Summary

Elon Musk falsely claimed an $8 billion saving on a canceled contract that was actually worth only $8 million, significantly inflating its reported $55 billion in total savings.

The error, first identified by The New York Times, was based on an incorrect figure in federal procurement records.

Additionally, DOGE’s accounting has been questioned due to inconsistencies in its reported savings, including counting already-paid portions of contracts and taking credit for office closures when Joe Biden was still president.

DOGE has not publicly addressed the mistake.

  • IHeartBadCode
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    1121 month ago

    I saw him claim a $8.2M contract savings. Looked it up, was only a $1.6M. They are routinely inflating numbers because they have no idea how to read the data that’s in front of them.

    Contract was 12FPC222F0160. They just took the full awarded amount and ran with that, not seeing or not caring that it was opened in 2022 and had paid out 80% it’s outlay already.

    These people have no idea what they’re doing and they routinely display that lack of knowledge. There is no value of what Musk is posting that can possibly be treated as credible. This is likely why they keep not posting the full contract listing they cancel everyday. They have no idea how to read these things. They’re just picking the largest number on the screen.

    • @baru@lemmy.world
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      321 month ago

      To add: If you cancel a contract that was 80% finished then that is not a saving. It means you likely wasted 80%.

      It really feels like penny wise, pound foolish. Only focusing on what’s paid out and thought about the benefit.

      Though the simplistic approach is likely intentional.

      • @Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        91 month ago

        Also doesn’t the Government have to pay a settlement if they terminate a contract for convenience?

        We are just going to end up paying out a lot of money for nothing.

  • Riskable
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    341 month ago

    DOGE’s shocking totally expected $8 billion mistake

    FTFY

  • @ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
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    291 month ago

    Don’t be so harsh. When I was 19, I struggled with powers of 10 in maths class too. I was too busy chasing girls. And those DOGE youngsters are even busier posting white supremacist stuff on X too!

    • @thesohoriots@lemmy.world
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      221 month ago

      It’s funny, because if you mention Holocaust numbers they’re suddenly drawing equations across multiple chalkboards

      • @OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world
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        41 month ago

        Yeah, but it’s the equivalent of the Pepe Silvia meme. The equations don’t mean anything. Only in this instance, when you look again, you see that it’s not an equation at all, but actually just a bunch of swastikas, 88s, 311s, and a 100%

  • @gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    211 month ago

    It’s not shocking. None of this is shocking. They have a playbook. They published it YEARS before the election. They said they would use the playbook. They are using the playbook. It’s not a surprise. You’re not allowed to be surprised by this. Fucking stop it. Holy fucking christ.

    • @P1nkman@lemmy.world
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      31 month ago

      But, but… Trump said he had nothing to do with it? He’s hurting the wrong people!

      I sincerely hope both of them dies from a natural deaths, but it should happen within the next few hours.

  • @ryper@lemmy.ca
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    181 month ago

    This administration is more likely to punish the NYT for finding the “mistake” than it is to punish anyone in DOGE for being involved in it.

    • @KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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      11 month ago

      Yeah did you guys not get the memo that they are dismantling “objectives” to install a fascist dictator, openly? You don’t need to try to find flaws, they are the flaw

  • @CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    91 month ago

    “Mistake”

    These dogebag fElonYouth don’t give a fuck about accuracy or anything like that. It’s all about moving fast and breaking things, even if that’s a stupid slogan for stupid companies that don’t really have critical infrastructure when it comes to humanity, and government is not a business and should never, ever be run like a business.

  • @Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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    81 month ago

    So I don’t understand how they can even know what the “savings” would be? Wouldn’t all of these contract terminations be “for convenience” meaning the government will have to pay a settlement to the contractor for cancelling?

    Let’s say it’s 50% completed, so we know we have 50% funds unpaid. You cancel the contract, but the contractor wants another X% for materials they already purchased. How do we know what the savings would be already?

    • @HasturInYellow@lemmy.world
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      191 month ago

      Because it’s all lies. They are reporting, very generously, the total amount allocated to the things cut. There has been no deep investigation as to their connections or dependencies or completion percentage. They didn’t read every contract to figure out what canceling it would mean because THEY won’t be paying for it. We will.