Why DOGE Will FAIL... Unless

​​The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a promising idea, but it’s just the beginning. Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk’s current plan has two critical flaws: it is neither efficient nor sustainable.

In a free market, people use their dollars to signal which products or services they value most. This is called a price signal. It’s a common misconception that prices are only set by producers—they are also

determined by consumers. Market prices reflect what individuals are willing to pay, signaling demand.

If a coffee shop offers both a $7 specialty latte and a $2 drip coffee, but customers overwhelmingly buy the drip coffee, it sends a clear signal: people value the drip coffee more. The higher price of the latte factors in the additional resources required to make it, such as milk and specialized machinery. By choosing the drip coffee, customers indicate that these extra resources aren’t worth the higher cost and aren’t needed. This tells the coffee shop to focus its beans, labor, and time on producing more drip coffee and fewer expensive lattes. Price signals like this ensure that resources are allocated to meet actual demand instead of being wasted on products customers don’t want.

Unfortunately, the government cannot access the vital information prices provide. Taxpayers have no choice in how much money they wish to give to specific government agencies. Without pricing and choice, the government might be serving us expensive lattes when all we really want is a simple cup of coffee.

DOGE’s inefficiency lies in its attempt to centrally plan efficiency. Yes, the agency might cut thousands of jobs, slash billions in spending, and streamline government operations. But how can we know these actions truly benefit the public? How can we ensure the changes meet the demands of citizens? Under DOGE’s current plan, we can’t—there would still be no prices or choice available to citizens.

DOGE also fails in sustainability. The bureaucracy can easily reinstate or rebuild the very systems DOGE seeks to cut. Politics is a zero-sum game: one party implements a program, the other repeals it. DOGE, as it stands, operates within the same bureaucratic rules that sustains this inefficiency. Any progress DOGE achieves will likely be undone by future administrations.

The answer isn’t more government planning; it’s applying the same rules 313 million Americans live by every day: competition in the free market. The Department of Government Efficiency should instead focus on facilitating the transition of most government agencies into privately run companies operating within the free market. Free markets possess price signals, allowing citizens to indicate which services or products they value most. Free markets also create competition. Choice gives consumers the power to demand better, forcing companies to constantly innovate, improve quality, and lower costs to win their business—because if they don’t, customers will take their dollars to a competitor.

In contrast, government agencies operate as monopolies, funded through mandatory taxation rather than consumer choice. This results in high costs, poor quality, and zero accountability. Government agencies hold power over citizens without any real incentive to improve, as they continue to collect funding regardless of public satisfaction. In a competitive market, power shifts back to the people. Citizens gain the freedom to choose providers that best meet their needs, forcing agencies and companies to stay accountable and efficient. Above all, privatization ensures sustainability: Once people experience a capitalist grocery store, they’ll never return to the bread lines.

I cannot spell out exactly how each newly privatized agency will function, because I am not a central planner—but here are some preliminary ideas.  Again, the consumer will decide the best way to allocate resources and how a company will ultimately function.

1. Cut funding and privatize the United States Postal Service (USPS):
   Competition among private delivery services (e.g., FedEx, UPS, Amazon
   Logistics, DHL) and newly formed startups for mail and package
   delivery could arise, filling the demand, if any, for parcel delivery.

2.  Cut funding and privatize the United States Department Of Agriculture
   (USDA): Food safety can be performed by private certification boards
   that specialize in food safety. Just as Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
   certifies electrical equipment, so can another company certify food.

3. Cut funding and privatize the Food and Drug Administration (FDA):
   Private certification bodies like Underwriters Laboratories (UL), or
   newly formed companies performing the same duties, could handle drug
   and food safety approval. 

4. Cut funding and privatize the Transportation
   Security Administration (TSA): Airport security could be run by
   private security agencies, with airlines and airports choosing
   providers.
   
   

Privatization does not mean dismantling these agencies. They still may operate with the assets they currently own, just the government will no longer fund any further operations. The USPS will still be able to use its fleet of delivery trucks, but must adjust pricing to reflect the market, and compete against other providers without dipping its hands into the pockets of taxpayers.