Musk said Thursday that “compensation is zero” for the “revolutionaries” who will advise on cuts to the federal budget.
Summary
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s new "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) began recruiting "high-IQ small-government revolutionaries" willing to work 80+ hours per week with no pay to help slash federal spending.
Appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, the panel is tasked with recommending spending cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and agency restructuring by July 4, 2026.
Musk and Ramaswamy advocate for drastic measures, including cutting grants to nonprofits and potential mass layoffs.
I want to believe this, too. But considering how there are smart people clubs with upwards of 50,000 members in the US that treat "passing" an IQ test as their sole entry criterion, I am sure there are some. Not all who have intelligence also have the wisdom to use it well.
That's a common tactic in scams. You want to weed out the actual intelligent people as early as possible lest they disrupt your scam. That's why scam emails tend to have misspellings and grammatical errors. Smarter people instantly ignore that. Dumb people click on through.
No they won't... but rich people who can afford to support themselves while indulging in their love of making poor people suffer will be lined up around the block.
Making a position unpaid is a classic tactic to keep out the poors.
It's the same as "unpaid internships" being advantage to rich kids who can afford to work without pay.
Like, there is an inordinate amount of rich assholes that would love to spend 80 hours a week finding way to cut taxes, regulations, and the social safety net.
If you're rich enough to begin with, this could pay a hell of a lot better than anything else you would spend your time on. Couple hundred million in the bank or stock market, and it would be more profitable than any actual job.
And let's be honest, Musk and Trump aren't judging IQ by the freaking Wechsler exam, when rich idiots talk about IQ, they mean zeros in a bank account.
This isn't aimed at the idiots who would line up around the block and work for free to be called high IQ by Musk. Doesn't really matter though, it's all performative
They already know exactly what they want to cut, and billionaires don't need a salary to realize profits from deregulation.
The job being "no salary" isn't indicative of how cost effictive a volunteer public servant could be - it is a dinner bell for the wealthy