--- title: "The Guy Who Predicted the 2008 Crash Issues Warning About Elon Musk Torpedoing Federal Spending" description: "Famed investor Danny Moses is issuing a warning about Elon Musk's activities cutting spending in the federal government." date: "2025-03-24" modified: "2025-03-24" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/danny-moses-warning-elon-musk" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "doge" - "donald trump" - "elon musk" --- # The Guy Who Predicted the 2008 Crash Issues Warning About Elon Musk Torpedoing Federal Spending ![Famed investor Danny Moses is issuing a warning about Elon Musk's activities cutting spending in the federal government.]() *\Image: Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty / Futurism (edited) \* Everyone's talking about recession indicators right now, which itself may be an augury of some kind. But if doom prophesying about the economy is your thing, why not hear what one of the guys who predicted the last major recession has to say? Danny Moses, who was made famous by Michael Lewis' 2010 book "The Big Short" — and its star-studded 2015 movie adaptation — for betting against mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crash, is now warning about the economic the fallout of Elon Musk torpedoing the federal government, again without the market seeing the writing on the wall. "I think we are underestimating the impact to the economy of the cuts we're making at the federal government, and what that might mean \[for\] the knock-on effects into the economy," Moses [said in an interview]() on *CNBC's* program "The Exchange." "I think we're hurting the revenue side of the equation." It's true that the market can be slow on the uptake. Stocks ironically [soared after Donald Trump's election victory](), even though on the campaign trail Trump clearly declared his intent to do everything that's sowing all this uncertainty now. To wit, look at the mass firing of government workers and the cutting of federal expenditures through the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, which [claims to have saved taxpayers]() $115 billion so far. None of this should be surprising, in other words, but maybe the finance gurus thought Trump was just talking a big game. In any case, the thing about federal spending is that when it's not being used to maintain critical infrastructure, [prop up the revenues of entire states](), or grease the wheels of finance, it's also being put straight back into the economy. You'd think Musk would understand that better than anyone, as his companies like SpaceX have received over [$38 billion in government contracts](), loans, subsidies, and tax credits. "It's not as simple as just, 'We think there's fraud, let's cut waste, let's cut expenses,'" Moses [told ]()[*Fortune*](). "And it's not just about the federal workers, and it's not just about the expenses out of those programs. It's about the contracts with the private sector." Given that Musk oversees DOGE, SpaceX isn't in much danger of losing that federal dough. The reality may be different, however, for enterprises not led by Trump's confidantes. Moses suggested that we'll see signs of a faltering economy in small businesses and "private contractors that are doing legitimate work services that are now being forced to make decisions on their business," he told *Fortune*. Moreover, Trump's back and forth on imposing costly tariffs on the US's key trading partners has only injected more uncertainty into an already anxious economic climate. "I think we are being overly optimistic \[as to\] how this is going to play out," Moses told *CNBC*. "We're going to start to hear, when first quarter earnings are reported, that there is a market slowdown potentially, and a hit to consumer confidence." **More on DOGE:** *[Mothers and Children Are Already Dying Because of Elon Musk's Cuts]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()