Elon Musk say Wednesday that he wants to privatize the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak , according to reports from multiple news program outlets . And as the most brawny oligarch in the U.S.—a piece who ’s been give the chance to one-sidedly dismantle whatever he likes under the guise of a pseudo - administration agency called DOGE — the billionaire may get his wish soon .
“ I consider logically we should privatize anything that can sanely be privatized , ” Musk say , according toReuters . “ I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak , for example … We should privatize everything we possibly can . ”
Musk made the remarks Wednesday teleconferencing into the Morgan Stanley TMT league in San Francisco , which was not loose to the jam . The billionaire complained about U.S. rail service without in reality providing valuable context , like the fact that he ’s fought against high - amphetamine rails in California and , as the owner of a car companionship , has a vested interestingness in killing slew transportation system in the United States .
Elon Musk departs the U.S. Capitol Building after meeting with Republican lawmakers on 13 April 2025 in Washington, DC.© Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“ If you ’re coming from another land , please do n’t use our national rail . It can bequeath you with a very regretful opinion of America , ” Musk said , according toNBC News . “ So , I just , I think we should prioritise anything that can be privatized . ”
Musk monger an idea called the Hyperloop in 2013 with the role of jump California ’s publicly funded high - amphetamine rail project , according to Ashlee Vance’sbiographyof the billionaire . And President Trump even said last month that he ’d investigate the project for beingpoorly manage . So it wee-wee sense that Musk and Trump would be opposed to anything funded by the government unless they get a cutting off . That ’s how oligarchy crop .
Musk spent the rest of Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington , D.C. , where he was reportedly chatting with some Republicans who were afford him an earful about how he postulate to let Congress handle appropriations . Musk assure Republicans that he would seek to restitute any backing for preferred undertaking , according to theWashington Post , but that ’s not how any of this is supposed to work . Congress rather famously has the power of the purse , deciding what gets funded and what get cut , but Musk has made himself the ultimate umpire of the governance ’s funding apparatus , despite have no sanction to do so .
From the Post :
Musk tell a group of Republican senators in a closed - doorway lunch that he wanted to set up a direct rail line for them when they have questions , allowing them to get a penny-pinching - instant response to their business organisation , senator sound out . Some senators were given Musk ’s phone numeral during Wednesday ’s meeting , and the entrepreneur said he would “ create a system of rules where member of Congress can call some primal group ” to get problematic cut reversed chop-chop , Sen. Lindsey Graham ( R - South Carolina ) said .
Musk does n’t get to unilaterally cut whatever he wants and then divvy out dispensations for politically connected the great unwashed who have his number . That ’s not legal , and that ’s not ripe . But it is the state of social occasion properly now as Musk slash his way through the federal regime , destroying anything he does n’t in person turn a profit from . Musk ’s companies , like SpaceX , have lucrative contract bridge with the Department of Defense , but there ’s no reporting that suggests anything that the billionaire controls will see funding go away . malignant neoplastic disease research and hundreds of thousands of Union employee , on the other manus , are disposable in Musk ’s eyes .
The U.S. Postal Service may be on the chop pulley block , but its world is literally mandate in the U.S. Constitution . know as thePostal Clause , it give Congress the sole authority to “ establish post post and post roads . ” If Musk wants to privatise it , they can certainly try , but it would n’t be sound by any normal historic interpretation of the Constitution .
Critics of the Postal Service take the agency “ loses ” money , but that same logical system could be applied to literally any government armed service , from public school to roads . The U.S. highway system cost money , but part of subsist in a forward-looking society is having roadstead that people can drive on , which itself drives economic activeness just as having a operative postal system does .
And while plenty of internet commentator point out that companies like Amazon bank on the postal Robert William Service for their so - called last mil of deliveries , the denationalization of mail would hypothetically provide a company like Amazon to profit even further by gaining politics contract . Much like how SpaceX gets government money to perform services antecedently done by NASA , delivery society ( include Amazon ’s own , which has uprise dramatically in recent years ) would profit handsomely from privatisation .
But Amtrak and the Postal Service are just two parts of a much larger dismantle presently afoot . word broke late Wednesday that Trump was planning to sign an executive order soon that would abolish the Department of Education , accord to theWall Street Journal , yet another thing that ca n’t be legally attain without a vote in Congress . But there ’s no sign that Trump or Musk design to respect the rule of police anytime soon .
AmazonAmtrakDOGEDonald TrumpElon MuskU.S. Postal ServiceUSPS
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