The Blubber

Elon Musk called it “insane” that the U.S. government has computers capable of creating money “out of thin air.” But ever since the U.S. officially left the gold standard in 1971, the foundation of international finance has relied on exactly that premise.

It’s not entirely clear what Musk meant when he referred to “magic money computers” during a podcast appearance Monday with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). His comments came amid a broader discussion about DOGE — the “Detect, Organize, Gain, Eliminate” initiative that seeks to identify waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government. According to the agency, it has found $115 billion in potential savings, though a Fortune analysis suggests that figure may be significantly inflated.

Musk and Cruz described what they saw as a total failure of government financial accountability.

“I think we found now 14 magic money computers,” Musk said. “They just send money out of nothing.”

Jay Hatfield, hedge fund manager and CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, speculated that Musk may be referring to the improper use of double-entry accounting — the standard method in which every transaction must be recorded in two accounts to ensure balance. Hatfield said the suggestion was hard to believe, but not impossible.

“If it was a public company, it would be delisted immediately,” Musk added. “It would fail its audit, and the officers of the company would be imprisoned.”

Neither Sen. Cruz’s office nor the U.S. Treasury Department responded to requests for comment.

Others have interpreted Musk’s remarks as a critique of the federal government’s ability to effectively generate money through spending — a point long raised by fiscal conservatives. Cruz and former Sen. Ron Paul (R-Ky.) have argued that issuing new currency to finance government operations amounts to taxation without representation, especially if it drives inflation.

“Any computer which can just make money out of thin air,” Musk said, “that’s magic money.”

David Andolfatto, former senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, pushed back on that framing. He noted that banks do something similar when issuing loans, and corporations — like Musk’s own Tesla — also create value out of thin air when they issue new shares, diluting existing stockholders.