In today’s issue:

• Elon Musk’s DOGE is all over the headlines
• Here in Britain, CORGI may soon take its place
• But it might not find much support in government

Hank Williams was a US country music legend. Although he died in 1953 aged only 29, he had a profound influence not only on country but also early rock ‘n’ roll.

Some music historians argue that his song “Move It On Over” was the first true hit of the genre. It’s a story about a man locked out of his house who ends up sleeping next to his dog in the doghouse instead. It also contains the lyrics “rock it on over” and “roll it on over”, whence rock ‘n’ roll almost certainly gets its name.

By now you have almost certainly heard of Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) initiative to uncover, audit and root out waste across most US Executive Branch departments. Hardly a day goes by without another announcement of some new source of waste or even outright fraud.

A number of federal workers have already lost their jobs. Thousands took the option of voluntary redundancy offered several weeks back. No doubt many more will leave the public sector for the private over the coming months, seeking higher pay and possibly even higher job security, so long as Elon wields his chainsaw.

While cleaning up waste in government may be disruptive for many, US taxpayers seem to approve. Available polls indicate broad-based support for DOGE actions so far, with the notable and obvious exception of federal government workers, many of whom probably thought they were entitled to their jobs for life.

The inspiration for DOGE may have come from Argentina. Musk’s chainsaw was a gift from Argentine President Javier Milei, who brandished one in front of a huge crowd as he celebrated his election victory in 2023. Both Milei and Musk waved chainsaws in front of the crowd at last month’s CPAC conference in Washington, DC.

The chainsaw has thus come to symbolise contemporary efforts to reduce waste and fraud in government. And there is now a uniquely British effort underway to do just that.

So… move it on over DOGE. Here comes CORGI, the unofficial cousin of America’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The Coalition for Organised Reform and Government Improvement, or CORGI, is an initiative of BrewDog founder James Watt. BrewDog is arguably the most successful of Britain’s modern, upstart craft brewers, who have taken the country’s pubs and other social establishments by storm in recent years.

Founded in 2007, BrewDog has grown from two men in a garage to a £2 billion global business in less than 20 years. It has not done so without its share of controversy. Mr Watt is known to speak his mind.

Last year Mr Watt announced he would step down as CEO although retain a place on the board and a stake in the company.

Just recently, he announced the founding of CORGI. So, following runaway innovation and success in industry, speaking his mind and generating his share of controversy, he is now going to go after waste and fraud in government.

One might say that Mr Watt has become the Elon Musk of the brewing world. He’s certainly imitating him, right down to the CORGI logo. Check it out.

In a post on LinkedIn, Mr Watt summarised CORGI’s mission as follows:

Source: James Watt via Linkedin

The Times also featured CORGI in an article this past Tuesday which you can find here if you subscribe.

Perhaps needless to say, one wonders just how much progress Mr Watt is going to make outside of government, especially a government that seems to prefer growing the public bureaucracy to finding inefficiencies, waste, fraud or other abuse within it.

Hence, unlike Musk, who is on the inside, Mr Watt is on the outside, asking government whistleblowers to come forward to help him in his perhaps quixotic quest.

But who knows? It might take a while for CORGI to get going anyway. In a few years’ time there might be a good number of whistleblowers poised and ready to descend on the Westminster blob when the wallpaper next changes in Downing Street.

Or so one can hope. It would be wonderful to see Britain become a great place to invest again.

In the meantime, investors should take advantage of the fact that Britain is home to some of the world’s leading multinational companies, many of which source the vast bulk of their revenues abroad.

We’re currently recommending a handful of great British multinational companies to our subscribers over at Southbank Wealth Advantage. If you’d like to learn more about my strategy and how you can discover their names, you can do so here.

Until next time,

John Butler
Investment Director, Fortune & Freedom

Big Man Politics

Bill Bonner, writing from Baltimore, Maryland

‘All government spending is taxation.’

