A new tracker hosted by Polymarket, the real-time betting market that rose to fame in 2024 due to its correct prediction of the 2024 presidential election outcome when most media pollsters were incorrect, shows the real-time savings that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has managed to effect.
As a reminder, Trump, announcing DOGE in November of 2024, said that Elon and Vivek, who has since dropped out of the project, would find ways to cut waste and redirect the federal government onto the right track. He said, “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement.” He continued, “I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans.”
Trump then, shortly after his inauguration, turned the Obama-era United States Digital Service into “the Department of Government Efficiency to implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
In any case, DOGE has set to work since then and has already found a whopping $55 billion in government waste to cut, mainly by firing surplus employees and by cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in DEI contracts. Further, it rid the government of surplus leases on which it had been spending mounts of money.
Such is what is shown by the real-time tracker on Polymarket. It provides live updates on what costs DOGE has cut across federal agencies. In fact, it shows that those savings now total an already impressive $359.48 (as of the time this article was written) per taxpayer, impressive given that it has been only a month since his inauguration.
The tracker shows not only the total value of the savings effected by DOGE and how much that totals per US taxpayer, but also the current value and ceiling value of each saving, such as the cost of subscriptions to paywalled news outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Politico, and more serious things such as DEI contracts and leases.
DOGE, asking for help identifying waste in a post on X, said, “DOGE is looking for help from the general public! Please DM insight for reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, along with any helpful insights or awesome ideas, to the relevant DOGE affiliates (found on the Affiliates tab). For example, @DOGE_USDA, @DOGE_SSA, etc. We will add more affiliates over time.”
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In a post commenting on some of the money it has saved recently via cancelling pointless, wasteful contracts, it said, in the wee hours of the morning on February 21, “Today’s contract update: 95 cancellations with savings of ~$115M (ceiling value of ~$235M), including two USDA contracts: – $265k for a ‘food and nutrition service 3 day leadership retreat in Atlanta’ – $30K for ‘Malaysia study tour facilitation services.'”
In another post it commented on the shedding of unused, expensive real estate, saying, “The @USGSA sold the old Webster School building in DC for $4,138,000. The building was acquired via condemnation in 2003, remained empty and boarded up ever since, and accrued $24M of deferred maintenance and liabilities.”
Watch Trump comment on the idea of a “DOGE Dividend” here: