\n<\/p>\n
When Donald Trump<\/strong> announced<\/a> that he was putting Elon Musk<\/strong> and Vivek Ramaswamy<\/strong> in charge of his administration\u2019s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>, he boldly claimed the initiative, under the duo\u2019s tutelage, would become \u201cThe Manhattan Project of our time.\u201d And a week and a half later, it\u2019s become abundantly clear that the analogy is less about the smartest people in the world coming together to build something that will fundamentally alter life as we know it than it is about two guys indiscriminately dropping a bomb on America without actually thinking through the consequences.<\/p>\n The first clue came on Wednesday, when in an op-ed<\/a> for The<\/em> Wall Street Journal<\/em>, Musk and Ramaswamy revealed that their big idea to cut government waste and shrink the federal budget was to make everyone come into the office and fire those who refuse. \u201cRequiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome,\u201d the two wrote. \u201cIf federal employees don\u2019t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn\u2019t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home.\u201d Should federal employees be required to come into the office a few days a week? Maybe! Is having a blanket rule that says if they don\u2019t come in every day they\u2019ll be fired a smart idea? Probably not, at least when it comes to retaining people who actually know what they\u2019re doing, and could easily find work elsewhere should the terms of their employment with the federal government become pointlessly draconian.<\/p>\n As NBC News notes<\/a>, \u201cThe Biden administration ordered federal agencies in 2023 to \u2018substantially increase meaningful in-person work,\u2019 but it also left some flexibility in place, citing operational costs like office space, the need to recruit \u2018top talent\u2019 and other factors.\u201d\u00a0An August report<\/a> from the Office of Management and Budget showed approximately 1.1 million federal (civilian) employees, or nearly half the workforce, are eligible for working from home at least part of the week, with an additional 280,000 in fully remote positions. Meaning, under Musk and Ramaswamy\u2019s proposal, more than one million people, should they choose to say no to working in the office five days a week, could be canned.<\/p>\n If you’re wondering if the RTO edict floated by Team Trump is anything new for Musk, it\u2019s not. In 2022, he ordered Tesla and SpaceX employees to report to the office for a minimum of 40 hours a week, though, according to CNBC<\/a>, three months after the fact Tesla did not \u201chave the room or resources to bring all its employees back to the office.\u201d<\/p>\n In other DOGE news, last week the group called<\/a> on \u201chigh-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week\u201d to do so for free.<\/p>\n A simple no<\/em> would be a lot more reassuring here<\/strong><\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nX content<\/h4>\n