– Elon Musk

Elon is right about that. Every penny spent by the feds must come from ‘The People’ via some form of taxation. One of them is in the news today. Tariffs. Yesterday, the Trump team put in place new tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada.

And last night, Trump promised an even more aggressive barrage: reciprocal tariffs. Other nations punish their own citizens by denying them quality imports at competitive prices; now, we’ll do it too!

Warren Buffett, as interpreted by Investment Insider:

Tariffs are “an act of war, to some degree,” Warren Buffett said. The Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO told CBS, “Over time, they are a tax on goods.”

And now, the trade war has begun. Newsweek:

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Monday that he would block energy exports to the United States “with a smile” if U.S. President Donald Trump moved ahead with plans for a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods.

The U.S. imposed tariffs of 25 percent of Canadian goods—except for energy products, which face a 10 percent tariff. It also put a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and an additional 10 percent on Chinese goods.

According to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Canada is by some margin the largest source of American energy imports, with 59 percent of all crude oil imported into the U.S. in 2019 coming from the country.

Associated Press:

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that Mexico will respond to 25% tariffs imposed by the United States with its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Sheinbaum said she will announce the products Mexico will target on Sunday in a public event in Mexico City’s central plaza, perhaps indicating Mexico still hopes to de-escalate the trade war set off by U.S. President Donald Trump.

And the first casualties are limping back into camp:

On Monday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta released an estimate for GDP performance in the first quarter of 2025, which showed an economic contraction of 2.8%… the same model-based projection estimated growth of almost 3% in early February.

Whoa. A 5.8% drop in GDP growth estimates. We haven’t seen that since the Great Depression… or Donald Trump’s first term, with the Covid Panic.

If that kind of contraction happens, and continues, the feds will have to spend more money on unemployment comp, etc. And the Great Helmsman will be tempted to steer towards more stimmie measures. But where will he get the money?

The feds hold no bake sales. They sell no cookies, door to door, nor engage in charitable fundraising. They produce few goods and offer few services that people would willingly pay for. When they want money… they just take it.

So it was that last year they took $4.9 trillion in tax revenue. But they spent $6.7 trillion. Whence cometh the difference? From other forms of taxation – inflation, primarily…and tariffs.

This is why Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut… and the proposal to extend it… are such frauds. They do not actually cut taxes; they simply shift it from direct taxes on income to indirect taxes from inflation or tariffs.

Inflation has been called the ‘cruelest tax.’ It falls disproportionately on poor people. If you earn a million and only spend $100,000 per year, inflation is only taking a bite out of 1/10th of your income. If you earn $40,000… and spend all of it… it eats into the whole thing.

Charlie Bilello:

Highest earners also tend to be the biggest owners of assets such as stocks (the top 10% own 87% of stocks) and houses, which have outpaced inflation by a wide margin over the past five years…The result: the top 10% of income earners in the US (households making $250,000 or more) now account for half of all consumer spending, a record high. Three decades ago, they accounted for roughly 36% of all spending.

If you are rich, and you need money, you dig into savings. But what do you do if you’re living hand to mouth? You use a credit card. Bilello continues:

US Credit Card debt hit a record $1.2 trillion in the 4th quarter, rising 7% over the last year. The interest rate on that debt remains near record highs, at 21.5%. The combination of high debt levels and much higher interest rates is leading to an uptick in delinquencies. Over 11% of credit card balances in the US are now 90+ days delinquent, the highest since 2011.

Inflation is simply a tax on goods. As Buffett explains, so is a tariff. And like inflation, the poorest people will shoulder the heaviest portion.

But unlike inflation, tariffs are especially suited to Big Man politics. They can be used as carrots or sticks. Trump can punish opponents or reward crony friends. An industry with good lobbyists is likely to get protection from foreign competitors. One that is on the wrong side politically may not.

Tariffs make great political theater, but bad economics.

Bill Bonner
Contributing Editor, Fortune & Freedom

For more from Bill Bonner, visit www.bonnerprivateresearch.com