Musk’s Fury Over the “Big Ugly Bill”: Why America’s Spending Addiction Risks a Greek-Style Collapse

By Juan Fermin, NoSocialism.com June 7, 2025

Elon Musk is livid, and it’s not because the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit for Tesla was axed in the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” He’s calling it the “Big Ugly Bill” for a reason: while Congress pats itself on the back for “bipartisan” deal-making, the bill’s massive spending hikes—loaded with subsidies for corporate giants like Boeing and Intel—wipe out the hard-won savings Musk delivered through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Worse, this spending spree puts America on a path toward a Greek-style economic collapse, like the one I warned about over a decade ago. The media, predictably, is obsessed with the supposed Musk-Trump feud, ignoring the real crisis: runaway government spending, especially on a broken healthcare system, that threatens to bankrupt the nation. What will it take to wake America up?

The “Big Ugly Bill” and Musk’s Rage

Musk’s anger isn’t about Tesla losing a tax break—it’s about the hypocrisy of a government that cuts one subsidy while shoveling billions to other industries. The bill, passed in early 2025, extends corporate welfare to companies like Boeing ($14 billion in subsidies), Intel ($8 billion), and others Visual Capitalist, while ballooning spending on programs that perpetuate inefficiency. Musk, who spent 130 days leading DOGE—often working seven days a week and sleeping at the White House—delivered $180 billion in claimed savings by June 2025, including $244 million from axing 81 “perpetual” contracts that lingered far beyond their intended terms. Independent estimates, like Reuters’, peg verified savings at $5 billion, but even that’s a start. Yet, the “Big Ugly Bill” nullifies these gains with new spending, estimated at $200–$300 billion over 10 years, on top of existing deficits.

Musk sees the writing on the wall: this isn’t just bad policy—it’s a step toward fiscal ruin. As I wrote in 2012, Greece’s collapse was a warning for America. A decade ago, Greece faced a debt-to-GDP ratio of 177%, crippled by overspending on pensions, healthcare, and public sector bloat. Austerity measures tanked the economy, sparking riots and 27% unemployment. The U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio is now 120% and climbing, with $35 trillion in debt. The “Big Ugly Bill” adds fuel to this fire, ignoring the five reasons government shouldn’t spend recklessly: it crowds out private investment, fuels inflation, distorts markets, rewards cronyism, and burdens future generations.

Healthcare: The Spending Black Hole

The biggest driver of America’s fiscal mess is healthcare, a system so decoupled from market principles it’s been broken for decades. Federal healthcare spending (Medicare, Medicaid, subsidies) eats up $1.8 trillion annually—nearly half the budget—and grows faster than inflation. Price controls, bloated bureaucracies, and lack of competition drive costs skyward, with no improvement in outcomes. For example, U.S. per capita healthcare spending is $12,500, double that of comparable nations, yet life expectancy lags. DOGE’s cuts barely touched this beast, and the “Big Ugly Bill” adds new healthcare subsidies, further entrenching a failed system. Reforming healthcare—through market-based pricing, deregulation, and ending subsidies—could save $5 trillion over 10 years, but Congress lacks the spine.

DOGE’s Savings Wiped Out

Musk’s DOGE targeted “perpetual” contracts—defense, IT, and NGO deals that auto-renew due to lobbying or inertia. DOGE claimed $180 billion in 2025 savings, with $100 billion potentially recurring from contract terminations, workforce cuts ($40 billion), and fraud reduction ($10 billion). Dynamic scoring, like that seen with Reagan’s tax cuts, could add $71 billion in revenue from economic growth, totaling $221 billion over 10 years. But the “Big Ugly Bill” obliterates this with $200–$300 billion in new spending, plus $415 billion in costs from DOGE’s cuts (e.g., $250 billion in lost IRS revenue, $100 billion in economic losses from reduced research). Net result? A $194 billion deficit increase over 10 years, even with optimistic growth effects.

Trump may argue he got all the cuts possible given a divided Congress, but that’s cold comfort when the bill subsidizes everyone but Tesla. Is this resignation, or is the Musk-Trump “feud” just political theater to push for more cuts, as I suggested? Either way, Musk’s frustration is justified: why cut one industry’s incentives while handing billions to Boeing, Intel, and healthcare cronies?

The Greek Warning

Greece’s 2012 collapse—driven by runaway spending and debt—should haunt us. I warned then that America was on a similar path. Greece’s debt crisis led to austerity, economic contraction, and social unrest. America’s $35 trillion debt, plus $1 trillion annual deficits, risks a similar fate if spending isn’t slashed. The “Big Ugly Bill” ignores this, piling on subsidies and programs while the media fixates on Musk vs. Trump drama, not the fiscal cliff. As I wrote in 2013, we can’t keep paying for everything—especially how with Biden we had 8,000 daily illegal crossings adding $150 billion annually in costs.

