During his campaign, former President Donald Trump has proposed his share of bad policy ideas, such as a 20% tariff across the board. However, tasking Elon Musk with heading a commission to make the government more efficient is worth considering. In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Trump said this commission would conduct "a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government."

Efficiency is subjective. Some believe that empowering the IRS with more power to collect more taxes is efficient. Some believe that efficiency means ending waste, fraud, and abuse. I have a more extensive definition. Yes, an efficient federal government would be free of fraud and abuse, but it also wouldn't subsidize private-sector activities like exports, manufacturing, green energy, or any other sectors.

Nor would an efficient federal government subsidize state governments for activities that are not federal in nature. Chris Edwards at the Cato Institute reports that in 2019, $721 billion went from Washington, D.C., to the states for activities that states themselves should oversee, like transportation and education. That number exploded during the pandemic. As Edwards........

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