HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT DO WE NEED?

The Constant Growth in the Administrative State

Back in my ‘20’s, a few of my friends opted for the lower paid, but more assured government jobs at the city, state and federal level.  In some ways, they were more foresighted than I was, as they still get a pension…a rather generous one now.  While pay was lower then, it has skyrocketed now, which adds to the pension burden.  They also have a guaranteed job.  It is impossible to be laid off and nearly impossible to be fired.

In 1959, despite even FDR’s concern that this was a VERY bad idea, government employees were given the right to unionize.  The way unions typically worked is that employees would make demands directly to those who paid their salaries. Negotiations would ensure and, in most cases, no one got a complete win.  After all, if you ask for the sun and the moon and the stars, the company will go bankrupt and you will lose your job.  But government employees are not responsive to their actual employers—the taxpayers.  Instead, they are beholden to politicians who like the generous donations and the votes of union members.  As we all know, cats don’t do a great job of guarding the henhouse.

Many of my friends had one serious complaint about their jobs.  If they worked hard and got a lot done, other employees would complain.  By showing them up with a good work ethic, they feared that managers would expect more of them.  The race to the bottom was inevitable.  But for many of us, the only aspect of this we saw were the incompetent IRS people who purported to give you tax advice and the lethargy at the DMV.  We didn’t realize how widespread the problem could be.

Then Came Covid

Everything slowed down during the shutdown, but oddly, no one in government lost their jobs.  Transit workers had much less to do with so few passengers, but they kept their high income throughout.  We had to deal with the passport office; it took more than twice as long to process a standard renewal.  But they all were still “working,” weren’t they?  Why weren’t there mass layoffs like we saw in private industry?  The tyranny of the unions kept the paychecks coming while the taxpayers suffered.

K-12 schools also showed up poorly.  With no commute required, the amount of actual teaching time was a fraction of what the children needed, and, as parents discovered, much of that time was devoted to CRT, DIE and other useless teaching.  This is why so much of the country is discovering their children are functional illiterates and unable to do math without a calculator.  But teachers don’t get fired.  The worst get sent to “rubber rooms,” the designation in New York for teachers who can’t teach but can’t be fired.  We’re paying for them now.

Covid also meant that most government workers could work from home. But who was guarding the henhouse?  No one.  Many still are remote workers even as many companies insist employees come in at least a few times a week.  You can only guess how productive people can be if they’ve spent their careers in slow-down mode.  With no one watching them, what else could you expect?

The Private Sector

If you’ve had any non-government jobs, the reality is quite different.  You can be fired, though it has become more difficult now.  But layoffs are easy.  Companies staffing goes up and down based on the demand for products and services.  No one is guaranteed anything.  That’s living in the real world.

A Better Way

1.    Privatize anything you can.  This would not only break the unions stranglehold; it would also mean that all those guarantees would go away.  Costs would go down.  For those in the Bay Area, our BART trains have never needed drivers.  They operate much like the DFW trams that get you from one terminal to another.  But we pay those “drivers” a lot of money.

2.   Cut whole government departments, starting with any education department above the county or even city.  Each area needs to be able to customize education to their students.  We don’t need higher levels of management.  And then, take that strategy to every department you can find.  Massive layoffs would be a good thing.

3.   Insist that every government agency, including Congress and the White House downsize their staffs.  No one really read the Obamacare bill; what do you need these people for?  I’ve also been shocked at the large staffs given to First Ladys; why?  What is their job?  I think cutting all staffs in half would be a good start and release us from the costly tax burden.

4.   Hire a raft of forensic accountants to go over city, county, state and federal budgets looking for waste and fraud.  The fraud convictions would shrink government fast.

5.   Put every government employee on the 401-K track; eliminate pensions

6.   And finally, kill all government unions.  They should not be able to formally organize unless or until they can find a way to actually negotiate with their employers—the taxpayers.

Yes, I’m thinking of tough measures.  But I’ve been laid off, twice, and survived.  There are so many jobs going begging across the Nation.  Though some government employees may have few skills, there are low-skilled jobs too.

And yes, I know a bunch of really good employees.  Keep those.  Keep the ones with a good work ethic who wouldn’t stay in a make-work job.   Fire the rest.