From meme to financial blade: How did Musk's DOGE cut a deficit of 76 billion in just one month?

Original Title: March Deficit Unexpectedly Tumbles To 5 Year Low As DOGE Cracks Down On Democrat Money-Laundering Schemes

Original author: Tyler Durden

Source:

Compiled by: Daisy, Mars Finance

In March, the deficit unexpectedly plummeted to a five-year low due to DOGE's strong crackdown on the Democratic Party's money laundering scheme.

A month ago, when we looked at the latest data from the U.S. Treasury (better known as the "deficit"), we found a shocking fact: the Biden administration's spending in the final months was unprecedented—spending in the first six months of fiscal year 2025 even exceeded the 2020 and 2021 crises when the U.S. poured trillions of dollars into the economy.

Until Elon Musk's DOGE appeared... the situation reversed rapidly.

The March revenue and expenditure report released by the Ministry of Finance this morning (the first month of full operation for DOGE) presents intriguing results. As shown in the figure below, the total revenue of the U.S. government in March was $368 billion, and the total expenditure was $528 billion.

After balancing revenues and expenditures, the budget deficit for March is $161 billion. This figure seems large (and it is), but it looks different when you realize that the deficit in February reached $307 billion (almost twice that of March). Compared to the $236 billion deficit in March 2024, the deficit for the same period in 2025 has dropped significantly by 32%.

What is the reason? First, fiscal revenue increased by 10.7% year-on-year to $367.6 billion - this is certainly encouraging. But more importantly, the traditional ailment of "expenditure" actually decreased by 7.1% to $528.2 billion.

This is precisely the credit of DOGE.

Although various mandatory expenditures continue to grow gradually (after all, these can only be revised by Congressional legislation), the "income security" item saw a staggering drop of $45 billion—from $105 billion in February to $60 billion in March, marking the largest monthly decline since June 2021. The massive fraudulent funding network established by Democrats (using "income security" as a cover for decades) has been completely dismantled by Elon—essentially a giant black money pool used for embezzlement, corruption, bribery, and buying off left-wing media narratives (see reports on "Judge Stops DOGE Audit After Musk Accuses Treasury of $50 Billion Fraud", "DOGE Discovers Millions in Tax Funds Wasted on 'Fictional Population' Unemployment Benefits", "Musk Claims DOGE Will Achieve $150 Billion in Savings by Fiscal Year 2026").

Final result: The U.S. deficit in March hit a new low since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, down $76 billion from the same period last year.

This is good news. The concern is that - despite the sharp reduction in the deficit in March, as shown in the figure below, the long-term trend line of income and expenditure remains difficult to sustain.

Another perspective: the blue line (income guarantee) has indeed declined, but the other projects continue to rise...

...especially interest expenses: By the end of Biden's term in December 2024, the rolling annual interest expenses will reach a historical high of $1.124 trillion, more than doubling compared to the first quarter of 2021 when Biden took office.

Core conclusion: Although in March we witnessed the significant effect of DOGE curbing the budget explosion for the first time, the Sisyphean challenges faced by the Department of Efficiency are just beginning. Despite the "income guarantee" item cutting $50 billion and the $76 billion reduction in the annual deficit being an impressive start, it is merely a drop in the bucket for the unsustainable fiscal trajectory of the United States. If Trump, Musk, DOGE, and most Americans genuinely hope to reshape the U.S. balance sheet, more arduous work - as recently indicated - and more severe pains will inevitably follow.