Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson has ambitious plans to reshape federal spending if tapped to be Trump’s Treasury secretary – and he’s vowing to collaborate with Elon Musk to make it happen.
The Trump ally shared how the ambitious spending cuts the duo have floated might look under a potential second Trump administration.
“The government is now subsidizing, to the tune of $1 trillion, the Green New [energy] Deal. That’s subsidies for electric vehicles, subsidies for solar panels, subsidies for wind,” he told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.
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“My question is, why should the average, hardworking Americans pay taxes, give it to the government and the government give it to a car buyer in California or a homeowner in California to subsidize their purchase of an electric vehicle? That’s not fair to the people that aren’t driving electric vehicles. I’m all for electric vehicles, but I don’t think the government should take your tax dollars to subsidize that, so by eliminating those subsidies, that eliminates a trillion in spending right there. It also brings down costs,” he added.
Paulson went a step further, slashing another hypothetical $150 billion in spending by cutting out money allocated for illegal immigrants.
“The federal government was estimated to have paid $150 billion for legal immigrants last year, all sorts of subsidized programs, so one way to reduce spending, and Trump has made a commitment, [is] no federal benefits for illegal immigrants. There’s another $150 [billion] that could come out of the budget, preserve the tax dollars to support Americans, but not for illegal immigrants,” he said.
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During Trump’s massive rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City last weekend, Musk predicted $2 trillion in federal government spending could be slashed from the $6.5 trillion federal budget.
Former President Trump previously pointed to Musk’s money-savvy mentality, teasing a potential role for the “great business guy” in his administration if elected next Tuesday.
“He’s a great cost-cutter,” he said during an exclusive “Sunday Morning Futures” interview with Maria Bartiromo earlier this month. “And he [Musk] said, ‘I could cut costs without affecting anybody.’”
Trump clarified that Musk does not want a cabinet position but wants to take an active role in cost-cutting initiatives.
Reports have speculated that Trump could tap Paulson for the Treasury secretary role should he assume office again in January.
When asked about his priorities if given the role, he told “Mornings with Maria” he would extend Trump-era tax cuts.
“The tax policy was very, very helpful. The economy grew. That’s the most important thing,” he said.
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“Second is to bring down public spending, to get rid of these subsidies. Third is to protect American industries through tariffs. And fourth would be to work with Elon Musk to bring down the cost of regulation and the number of regulations.”