Trump’s Reagan Moment

Trump wants to emulate Reagan, whose 1981 tax cuts sparked 3.5% GDP growth and doubled revenue by 1989, shrinking deficits as a share of GDP. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts boosted revenue to $3.5 trillion by 2019, despite CBO’s dire predictions. New tax cuts and tariffs could add 0.5–1% to GDP growth, generating $500 billion in revenue over 10 years. But to truly “pull a Reagan,” Trump must pair this with deep cuts:

• Eliminate Departments: The Department of Education ($800 billion over 10 years) and USAID ($500 billion) are prime targets. Education outcomes have worsened since 1979, and USAID often funds corrupt regimes.
• End Corporate Welfare: Cut $100 billion in subsidies to Boeing, Intel, and others, leveling the playing field Musk demands.
• Secure the Border: Save $1 trillion by curbing illegal immigration costs, this is maybe the ONE thing he has going right.
• Reform Healthcare: Market-based reforms could save $5 trillion, dwarfing DOGE’s efforts.

Total potential savings: $7.4 trillion over 10 years. Subtract $415 billion in costs, and net savings could hit $7 trillion, slashing the deficit-to-GDP ratio. This is the Milei-style purge America needs.

Waking Up America

The media’s obsession with Musk-Trump drama distracts from the real issue: spending addiction. While Democrats’ corruption, like Hunter Biden’s CEFC deals, gets a pass, Trump and Musk are vilified. The “Big Ugly Bill” proves Congress won’t act without pressure. As I wrote in 2011, government spending fails because it distorts markets and rewards inefficiency. Americans must demand their representatives slash departments, end subsidies, and reform healthcare before we face Greece’s fate.

Call to Action: Contact your senators and representatives. Demand they reject the “Big Ugly Bill” and support Trump’s tax cuts, DOGE’s mission, and Milei-style cuts to Education, USAID, and corporate welfare. Share this article and my 2012 warning about Greece. Wake up, America—our economy depends on it.

Trump and Musk’s Feud: Political Theater to Wake America Up to the Debt Crisis

By Juan Fermin, NoSocialism.com June 6, 2025

Is the explosive public spat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk just another act in the grand political theater? As Timothy Hopper has argued before in his article, “Trump 2 and the Dawn of the Era of Strategic Chaos” Trump thrives on disruption, using controversy to steer the narrative. Now, with Musk lobbing insults at Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and Trump threatening to gut Musk’s government contracts, the drama feels oddly familiar—like the 2015 clash between Trump and Megyn Kelly, which The Guardian covered in “Smoke and mirrors: how Trump manipulates the media and opponents” Back then, their feud dominated headlines, only for Kelly to emerge years later as a vocal Trump supporter. Could this Trump-Musk rift be a calculated ploy to shine a spotlight on America’s ballooning $36.2 trillion national debt—a crisis the media barely covers and most Americans shrug off?

The Debt: A National Emergency Ignored

Let’s cut through the noise: the U.S. national debt is a ticking time bomb. Nonpartisan estimates, like those from the Congressional Budget Office, peg Trump’s recent tax-and-spending bill as adding $2.4 trillion to $5 trillion to the debt over a decade. Yet, as I pointed out in “Why Congress Loves Spending Your Money,” lawmakers on both sides have a vested interest in kicking this can down the road. Real spending cuts—especially to sacred cows like Social Security, Medicare, or defense—require political courage Congress simply doesn’t have. The mainstream media, meanwhile, buries this crisis under clickbait headlines about celebrity feuds or the latest culture war flare-up. Most Americans, lulled by normalcy bias, don’t grasp the urgency. Enter Trump and Musk, two masters of spectacle, possibly staging a high-stakes drama to force the issue into the open.

The Trump-Musk “Feud”: Too Perfect to Be Real?

The timeline of this so-called feud raises eyebrows. Musk, fresh off his stint leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), slammed Trump’s bill as a “disgusting abomination” that “massively increases the already gigantic budget deficit.” Trump fired back, calling Musk “disloyal” and hinting at slashing his companies’ government contracts. Musk upped the ante, suggesting Trump’s impeachment and even tossing out baseless Epstein-related jabs. The X platform lit up, with some users speculating this rift is “orchestrated to build bipartisan support and frame the national debt as a critical security issue.”

Sound familiar? It’s the same playbook Trump used with Kelly in 2015. Their clash, which I analyzed in “When Trump and Kelly Clashed,” seemed personal but ultimately served to amplify Trump’s brand while letting Kelly rebrand as a conservative darling. Here, Trump and Musk—both “political pugilists with sizable egos,” as Reuters put it—might be playing parts to jolt Americans awake. Musk’s DOGE promised $1 trillion in savings, yet his actual cuts barely scratched 0.5% of federal spending. Trump’s bill, meanwhile, pushes tax cuts and defense spending while slashing programs like Medicaid, adding trillions to the debt. By publicly clashing, they’re forcing the conversation: Musk plays the fiscal hawk, Trump the dealmaker, and the debt crisis gets prime-time exposure.

