Bill Gates admits many government agencies need budget slashed by 15% - but rejects Musk DOGE’s widespread cuts
Bill Gates admits many government agencies need budget slashed by 15% - but rejects Musk DOGE’s widespread cuts
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‘Early in the days of Microsoft, I didn’t believe in having an office in Washington, D.C. I later learned that was a mistake,’ Gates says. Gates was asked about the shift in Silicon Valley from the focus on tech nerds to tech bros. Industry leaders have made clear that they want to be in President Donald Trump’s good graces, with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all attending Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
![[Musk has said he can find deep cuts in govenrment, but has softened his tone on how money he thinks he can save]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/09/8325eb77c8ce4bd3ba0fe49132b5dfe8.jpg)
“Well, I think they’re still nerds. As I can tell, they don’t deserve some new term, Jesus. They’re just as nerdy as they ever were,” said Gates. “Early in the days of Microsoft, I didn’t believe in having an office in Washington, D.C. I later learned that was a mistake. I had kind of a purest view that I didn’t need to engage in talking to the government,” he added.
![[Gates spoke on numerous topics during the interview and said he probably would have been placed on the autism spectrum had he been a child today.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/25/17/SEI234347055.jpg)
Gates hasn’t spoken directly to Musk for about 18 months and said he “admires a lot of the great work he’s done.”. “I think the idea that looking at government expenditures on a sort of zero-based budgeting approach could be a valuable thing,” he added. “I’m amongst the people who think the deficit needs to be brought down because otherwise, it will create a financial problem for us.”.
