GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND WASTE

Maybe There is a Way to Drain the Swamp

Generally, when. I hear about a new government agency, I groan.   To me, it’s almost always a boondoggle, costing too much money, hiring unfireable people and becoming too large to kill.  IRS, FDA, Department of Education…the list goes on.  No one ever conceives of abolishing agencies where too many people have retired in place and aren’t even worth minimum wage.  A perfect example is the department that issues passports.  During Covid, not a single person lost their job, BUT it took at least twice as long to get a renewal.  Why?  

The Department of Government Efficiency

Donald Trump is not your typical politician. He’s a businessman who only adds staff based on need.  No fluff, no lifers, no waste.  While a normal politician might conceive of this department, it would probably cost more to run than any savings garnered.  Trump is looking for big dollar savings by looking at ALL the waste and government bloat.  If you read the Constitution, you’ll quickly discover how the little baby of government our Founders intended grew into Jaba the Hut. 

President-elect Donald Trump wisely selected two successful businessmen to run the department, knowing that they have diligently cleaned their own houses over the years: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.    Musk first pitched the idea to Trump earlier this summer.  Trump said the commission will perform “a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.”   This modern-day Manhattan Project will bypass the usual safeguards the administrative state deploys to protect itself.  Unlike the bomb, there will be a publicly accessible scoreboard of cuts made as well as a leaderboard of the dumbest spending they find.  It shouldn’t be hard.   And we, the public, will be appalled and entertained, perhaps in equal measure.

Musk spoke about the plans on X, explaining that they want input from every day Americans. Trump said, “The purpose is to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies; the goal is audacious— to cut trillions not just billions.  The taxes could be reduced substantially, giving us back control of our future.   And, get the government out of our business.   It will madden many politicians because it will reduce their power.  Woohoo!!!

Calling CAGW

A perfect place to start is Citizens Against Government Waste, a thinktank I’ve long donated money to.    Started in the Reagan years, they have long analyzed the very problems Musk and Ramaswamy now need to uncover.  Armed first with the Annual Pig Book, they can get started immediately to take an industrial vacuum the federal waste. #CAGW 

People who’ve worked for the federal government probably can share horror stories about what a bad job so many protected employees do.  Will it lead to a lot of unemployment?   I would guess it would though it would probably be staged over time with a laser focus on upper and middle management- the people with highest salaries, spending accounts and ability to hire

This is going to be great for us humble taxpayers and hard on overpaid, under-worked people. I’d love to see governors take this on.  How many “rubber room” teachers did you fire today?  The government is bigger and more intrusive than King George ever was.  Time for a financial “revolution.”