Why Political Theater Makes Sense

Bill Maher’s recent take on Trump, after visiting him, nails it: Trump is “playing the role of a crazy person” to keep the spotlight on his agenda. Maher's argued Trump’s chaos is deliberate, “Trump’s Chaos Strategy.” Musk, with his 220 million X followers and $250 million spent backing Trump in 2024, is no stranger to spectacle either. Their feud, erupting just as the Senate debates Trump’s debt-heavy bill, feels timed to perfection. It’s not about personal betrayal; it’s about making the debt impossible to ignore. As one X user put it, this could be a “manufactured crisis” to push for "radical solutions."

Consider the stakes. Musk’s DOGE cuts, while disruptive, can’t touch the real drivers of the deficit—Social Security, Medicare, and defense—without congressional action. Trump’s bill, despite its “beautiful” branding, faces pushback from fiscal conservatives like Sen. Ron Johnson, who called it a “distraction” from the “forest that’s on fire.” By staging a public brawl, Trump and Musk could be pressuring Congress to confront the debt head-on, knowing full well that lawmakers prefer “wimpy and anemic” cuts to avoid voter backlash.

The Bigger Picture: Forcing America to Care

The average American doesn’t lose sleep over the national debt. Why? Because the media doesn’t cover it with the urgency it demands, and Congress keeps passing bloated budgets. As I wrote in “Why Congress Loves Spending Your Money,” politicians thrive on short-term wins, not long-term fixes. Trump and Musk, with their outsized platforms, are uniquely positioned to change that. Their feud—whether genuine or staged—puts the debt front and center, framing it as a national emergency. Musk’s X posts, like “America is in the fast lane to debt slavery,” hit hard, while Trump’s defense of his bill keeps the debate alive.

This isn’t their first rodeo. Trump’s history of turning feuds into leverage—think Kelly, Cruz, or even McCain—shows he knows how to use conflict to dominate the narrative. Musk, with his knack for viral provocations, is the perfect sparring partner. Together, they could be orchestrating a wake-up call: the debt is a crisis, Congress is failing, and Americans need to demand action now.

What’s Next?

If this is theater, the next act is crucial. Will Musk back off, as he did with his Dragon spacecraft threat? Will Trump pivot to deeper cuts to win over fiscal hawks? Or will they escalate, using their platforms to rally voters against a do-nothing Congress? One thing’s clear: the debt crisis isn’t going away, and neither is the Trump-Musk show. As I argued in “The Debt Ceiling Farce: A Political Circus That’s Bankrupting America,” we’re on a collision course with economic disaster unless leaders act. If Trump and Musk are playing roles to force that action, it’s a risky but brilliant move.

Stay vigilant, patriots. The debt clock is ticking, and this drama might just be the spark to finally make America listen.

Follow NoSocialism.com on X @NoSocialism for more no-nonsense takes on saving America from socialism and fiscal ruin.

No Deal Pending on Sequestration, Because of the Opportunity it Presents

Joe Scarborough got it got it right, when he said that America won't remember the Sequester of 2013 "as some cataclysmic fiscal event", but when he goes on to say about the Republicans that "you would think its leadership would have taken to heart Mr. Obama’s warnings and struck a deal before their abysmal approval ratings sank even lower", he fails to see the point.  Obama had absolutely no intention of striking a deal.  These cuts after all, amount to a paltry 2% of PROJECTED spending (which is always a MINIMUM of 3% higher than the previous year).  As the former White House Chief of Staff to the President, Rahm Emanuel used to always say, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste".  This issue literally presents the President with yet another opportunity to slam the Republicans and get more public support for his programs, his methods, his tax increases and so on.  So what was Obama's end game?  Blow this up to an issue, even though he knew it's a non issue, then blame the Republicans!

 

Think about it, Joe himself reported on how the Republicans wanted to give the President control over exactly what would be cut, yet he refused?  Not only did he refuse, he actually threatened to VETO any bill that gave him that kind of authority and responsibility!  Why would he do this?  Simple, the President doesn't want ANY cuts whatsoever, no matter how small and no matter how much waste is pointed out, but more importantly he wants to have another issue to beat up the Republicans over.  The plan is to hype up the damage to the economy over the next year so the Republicans lose in the Midterm elections.  Obama ends up with Nancy Pelosi in charge of Congress again and he can go back to pushing things like his Climate Change agenda and other tax increases.

