Musk targets the federal pension application process: 'They are calculated manually and written down on a piece of paper'

As part of the Trump administration's battle to reduce federal government costs, Elon Musk announced Tuesday that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which he heads, is investigating a limestone mine in Pennsylvania.

The reason? It's because all U.S. federal employee retirements are processed at that mine.

Along those lines, Musk pointed out that the processing of applications is done manually and on paper. The billionaire entrepreneur said, "It's manually calculated and written down on a piece of paper. Then it goes down to mine and like, what do you mean, a mine?" he wondered.

He continued, ""And then we're told this is actually, I think, a great anecdote, because we're told the most number of people that could retire possibly in a month is 10,000."

The DOGE's X account decried what is happening regarding the federal retirement process and said that, "an old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, is where about 700 workers operate more than 230 feet underground to process about 10,000 federal retirement applications per month."

“The applications are processed by hand using paper, and are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes,” DOGE said.

Musk further stated that the facility was started in 1955 and looks "like a time warp."

 He pointed to the slow processing, which, according to DOGE, can take several months.

He also criticized the speed of the elevator inside the mine. "And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move, determines how many people can retire from the federal government," Musk said. "And the elevator breaks down and sometimes, and then you can't, nobody can retire. Doesn't that sound crazy?"

He also said the flawed system of "carrying manila envelopes to, you know, boxes in a mine shaft" could be remedied with "practically anything else."