A NEW GENERATION TAKES CONTROL OF WASHINGTON DC?

River Man

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John Fraim

If one follows Musk, like me and millions of others, you got the above message on X at 4:00 pm on December 19, 2024. Such a simply photo he probably snapped by himself. The quality of the photo does not matter. What matters is that the focus is on exactly the symbolism (and technology) of reduction that he brings to DC.

I wonder how taking down the monster to the left would have been done. Musk would have had probably a sophisticated AI program to read the 1,500 page document and take it down to 110 pages in a short amount of time. (If it was the most sophisticated program, could probably take it down to about 10 pages?)

I notice that Amazon is using AI to read the reviews and offer summaries on certain products. Many are starting to use it to summarize. To read the spending budget and take the bill down to 1/15 its size in paper presents a visually stunning example of Musk’s work in DC. A month even before Trump takes office.

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Washington DC has certainly gotten onto the idea of having AI programs read (and write) the massive volume of content it puts out each year: the laws, regulations, bills, reports and studies and … on and on. But of all these documents, is a large document called the spending bill. This is one document that rises above all the others in importance to the national economy. This is the yearly spending bill that Musk evidently played a big part in it.

The photo is nothing special. Just something that Musk himself might have snapped on the spur of the moment. But in its simplicity it brilliantly expresses symbolism of Musk to the populace. To the 67.8 million views the image by December 19th. As with all great symbols, it shows rather than speaks. Here, we are shown two stacks of paper. One the left, is the budget bill that was handed over to vote (spend by government) upon. On the right, the size of this bill once Elon has got hold of it.

He doesn’t outright say he did all of this yet is certainly implied in the X post. The spending bill – perhaps the most important use of paper in DC – has physically had a reduction in its pages from 1,500 to 110 in the photo). 

The success of this whittling down by Musk will be certainly challenged over the next few days. And most won’t know more about the bill unless they follow it online. Which is 99.9% unlikely for most of the nation. As of now, 12/20/24, who knows the behind the scenes story of the work in the whittling down of this huge bill? Probably the most important, with the budget deadline approaching and everyone taking off for Christmas vacation. But it doesn’t matter all that much for it is the symbol that will be remembered.

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Musk becomes a strong symbol for both sides of the political spectrum. For the government bureaucracy, he presents a dark symbol. Perhaps the darkest symbol they have faced. To the government, Musk represents the face of state-of-the-art technology. In fact, invading government. The public sector. This is scarier to government than any political adversary in the form of a mere ideology. This is the tip of modern technology. Musk is political (to a certain extent) yet he is difficult to figure out. He has done many liberal things in his past. But he has lived in Florida with Trump for the past month and become a type of second uncle to the kids down there.

For those challenging the bureaucracy’s size, like Trump, Musk has become the symbol of how technology can take over the functions of the government. What can possibly be worse for government employees? In all honesty, for employees in the private sector also. Yet it just so happens that Musk is focusing his genius on reduction of the public work force.

It is fair to say that he represents a hope for many Americans (a hope uniting many across party lines) that the debt of the nation can be reduced so that it doesn’t eat into the lives of all of us and our children. Musk represents someone who might be able to move towards this direction of reduction in wasteful government spending in a time when everyone is watching their budget. Wasteful spending will provide the opportunities for great photo images/symbols.

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More than anything, Musk represents the idea of applying leading AI technology to the public employment industry – the government – on a national scale. I’m retired now but I would have hate to seen this applied during my career in the private industry. Some in the mainstream media are claiming that Musk is really the President Elect and Trump is his puppet or doll. As the below AI photo suggests.

The “Musk Controls Trump” Narrative

Expect a lot of various narratives from mainstream media. Like the one above suggesting Musk controls Trump. Part of a particular narrative stream. The image above created by AI (not a bad job) is a satire and could easily be a cartoon by some political cartoonist. It is an ad more likely to be run by the liberal media to fit their narrative that Trump is really subservient to Musk. It is a narrative stream that is growing as the apparent power in the Trump administration (pre-inauguration day). 

Musk is a difficult person to read. Perhaps, like many, I don’t know whether all of our technology – our rush forward into it – will bring a boon or downfall. But now, the tip of modern technology has been brought into the inner circle of an incoming administration. In so many ways, he is scarier to DC than Trump who has brought him there. Trump has been the great magnet, drawing people to him. 

With Musk, Trump has drawn an unusual person to him but the relationship has seemed natural and has grown. The above X post by Musk, a show of reduction power by Musk in two piles of paper. The fact that they might not mean as much in dollars saved as the piles (symbolic graphs) of the spending bill in the photo in Musk’s post.

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Looking at the image, one associates the left pile as representing an actual amount of money in perhaps bills and the right also representing this pile in bills. This is a subtextual association of the piles in the photo by Musk of the height of the pile looking at government expenditures. This has something to do with the reduction yet most likely far from the “graph” represented by the piles of paper.

Notice the interesting reverse symbolism of the two bars above. Normally, in business, you would want to see the bar go from short on the left side to tall on the right side. Here it is reversed. Not that it expresses in any way the huge growth of Musk that has made him the wealthiest person in the world. If one expressed this, there would be a sheet of paper on the left and a tall sack on the right. 

Yet here, there is the collective psychology of the world as a re-version of the old “Small is Beautiful” philosophy back in the 60s. The promise from Elon to the nation – today – is reduction not growth. Yes, a somewhat unusual promise from the person who has created the greatest growth of wealth in the world. His current “gig” through his incredible life, lands him heading a new department in DC.

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Based on reductionism not growth. Another word for this? Efficiency. So the name of the new department: The Department of Government Efficiency or D.O.G.E. For the word “efficient” has an association with reduction in the mind. Or at least, clearing out things that are inefficient. It establishes a duality symbols. Everyone wants to be efficient in their own way. Rather than inefficient. There’s not much politics to the word.

One imagines Musk to use AI in his work with the spending bill. It was the first challenge to the Musk that visually showed his way of doing things. The photo and few words say much. It could have been an ad created by David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising.

Now, there are a few test balloons floating out there regarding Musk for … yes, Speaker of the House. Evidently, he is qualified and could do this. But then jeopardizing his work with Vivek Ramaswamy in D.O.G.E.

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But then who knows what’s happening tomorrow? During our Twilight Zone period between the election and the inauguration, between November 5th and January 20th. Two and a half months. Ten weeks. All types of things have happened and are happening. When Musk can post a photo like the one above to his 68 million X followers.

Perhaps one of the most interesting associations between Trump and Musk is one of generations. Trump, at the front end of the Baby Boom generation. And Musk, born in 1971, somewhat in the middle of Generation X. A very important generation for getting Trump elected. Gen X is the demographic cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the late 1970s as its ending birth years, with the generation generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980.

There is not only Musk the genius of our times. But also Musk a member right in the middle of Generation X. Having the same general life experiences as this generation. With Musk the GenXers, their ideas and concerns take control of what makes DC work. Isn’t it time that running the government might be taken over by a generation squeezed between others?

Born in 1971. Elon Musk. In the middle of GenX. An understated generation. Who quietly make great noise. Like the simple photo with a few words he posts on X. An understated post that says so much. It would be interesting to see the PDF of his shortened version. It might appear online in the next few days. I’ve already downloaded the full 1,500 page original bill.

Anyone who finds the short version related to Elon, let me know. It’s more than worth taking the time to read and compare them. I’ve got the first version, the 1,500 page bill. I would like to compare it with the shorter 110 page bill created by Musk. For transparency purposes, the shorter version should be shared.