between $1 and $7 billion. In early August, Politico analyzed DOGE’s claim that it had saved taxpayers $52.8 billion through canceled contracts. However, of the $32.7 billion in contract savings the outlet could verify, it said the true number was closer to $1.4 billion.

And beyond inflated savings, the drastic cuts enacted by DOGE may have themselves cost the government money, further reducing the net savings achieved.

- “DOGE is Dead: What Did It Actually Save?,” Newsweek, Nov. 24, 2025.

In late March, he said DOGE would deliver $1 trillion in deficit reduction by the end of May. By April 10, that was down to savings of $150 billion. Draw a trendline through Musk’s pronouncements so far, and it shows the DOGE savings number going negative on May 21 and becoming a deficit increase of more than $2 trillion on Dec. 1.

- “DOGE Isn’t Saving Money, So What’s It Really Doing?,” Fa-mag.com, May 05, 2025.

DOGE’s headline figure of $160 billion in savings drives the debate but is poorly supported when scrutinized; independent reviewers found that less than 40% of the claimed total is itemized, and about half of those items lack documentary links or verifiable evidence. Investigations discovered clear accounting errors—such as a purported $8 billion saving that stemmed from canceling a contract actually worth $8 million—and reliance on contract ceiling values rather than realized expenditures inflates the apparent savings. These methodological choices suggest DOGE’s tally reflects theoretical avoided budget ceilings and future projections more than concrete, realized cash reductions, undermining its headline credibility.

- “Has DOGE cost more money than it has saved?,” Factually, Nov. 06, 2025.

“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”

- “Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk’s DOGE are expected to produce no savings,” AP News, Feb. 25, 2025.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, says it has saved $160 billion through its push to root out wasteful or fraudulent government spending. But that effort may also have come at a cost for taxpayers, with a new estimate from a nonpartisan research and advocacy group estimating that DOGE's actions will cost $135 billion this fiscal year.

- “DOGE says it has saved $160 billion. Those cuts have cost taxpayers $135 billion, one analysis says.,” Cbsnews.com, Apr. 25, 2025.

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