Elon Musk is volunteering to help cut excessive government spending amid inflation concerns

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Elon Musk volunteered to assist a possible “commission on government efficiency” aimed at reducing excessive US government spending during a live chat with Donald Trump on Monday. X’s owner said excessive government spending was fueling inflation and called for an urgent need for spending cuts to stabilize the economy.

“Inflation comes from government overspending because the checks never bounce when the government writes them,” Musk said. “So if the government spends much more than it brings in, it increases the money supply, and if the money supply increases faster than the rate of goods and services, that’s inflation.”

It wasn’t Musk’s first mention of the “government efficiency commission.” On a recent episode of the Lex Fridman podcast, he said he had discussed the idea with Trump and that he “would be willing” to join the new commission.

Musk also noted the daily increase in the national debt due to excessive government spending, which he believes is fueling inflation. Inflation, he explained, is also a tax on people. Trump echoed Musk’s views, noting that inflation hurts those who earn, save and don’t invest.

However, the former US president did not directly target the spending cuts. Instead, Trump pointed to the sharp rise in energy costs. He said lower energy prices would be needed to alleviate some of the economic pressures Americans are facing.

The conversation wasn’t just about the US economy. The two figures also discussed the recent attack on Trump, illegal immigration, geopolitical tensions, artificial intelligence (AI) and the environment.

Trump highlighted the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence, predicting that it will eventually require twice the amount of energy currently generated. To meet this demand, Trump emphasized the importance of increasing the nation’s energy production.

There was high expectation among members of the crypto community that Trump would mention “Bitcoin” during his discussion with Musk. On Polymarket, punters assigned a probability of 65% to the mention of “crypto” and a peak of 69% to “Bitcoin”, with substantial amounts bet on these predictions.

Despite this anticipation, there was no discussion of crypto or Bitcoin during the event.

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