New Delhi: Foreign policy expert and prominent US economist Jeffrey Sachs has sharply criticised what he described as a “breakdown” of governance in the United States, following media reports that tech billionaire Elon Musk was present during a March 24 phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump.
In an interview with ANI, Sachs said that if the reports were accurate, they pointed to a serious institutional crisis in Washington. “We have almost a complete collapse of normal governance in the United States,” he said, while noting that he had not personally verified the news report. “It looks like a big, powerful federal government, but there is no structural decision-making anymore. This is somehow a small gang at the top of this apparatus.”
Calling the situation “completely bizarre,” Sachs said he had “no idea” why Musk would be part of such a high-level diplomatic conversation. He remarked that he once jokingly referred to Musk as the “prime minister of the United States” during the early days of the administration, but suggested that the current reports reflect a deeper structural problem.
Sachs alleged that the growing influence of wealthy technology leaders, particularly from Silicon Valley, has significantly reshaped US political power. “Silicon Valley paid for this government. This is another feature of the breakdown of the American political system,” he claimed, adding that the system is “completely corrupted.”
He argued that American politics is increasingly driven by massive campaign financing, allowing powerful interest groups to shape policy. “It’s corrupted by outside money because we have created a political system in which billions of dollars of campaign money determine the policies of people in power,” Sachs said. While mentioning the Israel lobby as one influence, he asserted that Silicon Valley has become the most powerful interest group in the country.
Highlighting the concentration of wealth, Sachs said that a handful of tech leaders led by Musk collectively hold trillions of dollars in net worth, giving them extraordinary leverage. He cited defence and technology contracts, including artificial intelligence and Pentagon partnerships, as examples of how private firms wield influence over national security infrastructure.
According to Sachs, the US government has grown increasingly dependent on private companies for satellites, AI systems, and military data management due to limited in-house capabilities. He warned that the convergence of financial, technological, media, and political power in a small group is unprecedented.
“The reported presence of Musk on that call is a reflection of who’s really in charge,” Sachs said, describing it as indicative of what he called a collapse of the constitutional order in the United States. (ANI)
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