New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has launched what is being dubbed a ‘woke DOGE’ as he looks to slash wasteful government spending.
Last year, Elon Musk made headlines as he headed up a Department of Government Efficiency as part of Donald Trump’s administration.
The billionaire pledged to find billions in wasteful government spending, but it seemed to consist almost entirely of shuttering aid departments and mass layoffs.
In the end, the programme was an unmitigated disaster. US government spending actually went up by almost 6% and was shuttered with eight months left on its mandate.
But if you thought this was proof cutting wasteful government spending was a fool’s errand, you’d be mistaken.
Left-wing New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has shown Musk exactly how its done with his own DOGE-style scheme.
In a video announcement on Wednesday, Mamdani explained how two months ago he “asked agencies across city government to find $1.7 billion in savings without compromising essential services.”
Mamdani said this was so that every dollar of spending was “put to the best possible use” so that government “delivers for working class people.”
And it seems it’s been far more successful than any of the right’s attempts.
Mamdani went on to highlight some of the things his government had already found.
“Even just by capping how much money we spend on paper, pens, and office supplies, we’re going to save $27 million,” he said.
He explained that city agencies would be cutting down on the use of outside contractors and bringing things like IT services and software in-house instead.
Mamdani also said some contracts would be renegotiated and unnecessary office space would be cut, all saving millions of dollars.
He finished by saying that, along with policies such as taxing the rich, it is also essential to “take a close look at our own spending and cut waste wherever we can.”
“If we’re going to put our city back on firm financial footing, no saving is too small,” he added.
Some online have dubbed the cost-cutting drive a ‘woke DOGE’, and contrasted it with the disaster that was Musk’s attempt at finding wasteful spending.
Fantastic stuff.