Bank of America Executive Director Brian Moynihan knows a thing or two about running complex, historic institutions.
But his advice on starting a new government efficiency department, DOGE, can fall on deaf ears when it comes to potential project clients: Tesla CEO Elon Musk and politician Vivek Ramaswamy.
Musk, in particular, is known to run his companies in unique ways – either firing the majority business staff or sleeping in his offices and factories.
While the approach of the richest man on the planet has clearly paid off in some areas, it has hurt others. Xfor example, suffered interruptions because they are employees who could fix the platform when it breaks is gone.
Moynihan suggests a more moderate approach to cutting federal agency costs, especially if the institutions want to remain efficient.
“You have to be careful in the broadest context because the federal government is another component of the economy, so if you cut it, the issue has to be addressed by the private sector and other places,” Moynihan told PBS News in interview on Tuesday.
“The theory is that it will be invented elsewhere because at the end of the day it’s financed by debt, which crowds out other forms of financing,” he added.
The 65-year-old CEO seemed confident that Musk and Ramaswamy could streamline government agencies; after all, “you can make any place more efficient.”
Moynihan emphasized that BofA’s expenses in 2010 were in the range of 60 to 70 billion dollars.
Despite inflationary pressures and the better part of two decades since then, the bank will have expenses of around mid-$60 billion this year.
“It was for efficient and functional digitization, automation, everything,” Moynihan explained. “So I’m confident I can get there, but you have to do it in a rational way that makes sure it sticks to the ribs. Otherwise, if you cut it, it will come right back.”
The rational can turn out to be a kind of judgment. Musk has clearly shown his position, and that is was already making federal workers nervous.
The SpaceX founder posted on his social media platform last month that he has a “mandate to erase the mountain of suffocating regulations that do not serve the common good”.
Likewise, man worth 349 billion dollars is already setting the tone for working conditions at DOGEsaying the team would be made up of “small government revolutionaries with super high IQs willing to work 80+ hours a week on unglamorous cost-cutting.”
As Musk hunts revolutionaries, Moynihan suggests charting a course that will stick forever: “The challenge for government is, can you get the cuts to stick to the ribs?” he said.
“Ronald Reagan was going to do it. Al Gore was going to do it. George W. Bush was going to do it. Barack Obama was going to do it. They were all about making government more efficient — and that’s hard because it’s complex.”
Customer service
Another factor that differentiates Musk’s business efforts and his tenure at DOGE is who he ultimately has to answer to.
In Tesla, it is his shareholders: a group of people who support the CEO in the amount of A $100 billion pay package.
It’s a similar story at X, although the Big Tech billionaire also has a significant role in the game thanks to the funds he invested in the $44 billion purchase.
And while Musk clearly doesn’t want the platform to fail, he retains the autonomy to do so call out publicly Fortune500 Directors by name and accuse them of boycotting advertising.
It’s a different story in the Government. You can’t just tell the House of Representatives, the Senate, or the American public to “fuck off.”
“At the end of the day, they serve the American people. So, could it be more efficient? There are no questions. You have to do it carefully so you don’t disrupt the service,” Moynihan emphasizes.
“I wouldn’t worry about the economic performance as much as we have to make sure that the core services are working, the IRS is working properly, the banking regulators are working properly, the SEC is working properly, because capital formation is happening.
“On the other hand, I guarantee you, with any company, any enterprise – this enterprise – there are always efficiencies you can achieve if you go about it the right way, eliminating work that needs to be automated. Then you can achieve efficiency that lasts.”
