‘I’d rather have a CFPB’: Musk’s DOGE offers Americans $2 in exchange for unlimited corporate fraud, graft
Liberals trolled Elon Musk this week after the tech mogul suggested the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—the latest target of his Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) wrath—could return its reported $711.6 million reserve fund to American taxpayers.
Some back-of-the-napkin math put that number in perspective. A little over $711 million divided by the roughly 350 million people in the U.S. would mean hefty checks of just $2 per person.
“Call me crazy but I’d rather have a CFPB than get my $2.30 back,” one commenter said on X.
“$2 a person?” another asked incredulously. “So corporations can commit fraud without oversight and banks can charge us overdraft fees? We were getting a bargain with the CFPB for $2 a person.”
Other posts pointed out that the federal watchdog returned $21 billion to consumers since its establishment in 2011 following the 2008 financial crisis that precipitated the Great Recession.
Those numbers didn’t improve Musk’s position.
“Hey so Nuking CFPB is guillotining a program that returns 66$/person in fraud reimbursements for 2$/person annually in costs,” they calculated. “It's 3003% efficient. But DOGE doesn't give a shit about efficiency. They're cutting programs that protect you. That service you.”
Even the "Menswear Guy" Derek Guy chipped in, writing, “Bet this hits so hard if you can’t do division,” in a post that racked up 6.9 million views.
Still, some conservatives saw the shiny $711 million number and either took the bait or added a few zeros to their calculations.
“That would be great,” one self-proclaimed "MAGA Supporter" claimed. “On Tax day everyone gets a huge refund on what they’re truly owed back from the Government.”
“Every American could receive $1M and there would still be money left over!” another user wrote earnestly in response to Musk.
The CFPB has come under fire this week after Russell Vought, the agency’s acting director, shuttered its Washington, D.C. office and instructed employees in an email to “stand down from performing any work task.”
Vought last weekend said the CFPB “will not be taking its next draw” of funding from the Federal Reserve.
“The Bureau's current balance of $711.6 million is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment,” he wrote on X.
The move also earned some enthusiastic cheers from the crypto community, which the CFPB repeatedly fined for failing to protect consumers.
Musk’s beef with the agency goes beyond his role as a DOGE overlord, though.
Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee released a scathing statement over the weekend, noting that the Trump administration’s efforts to limit CFPB supervision “would give Elon Musk’s X a free pass in light of plans they have to become a payment app.”
This payment app, X Money, will supposedly debut later this year, according to X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
The post ‘I’d rather have a CFPB’: Musk’s DOGE offers Americans $2 in exchange for unlimited corporate fraud, graft appeared first on The Daily Dot.