I want one!

 

Ever heard of "magic money computers"?  It seems the US government has.

Sitting down with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his podcast that was recorded at the White House, Cruz said: "One of the things you told me about is what you called, 'Magic Money Computers.' So tell us about it, 'cause I never heard of that 'til you brought it up."

Musk: "Okay, so, you may think like the government computers all talk to each other, they synchronize, they add up what funds are going somewhere. And, that they're coherent ... And that the numbers that you're presented as a Senator are actually the real numbers."

Cruz: "One would think!"

Musk: "One would think - they're not ... I mean they're not totally wrong, but they're probably off by five percent or 10 percent in some cases. So, I call it 'Magic Money Computer': any computer that can make money out of thin air. That's magic money."

Cruz: "So how does that work?"

Musk: "It just issues payments."

Cruz: "And you said there's something like 11 of these computers at Treasury that are sending out trillions in payments?"

Musk replied that they're mostly at the Department of Treasury, and others are at the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Department of Defense.

Musk: "We've found now 14 'Magic Money Computers. They just send money out of nothing."

There's more at the link.

Apparently these computers "initiate outgoing payments that have no 'maker/checker' authentication protocols".  They don't bother to check:

• whether funds are available;
• whether the amount they're issuing is authorized, and if so by whom;
• whether the service(s) for which payment is being made has/have actually been rendered;  and
• whether they're being asked to make a duplicate payment, after the amount in question has already been paid by another department or agency.

They just print a check or transfer the funds on demand.

Can anyone tell me where I can get my hands on a computer like that?  It would make my budgeting and expenditure so much simpler - not to mention my retirement!

Despite the "magic money computers", Musk concluded:  "I'm reasonably confident that we'll be able to get a trillion dollars of waste and fraud out, meaning that it will have, we'll have a net savings of FY26 of a trillion dollars, provided we're allowed to continue and our progress is not impeded."  A consummation devoutly to be wished!

Peter