The current financial market has lost momentum from the post-election “Trump trade” as it awaits the new administration in January.
Against this backdrop, an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on November 21 has drawn significant attention.
Written by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been nominated to lead Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the piece outlines their vision.
Their opening paragraph sets a confrontational tone:
“Our nation was founded on the basic idea that the people we elect run the government.
That isn’t how America functions today.
Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but “rules and regulations” promulgated by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousands of them each year.
Most government enforcement decisions and discretionary expenditures aren’t made by the democratically elected president or even his political appointees but by millions of unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections.”
Their plan is equally bold:
