Much has been written in the last two months about the new cabinet-level agency, due to self-terminate on July 4, 2026. It is headed by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, and a super articulate, successful business executive, Vivek Ramaswamy. Their demonstrated leadership, weeks ago, in helping to reject the incredibly bloated stop-gap spending bill is heartening.
These two individuals have boldly claimed that DOGE can cut $2 trillion in waste from the federal government budget. And they will succeed. Why? Because our federal government has the largest budget in the world and has been out of control. The vast array of government programs, special studies, grants, fund transfers, and other expenditures on everything under the sun boggles the mind.
When Imprudence Reigns
To put the U.S. budget, currently hovering around $6 trillion annually, in perspective consider a family which has $60,000/yr for food, shelter, clothing, education, health, and all else that is vital to them. If the head of the household has been prudent then very little could be cut from the budget, and perhaps a tiny bit saved.
If the head of the household has been imprudent with the $60,000 it might be not be enough for the family and deficit spending could become the norm. For decades, the U.S. government has operated like an imprudent head of the household. A staggering number of agencies overlap and duplicate what other agencies are doing and the whole situation has become pure economic folly.
Legions of federal government workers administer programs which add little to the health and vitality of our country. As such, thousands of grants for questionable studies could quickly be cut with no resulting detriment to the nation.
A Bloated Workforce
The federal government currently employs three million people, including all branches, making it the 15th largest workforce in America. The payroll, benefits, perks, and all else that goes along with employing such a massive force is staggering. Much of this workforce has become an entrenched, self-serving bureaucracy, impeding whoever has been elected and whatever Congress has legislated. These unelected bureaucrats can slow walk a program so that nothing will be accomplished. Conversely, they can ram through a program in record time.
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This entrenched bureaucracy, largely residing within a 35-minute drive of Washington DC, has helped make the DC suburbs among the richest in the America. Why should four of our nation’s richest 10 counties encircle Washington DC? We know why and the reason is abominable.
When DOGE is fully authorized, great things are in store for the America beyond the DC Beltway. Whether it's eliminating entire agencies, such as the Department of Education, which is among the poorest performing federal agencies that we’ve endured, or relocating agencies to mid-America, the nation will benefit -- despite protests of the bureaucrats.
Featherbedding to New Heights
When you encounter a highway work crew, you might notice that most crew members simply stand around while a few actually work. Some hold up traffic signs. Others might have a clipboard, and that's it: eight or 10 workers congregating in place when half of them or fewer could do the job.
So it is with our federal government. The layers upon layers of departments and sub-departments, with assistants and lesser assistants, are interminable. What’s more, since the Covid outbreak in 2020, untold numbers of bureaucrats come to the office once or twice a week, if that.
They certainly can be productive at home, but some tasks and assignments require face-to-face encounters and team meetings. Most types of training programs necessitate being onsite. Motivation and esprit de corps generally require on-site attendance. For our tax dollars to contribute to desirable results, most government workers need to be in the office much of the time. Musk and Ramaswamy are keenly aware of this, having run large and successful operations themselves.
Too Comfortable, Too Lethargic
Predictably those with long tenures – the lifers – will fight tooth and nail to maintain their privileged positions. Human nature, as it is, hardly ever volunteers to surrender power or privileged positions.
Nonetheless, these bureaucrats will soon realize that the halcyon days of feeding at the federal trough are over. Their reason for being hired and presumably their motivation for remaining in the federal government largely is to serve the populace; not to serve themselves. They can moan and groan, but enough has been enough.
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