The sad thing is that it does not have to be this way. We have already shown, based on some excellent analyses by credible nonpartisan sources that we could reduce government spending $9 TRILLION over the next decade with little negative impact on most American citizens. Details of how to compassionately cut spending can be found at :
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/02/united-states-of-purple-presidency-plan.html
Second, last week we did the first edition of our "The Right Hand Of The Federal Government Does Not Know What The Left Hand Is Doing." Specifically, we discussed the fact that the Federal government annually gives the tobacco industry about $190 million of taxpayer wealth every year to grow tobacco and is also about to execute a $54 million advertising campaign to encourage people not to smoke tobacco. Insanity, right hand of government doing something that is direct conflict with what the left hand is doing.
Today, let's combine both of these concepts, reducing unnecessary government spending by letting the right hand of government cooperate with the left hand. The basis of our thoughts are from a recent 400+ page detailed report from the General Accounting Office (GAO).
It appears that the GAO went through just about every Federal organization and put together an analysis which "identifies government duplication, overlap, and fragmentation as well as other cost savings and revenue enhancement opportunities. Its findings involve a wide range of government missions and touch virtually all major Federal departments and agencies." The complete report, "2012 Annual Report: "Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue" can be viewed at:
http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588818.pdf
Recommendation highlights of this year's report, as summarized by the Bankrupting America website, and a random perusing of the actual report include the following information:
- The 2012 GAO report details 51 different areas where the government can reduce waste and increase efficiency.
- Specifically, let a tax credit for ethanol expire because it duplicates other identical tax credits in place which would save of $5.7 billion annually.
- Reduce top-heavy management and overlapping positions in the State Department.
- Consolidate some of the 209 different science, technology, engineering and math(STEM) education programs,173 of which overlap.
- Eliminate or consolidate some of the 15 major financial literacy programs, including 3 new programs created by the Dodd-Frank Reform legislation.
- There are at least ten different Federal entities that have some roles and responsibilities for food and agricultural defense.
- There are 29 different military programs underway relative to unmanned military drones across all branches of our military (Army, Navy, Air Force).
- Regarding government support of entrepreneurs, there are 36 programs distributed across four government agencies provide technical assistance, including business training and counseling and research and development support, there are 33 programs distributed across four government agencies which support entrepreneurs through financial assistance in the form of grants and loans, and there are 7 programs that support entrepreneurs by helping them qualify for Federal procurement opportunities.
- Only four of the 81 agencies identified for expense and cost savings in the GAO's 2011 report have fully addressed the GAO's waste reduction recommendations.
- A new, separate, but related GAO report showed that in 2010 there were 45 Federal government programs across 9 different agencies that supported employment for Americans with disabilities, with the most programs run by the Department of Labor (14), the Department of Defense (10), and the Department of Education (9).
- These support programs for Americans with disabilities reported expenditures of approximately $4.1 billion for providing employment services and support to 1.5 million individuals with very few measurement programs in effect to track the effectiveness of these scattered programs.
But these results should not surprise us. The Federal government has gotten so big and unwieldy that duplicate efforts and spending is to be expected. The GAO report cited instances where they found Federal employees did not know that others elsewhere in the Federal bureaucracy were doing very similar work to themselves. Taxpayer wealth that is wasted in this maze of duplication has to be worth tens of billions of dollars a year.
Two steps are needed to bring the left and right hands of government together. The first step is Step 1 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" which would reduce Federal government spending by 10% a year for five years. By forcing the government bureaucracy to operate on a leaner and leaner budget, duplication should be squeezed out of the bureaucracy without sacrificing service levels.
The second step is to finally elect people who are willing to do the nitty gritty work of making government more efficient. We no longer need people in Washington who are more worried about their reelection or how many cable news appearances they can create for themselves. We need people that will actually read the GAO report and put forth some guts, courage, and leadership to compassionately reduce spending before our national debt gets beyond our ability to manage. That would be the best abra kadabra for the nation.
Please visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/
The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.
The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
No comments:
Post a Comment