Fiscal year 2025 closed with federal outlays reaching approximately $7 trillion, yielding a deficit of around $1.8 trillion despite record tariff revenues of $195 billion and other receipts totaling $5.2 trillion. Per-person spending hovered near $20,000–$21,000, far exceeding historical norms even adjusted for inflation. This continues a century-long explosion: from $208 per person in 1916 to today's levels, a 98-fold increase. Entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid drive much of the growth, fueled by demographics, healthcare inflation, and crisis bailouts—from TARP's $700 billion to pandemic trillions.
Granular examples expose the bloat. Since FY2021, over $27 million in federal grants targeted Minnesota's Somali community of about 100,000. Funds supported arts programs for teens ($416,664), combating "anti-Muslim racism" ($467,000), autism research ($2.6+ million amid higher prevalence reports), sustainable agriculture for underserved farmers ($2.2 million), domestic violence prevention, community gardens ($339,902), and more. The University of Minnesota pocketed $14.3 million across these. Some address real needs, but others—like funding a now-defunct charter school or amid Medicaid fraud allegations—highlight questionable priorities. This is one niche; replicate across demographics, regions, and causes, and waste scales massively.
These OpenTheBooks revelations are drops in a bucket. A deeper scandal underscores systemic looting: between 1998 and 2015, the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recorded $21 trillion in "undocumentable adjustments"—accounting entries without supporting documentation, per Inspector General reports and analysis by economist Mark Skidmore and former HUD official Catherine Austin Fitts. This equates to $65,000 per American at the time. In 2015 alone, the Army reported $6.5 trillion in unsupported adjustments—54 times its congressional budget.
Critics argue these are bookkeeping plugs to balance flawed legacy systems, not literal missing cash. Yet the scale is unprecedented: typical adjustments are fractions of spending, not multiples. DOD and HUD have failed audits repeatedly, with trillions untraceable. Fitts alleges funds fueled black-budget projects, including underground bases. Forbes and others questioned if this hides unauthorized spending. No full explanation emerged; some reports were redacted or links removed. This $21 trillion predates recent records but illustrates entrenched opacity—trillions adjusted away without oversight.
Against this backdrop, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launched in 2025 under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, promised revolutionary cuts: up to $2 trillion over a decade, $500 billion from unauthorized programs. Early claims boasted billions daily.
Outcomes were underwhelming. DOGE's site touted $214 billion in savings from contracts, leases, grants, and workforce reductions. Independent analyses painted a different picture: Politico verified only $1.4 billion in real cash savings from claimed contract cuts. Lease cancellations yielded hundreds of millions, but overstated. Workforce shrank by ~100,000, yet productivity losses and rehires offset gains. Some "savings" were pre-planned or zero-impact. DOGE disbanded by November 2025, institutionalized into other agencies. Musk called it "somewhat successful"; critics noted chaos, lawsuits, and net costs potentially exceeding benefits.
Even accepting DOGE's $214 billion—generous given verifications—that's ~3% of one year's $7 trillion outlays. It touched discretionary edges: contracts, leases, some grants. But entitlements, debt interest ($1.2+ trillion in 2025), and mandatory spending grew unchecked. The $27 million Somali programs persisted untouched. Deeper issues—like $21 trillion in historical adjustments—remained unaddressed; DOGE lacked mandate for structural reform.
Why so superficial? Political realities protect entitlements. DOGE highlighted waste (like OpenTheBooks) but couldn't overhaul roots: duplicative agencies, crisis-driven bloat, accounting black holes enabling potential looting. Niche grants proliferate because oversight is weak—trillions "adjusted" historically without consequence.
If $21 trillion vanished into undocumented entries over 17 years, and annual spending hits records despite DOGE, the treasury isn't just bloated—it's been looted through opacity and unaccountability. Transparency efforts expose fragments, but systemic plunder continues. Real reform demands auditing the unaccountable, slashing mandates, and enforcing accountability—not superficial nicks. As 2025 ends with deficits near $2 trillion, the surface remains unscratched; the depths untouched.
This year Social Security were are told is on track to deplete its trust funds by 2034, one year sooner than previously forecast. At this rate it’ll be gone much sooner.
Editorial comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer.
