Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s space company was recently handed a $5.9 billion contract subsidized by taxpayers, even as his so-called Department of Government Efficiency continues to take a wrecking ball to key government agencies.
The U.S. Space Force announced on April 4 that Musk’s SpaceX was among three companies awarded government contracts for the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 2 program. Space X will receive more than $5.9 billion of the $13.7 billion in spending that was announced.
Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and owns approximately 42% of the company.
While SpaceX is newly flush with government money, Musk’s DOGE has been laying off critical federal workers at multiple agencies. Federal judges have ruled that some of those firings are illegal.
At the Social Security Administration, DOGE has cut 7,000 jobs even though millions of Americans rely on their Social Security payments for day-to-day living. The Washington Post reports that the agency’s website, which citizens use to access information on their benefits, has had repeated outages in recent weeks.
The Post noted that “many of the network outages appear to be caused by an expanded fraud check system imposed by the DOGE team,” according to current and former officials that they consulted. Those sources told the outlet that Social Security’s tech staff didn’t test new software installed by Musk’s group and the computer servers have been unable to handle the traffic.
The revelations come as DOGE has repeatedly lied to the public about how much the rogue agency’s actions have purportedly saved taxpayers. Musk, who is the richest person in the world, has benefited enormously from public spending while attacking and gutting agencies that provide vital services to middle-class families.
Despite Musk continuing to siphon money from the government while attacking it via DOGE, President Donald Trump has made it clear that his crony and biggest political benefactor will not be subject to any guardrails or oversight for corruption.
The arrangement has led to Musk and Trump becoming a major target of grassroots protests. Over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. took part in “Hands Off” demonstrations, pushing for Trump and Musk to stop their harmful actions and encouraging other lawmakers to stop them.
Musk isn’t the only high-profile billionaire in the MAGA movement making money from the Space Force announcement. Blue Origin, owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, will receive over $2.3 billion from the arrangement.
Trump recently offered praise for Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, after the paper’s pivot in recent weeks to be more MAGA-friendly.
The stock price and revenue for Musk’s other major company, Tesla, have been sinking as he marches in lockstep with Trump. The public has expressed its revulsion and anger at DOGE’s actions even as Republican leaders continue to back the effort.
But even while Trump’s closest billionaire allies are losing money due to his chaotic and catastrophic tariff policies, they are raking in billions from the government he now leads.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
