The Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk is cutting spending (seemingly blindly). Billionaire club buddy Bill Gates has made it clear that spending cuts, especially at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), could lead to the deaths of millions of people.
– When Elon entered the government, assuring that he would improve the efficiency of the administration, also through the use of AI, we are fully entitled to say “check” – explained Bill Gates in an interview for CNN. – If it turns out that he was right, he devoted his time and commitment to an important cause. However, from what I saw, facing efficiency was de facto a fight with people and mass layoffs. That is why I believe that some decisions should be reversed – he adds.
The Microsoft founder noted that the world is in a “global health emergency” due to cuts in healthcare programs not only in the US but also in Europe.
Earlier on Thursday, Bill Gates announced that he would donate $200 billion – including virtually his entire personal fortune – through the Gates Foundation. He believes this is necessary to prevent the stagnation in humanitarian efforts to improve the global health situation. “Musk's actions in the American administration are making it even worse,” he added.
I think if you come in and say you can save $2 trillion in two months in an organization that has a budget of $7 trillion, you're not going to succeed. That's why you go for the soft stuff, organizations outside the United States, people who don't have a lot of influence over you and your companies,” Gates said in an interview with CNN.
The billionaire criticized Musk's lie that the US government spent $50 billion on condoms for Gaza. The “Tesla Richelieu” himself later admitted to it.
Gates also condemned his tech colleague's stigmatization of USAID employees, calling them “radical lunatics” and “anti-Americans.” “It's unfair to demonize them. They are heroes. They are the face of the United States in countries where we want to be perceived well. They are the ones who protect us from global pandemics,” he added.
– Musk is brilliant in some areas – emphasizes the billionaire. – But it is clear that health has never been his hobbyhorse. It would be different if he proposed adequate cuts and appealed for greater efficiency, I would have nothing against it. But those 80% cuts will mean millions of deaths and that is a mistake – he says.
– We have created a lot of uncertainty – concludes Gates, also referring to the American customs policy. – If you want to build a factory in the United States, you have to be able to predict the future for the next 20 years, not as it is now for a day or two – he adds.
This isn’t the first time Musk and Gates have clashed over philanthropy. Previously, in the Financial Times, the Microsoft founder accused the Tesla founder of “killing the poorest children in the world” by cutting government spending. In 2022, when the former came asking for more charitable spending, the latter called him an “asshole” (according to Walter Isaacson’s biography).
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