Nantahala News

David Stockman, in his latest book "How To Cut $2 Trillion: A Blueprint From Ronald Reagan’s Budget Cutter To Musk, Ramaswamy, and the DOGE Team," outlines a plan to reduce federal spending by targeting specific areas of government expenditure. The proposal suggests that cutting $400 billion from the federal payroll and bureaucracy is feasible under their savings strategy.

Stockman explains that while payroll costs in typical U.S. businesses range between 15% to 40% of total expenses, they constitute only a small fraction of federal spending. For fiscal year 2029, nondefense employee compensation is estimated at $215 billion, which represents just 3.1% of projected nondefense outlays.

The plan assumes that reducing nondefense payroll costs by $85 billion would contribute significantly to the overall savings goal. Achieving this would involve terminating approximately 535,000 positions from the current workforce of 1,343,000 nondefense employees.

Stockman points out that this reduction is plausible given what he describes as inefficiencies within the federal workforce. He compares it to Elon Musk's staff reduction at Twitter, noting that Musk achieved an 80% cut without disrupting operations.

The strategy begins with eliminating 16 federal agencies deemed unnecessary by Stockman, including the FBI, OSHA, FTC, and Department of Education. This move would cut 71,000 jobs and save $11.1 billion annually in direct compensation costs. However, Stockman notes that these savings represent only a small portion of total federal spending for FY 2029.