Bill Gates accused Elon Musk of killing the world’s poorest children by cutting USAID funding in the wrong way. He said this while announcing that he would be giving his remaining wealth, which is more than $100 billion, to the Gates Foundation.
Gates told FT that the sudden cuts had caused life-saving medicines and food to go bad in stores, which could cause diseases like measles, HIV, and polio to spread again.
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one […] I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money,” Gates said.
Bill Gates: "DOGE will cost 2M lives" pic.twitter.com/yJopmVZTIs
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 8, 2025
Musk’s DOGE has been working for hours to make sure that the USAID is fully dismantled. DOGE fired USAID workers and canceled 83% of the programs run by the agency.
DOGE comes up with software that speed up layoffs
According to reports, the federal human resources office that helps DOGE is about to release software that will speed up layoffs across the US government.
Since Republican Donald Trump took office in January, about 260,000 government workers have already been let go, accepted buyouts, or retired early. It has not been easy to go through this process. Some workers were fired by accident and had to be hired back.
Reports say that Musk’s DOGE told software developers in the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to make a web-based version easier for people to use and give targets for layoffs much more quickly than the current manual process.
The program will soon be sent to all government departments by OPM. At the same time, Musk is stepping back from DOGE, which led the downsizing effort, so he can focus more on Tesla and his other businesses.
Musk’s tech and global aid (USAID) shared goals.
Recent events show that Musk’s and USAID’s paths unexpectedly cross and influence each other. One is based on innovative ideas that make money, and the other is on diplomacy and aid that are paid for by taxpayers.
Musk’s Starlink project, which SpaceX runs, has sent thousands of satellites into space to connect distant parts of the world to a fast internet. Starlink has become an important tool in emergencies like those in Ukraine, Iran, and Gaza. It is often used with or after efforts led by USAID.
It’s hard to miss how Musk fits in with USAID’s goal of improving communication networks in troubled areas.
In addition, Starlink terminals have been set up by Musk’s companies or through foreign partnerships in a number of hotspots around the world, such as Ukraine and Sudan. According to reports, USAID helped with or delivered some of these operations.
Their goals are different—national security vs. humanitarian access. However, their work often overlaps in the same areas, showing that they both want to improve fast-response communication infrastructure.
Also, USAID has always wanted to help developing nations get more clean energy. Tesla’s solar and battery systems, especially the Powerwall and Solar Roof, can be used in disaster-stricken or remote areas to provide off-grid power.
SpaceX’s progress in making rockets that can be used more than once and high-speed systems for delivering cargo could someday change the way humanitarian aid is delivered. More and more people are interested in how rocket-based freight systems could speed up delivery times in an emergency.
As USAID tries to set up more secure lines of contact in politically touchy areas, Starlink could provide an alternative that challenges how aid organizations work with local governments
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