Five Reasons the Government Shouldn't Spend Money

We all know it's true, government, especially the Federal Government wastes a ton of cash.  There's stories all over the media about how the government spends 3 to 5 times what the private sector spends to create equivalent Jobs, and how they overpay for... well EVERYTHING!

With all this evidence of government excess though, even the good folks at Fox News say that in a downturn, when no one else is spending, the government should step in and fill the gap, so to speak.

Here are 5 reasons why those voices are mistaken, and should not be listened to:

• Number One:  Taxation reduces available Capital.

This is probably the most obvious.  If a small business needs to pay the bare minimum 35%, not counting State taxes, it not only reduces capital available for expansion, but additionally neccesitates higher prices to the consumer, reducing available spending power of the consumer, thereby also reduces jobs in that there are less opportunities for the consumer to buy other products either from the same company, or any other company.  As an example, before elected, when Reagan was asked what he would do to reduce rampant inflation back in the late 70's, he said he believed that reducing taxation would stimulate economic development and lower prices. He believed that ordinary people, free to pursue their own goals without undue interference, would creatively shape a booming economy and he was right.

• Number Two:  Corporations Prefer Government Debt in uncertain times.

There's so much talk about corporations "sitting" on nearly 2 Trillion in cash.  They're not that dumb.  They're not going to sit on Cash, they're going to sit on tax free T-Bills.  Again, if that option wasn't available because the government wasn't spending so much and taking on so much debt, they might be more apt to move that cash back into growing their business or at least investing in something that creates jobs.

• Number Three:  Banks prefer government debt.

Why take a risk when you can go with tax free government guaranteed profit?  Again, why bother investing in the private Sector when the Government hands you all the tax free guaranteed profits you need?  There are THOUSANDS of small businesses around the country starved for credit, because the banks don't want to give them even a short term loan, required to buy some inventory.  Many of these businesses could readily increase sales and profitability with decent inventory levels, but credit is hard to come by.  Reduced government spending will have Banks actually LOOKING for business again, instead of lazily sitting back and pressing a couple of buttons to buy all the T-Bills they could possibly ever want to gobble up.

• Number Four:  Printing money depreciates savings.

The value of the Dollar, has been reduced by over 30%, just in the past 7 years.  Gasoline alone, costs over 30% more than a year ago.  The same can be said for basic food items, like Corn.  If the value of our money is devalued, then once again, it reduces what we're able to buy.  We then have less to spend at the corner store, the movies, vacations, cars and so on.  We have to keep things longer before replacing them.  This reduced spending on items causes companies like HP, to shut down whole divisions and lay off thousands.  This malaise spreads across the nation causing untold misery.  To put it bluntly, Printing money like they did in QE1 and QE2, is akin to stealing money from each and every one of us.

• Number Five:  Currency Manipulations causes Job Losses.

The President talks a lot about how China keeps manipulating their currency to keep Chinese currency on par with U.S. currency, right at their current levels.  What he never mentions is how they manage to pull this off.  Normally when a country's exports are greater than another country, the exporting country's currency rises to reflect the stronger economic position of that country.  It's what happened to the U.S. after World War One and Two.  We continued to exports massive amounts of products to the Europeans and so our currency rose dramatically.  Later, when the Japanese started their export machine, the U.S. Dollar lost ground to the Japanese, and their products became so expensive to export, that they moved many of their manufacturing plants here, thereby providing Jobs to U.S. Workers (who were the ones buying their products anyway).  The reason this hasn't worked out with the Chinese, is because as our money flowed to the Chinese State Run companies, their government ordered those companies to buy U.S. Bonds, thereby sending the cash right back to the U.S.  This allowed them to "get rid" of their U.S. reserves, which in turn kept the Chinese Dollar from rising vs the U.S. Dollar.  The Chinese Government then turned around and issued low cost loans back to these same companies, deflating the value of their money and keeping the standard of living of the average Chinese very low.  Unlike in Japan, where the average family saw real gains in their standard of living.  The average Chinese citizen barely see's their standard of living rise.  The U.S. thereby is not only subsidizing the destruction of manufacturing jobs here in the U.S.  They're also subsidizing the destruction of any sort of advancement opportunity for the standard of living of the average Chinese citizen.

If the U.S were to stop issuing new debt, it would rob the corrupt Chinese Government's ability to continue to so easily manipulate their currency as effectively as they have.  Sure they could resort to printing even more money, but not without the risk of hyper inflation  A risk the Chinese Government would not be willing to take.  Instead they would do as Japanese companies did back when their currency began to rise, they started buying U.S. companies and investing in the U.S.  The difference is that at least the latter created jobs for U.S. Workers.

So the next time you hear the politicians talk about "Investments" or any other spending, deficit or otherwise, you'll understand that by supporting any spending whatsoever, they are killing jobs one way or another.  This is the reason why the Government MUST remain small, and must only spend where it's absolutely necessary.