Letters

In his latest letter to The Press, reader Ed Surgan praises the work of Elon Musk in his efforts to root out government inefficiency [“It Stinks,” Letters, February 27]. First, I would like to say that believing that billionaire Musk is working to help working-class Americans exhibits an astounding level of gullibility.

Here are some observations on Musk’s work.

Many of his proposed cuts are meant to benefit him and his companies. Many of the agencies that he has attacked were actively investigating his companies for fraud and unsafe practices. A contract with Verizon that he canceled was replaced by another with one of his companies. No conflict of interest there.

No one even remotely aware of current events would deny that there is waste and fraud in our federal system. But to think that a group of untrained kids with laptops could root out all the fraud in an agency in a matter of hours, if not days, strains credulity.

If you are serious about government efficiency you hire forensic accountants, not a bunch of tech bros. By doing so you might avoid firing the folks in charge of our nuclear stockpile and others involved in combating bird flu. (What could possibly go wrong there?) Or you might not offer retirement incentives to air traffic controllers while there is a shortage of them.

Even if you are foolish enough to think that Musk is working tirelessly to help working-class Americans, two things should give you pause. First, his efforts to dismantle legislatively created agencies is blatantly unconstitutional. The executive branch simply cannot pick and choose which laws it wishes to obey.

Second, some of the decisions made by Musk are harmful to Americans and our standing in the world. His decision to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development literally takes food from the mouths of starving children. On a selfish note, it makes us look like bad guys in countries where Russia and China are more than happy to assume our role.

Here are some other Musk moves that are unlikely to make America great: funding for cancer research has been drastically reduced; thousands of national park workers have been fired, even though the parks generate huge amounts of money for our economy; NOAA employees who track hurricanes have been terminated without cause; IRS employees have been fired for no reason — this will make it more difficult for taxpayers to get assistance with their returns and will make it more difficult to catch millionaire tax cheats.

As for Mr. Surgan’s concerns about the national debt, giving billionaires tax breaks is not going to help.

Finally, readers, Google Musk’s remarks on Social Security. Then pray.

John Neely

Westhampton Beach