President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday to begin shutting down the Department of Education via the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E), according to the White House. The signing will take place in the White House, with Republican governors, state education officials, and school children attending. Trump has long promised to eliminate the agency, calling it an example of federal overreach. The order will direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to dismantle the department and return education authority to the states. While Congress must approve a complete shutdown, this order will set the process in motion. The White House says this will allow parents and local communities to control education policy, but the decision is already facing legal challenges. Trump moves to eliminate federal education control Trump has repeatedly said that the Department of Education has too much power over schools. His campaign promise to shrink the federal government is now happening, and he is making sure the Education Department is first on the chopping block. “I told Linda (McMahon), ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job in putting yourself out of a job,’” Trump said in February. This follows mass layoffs at the Education Department earlier this month. The agency cut 1,300 employees, nearly 50% of its workforce, with many more taking voluntary buyouts. Unions are furious. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of 50 million students in rural, suburban, and urban communities,” National Education Association President Becky Pringle said. She warned that shutting down the department would increase class sizes, eliminate job training programs, make higher education more expensive, and take away special education services. The White House insists that federal funding for students with disabilities, Title I schools, and student loans will not change. Elon Musk questions how the government spends money At the same time, Elon Musk is making headlines for calling out government spending. On a podcast with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Musk said that 14 computers in the Department of Treasury are creating money out of thin air. “I think we found now 14 magic money computers,” Musk said. “They just send money out of nothing.” Musk said the government’s financial system is so flawed that if it were a public company, it would be delisted immediately. “If this was a corporation, its officers would be in prison,” Musk said. Hedge fund manager Jay Hatfield suggested that Musk might be accusing federal agencies of not following proper accounting standards. But he admitted it’s hard to prove. The Treasury Department and Cruz’s office have not responded to requests for comment. Printing money fuels inflation and hidden taxation Musk’s comments have reignited debate over how the U.S. government funds itself. Since the U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1971, the government has been able to print money freely. Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke once explained the process: “The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.” The Federal Reserve creates money by buying assets from banks, which then lend out that money. Critics, including Sen. Ron Paul, argue that this system is a hidden tax on Americans by devaluing the dollar. “The purchasing power of the dollar has fallen to less than $0.05 of its 1913 value,” Paul wrote in his book End the Fed . Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot
