Trump and Musk target agency created to avoid another Depression

Elon Musk and Donald Trump

The Wall Street Journal reports that officials from the organization created by Donald Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency, are asking potential bank regulators if they would be open to abolishing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

FDIC insures bank deposits in the case of a bank closure, protecting consumers’ funds that would otherwise disappear. The agency was created during the Great Depression via legislation signed by President Franklin Roosevelt after a series of devastating bank collapses led to the loss of millions of dollars for thousands of Americans. FDIC was created to protect consumers and to secure the foundations of the domestic and global economy.

Trump created DOGE, which has no official power over policy (a real government department has to be created by an act of Congress), at the behest of multibillionaire Elon Musk. Musk heads DOGE along with failed presidential candidate and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

According to the WSJ, representatives from DOGE have been asking interviewees for positions to lead bank regulatory agencies if they believe Trump could abolish FDIC and absorb deposit insurance powers within the Treasury Department.

Musk has also expressed opposition to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In November he wrote on X, “Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies.” The bureau was created in 2011 under President Barack Obama in response to systemic abuses of the financial system by banks and other businesses that led to the Great Recession.

The agency advocates on behalf of consumers, creating and enforcing federal rules for financial institutions and providing reports on the practices of banks, credit card companies, and other related businesses. The CFPB has provided over $21 billion in consumer relief since its creation.

While pushing to abolish key agencies meant to protect millions of consumers, Musk has been violating federal rules with his own massive fortune.

The New York Times reports that the charitable foundations created by Musk have not donated the required 5% of their assets as required by federal law. The IRS requires foundations to give away a portion of their holdings in exchange for the tax deductions that individuals like Musk are able to take advantage of. The Times reports that despite hoarding $9 billion in assets in his foundation, Musk is $421 million behind in its donation obligations.

He can easily afford this (Musk is worth over $429 billion).

His close affiliation with Trump—Musk spent a reported $250 million to help Trump win the election—is likely to further increase Musk’s enormous wealth thanks to extensive conflicts of interest. His universe of companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X have government contracts and are subject to government regulation that he is now working to undermine.

Musk is just the most high profile and wealthiest of the billionaires with no qualifications to steer government policy that Trump has put into positions of influence. Despite professing to be an advocate of “blue collar” values, Trump is giving blue bloods an enormous power boost.