One of Donald Trump’s most eye-catching moves this week was appointing Elon Musk and fellow tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy as outside efficiency experts to the US federal government. Many Americans are frustrated with both the size and the cost of their government, much of it paying for regulatory over-reach that hobbles the taxpaying companies that have to fund it.

US federal agencies will spend nearly $7 trillion this year, outlays that critics say are now spiralling out of control. Musk, who has built from scratch groundbreaking industries such as commercial space flight and electric vehicles by keeping a ruthless focus on efficiencies, reckons he can strip $2 trillion from that spending.