There were about 2.96 million civilians, including postal workers, getting full-time paychecks from the federal government at the end of 1984, before Ramaswamy was born, and there are a hair over 3 million working for the federal government today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The official tally from the Office of Personnel Management is a smidge lower, at about 2.87 million, including postal workers.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/14/politics/federal-government-workers-what-matters/index.html?
Government spending skyrocketed
The US spent around $900 billion in 1984 ($2.7 trillion in 2024 dollars), compared with more than $7 trillion in 2024. Some of that money goes via contracts to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who is working with Ramaswamy on the Department of Government Efficiency, a new nongovernmental commission.
