1. Command

$ npx doge-efficiency --audit-spending --verbose

2. Output

INIT: DOGE_EFFICIENCY_ENGINE v1.0.0 starting audit for fiscal year 2025...

INFO: Workforce reduction initiated. Target: ~9% of federal employees.

SUCCESS: 270,000+ positions eliminated. Workforce now 2.744 million (was 3.015 million).

WARN: Agency USAID decommissioned. Department of Education, FCC budgets significantly cut.

DEBUG: Initializing cost-saving protocols. Expecting significant positive delta in budget.

A quick comparison of fiscal year data shows:

--- budget-2024.json
+++ budget-2025.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "totalSpending": 7.135e12,
+  "totalSpending": 7.558e12,
   "workforceSize": {
-    "january": 3015000,
+    "january": 2744000,
     "november": 2744000
   },
   "departments": {
     "education": { "cuts": 40e9 },
     "usaid": { "status": "dismantled" }
   }
 }

ERROR: Federal Outlays: +5.93% (approx. $423 billion increase).

FATAL: Total spending increased from $7.135 trillion in 2024 to $7.558 trillion in 2025.

WARN: Despite historic peacetime workforce reduction, efficiency module returned unexpected positive cost trajectory.

SYSTEM ALERT: Anomalous behavior detected. Efficiency module 'slash_spending.sh' appears to be inverting its primary directive.

INFO: Mandated spending (Social Security, national debt interest) largely untouched.

DEBUG: Social Security payments and national debt interest each surged by ~$100 billion. Apparently, those lines of code were immutable.

ERROR: DOGE project lifecycle ended May 2025. Agency formally defunct.

CRITICAL: "DOGE had no noticeable effect on the trajectory of spending," confirms Cato Institute.

3. Stacktrace (If This News Were Code)

Error: UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Efficiency goal '$2 trillion/year reduction' was not met.

at GovernmentEfficiency.slashSpending (DOGE/lib/Spending_Control_Module.js:124:9)

at GovernmentEfficiency.runAudit (DOGE/index.js:45:21)

at Object.<anonymous> (npx-doge-efficiency/cli.js:7:3)

at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:999:30)

at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1037:10)

at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:863:32)

at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:708:14)

at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (internal/modules/run_main.js:60:12)

at internal/main/run_main_module.js:17:47

Panic! The core reduceSpending function encountered an unexpected positive integer. This indicates a possible recursive spending loop or undefined behavior in mandatory allocations. Segment fault? More like segmentation bloat.

It appears the algorithm failed to account for hard-coded entitlements and dynamic interest rate calculations on national debt. The trimWorkforce() function executed perfectly, but its impact was immediately negated by the autoIncrementBudget() dependency.

A classic case of a seemingly efficient local optimization being overridden by global, immutable system parameters.

4. Patch Notes

• FEATURE: Implemented workforce_reduction_protocol_v1. Successfully decreased federal headcount by 270,000+ positions, marking a historic peacetime achievement.
• BUG: The reduce_spending() function did not return the expected negative delta. Instead, a +6% increase in federal outlays (approx. $423 billion) was observed.
• REASON: Primary spending drivers, such as Social Security and national debt interest, were identified as immutable constants or operating on "policy autopilot." These bypassed DOGE's control plane entirely.
• FIXED (partial): Several redundant agencies, including USAID, were eliminated. Budgets for other departments, like Education and the FCC, also saw significant reductions.
• REGRESSION: Spending surged in the Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. This effectively nullified any achieved savings.
• DEPRECATED: The DOGE agency itself. It has been marked as defunct and will no longer receive updates or support from its primary maintainer.
• WARN: Lead developer Elon Musk, after stepping down from DOGE in May, has returned to private sector projects. He claims the department was "a little bit successful" despite the core functionality failure.

Conclusion: Local optimizations are often insufficient against global, unversioned dependencies. Expect continued high resource usage until core architectural flaws in mandatory spending are addressed.