Duplication of effort alone accounts for hundreds of billions in waste annually, according to the WSJ article, Billions in Bloat Uncovered in Beltway.
"The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development."OK, I can see food safety laws. I could even perhaps understand the government fostering economic development... If I saw any evidence anyone in the federal government understood basic economics! Given the current state of things, I’d say letting the federal government do “economic development” is kinda like allowing Freddie Kruger to perform heart surgery. The Homeless? The federal government has no mandate whatsoever to address that. It’s not in the constitution. Defund it.
The report says there are 18 federal programs that spent a combined $62.5 billion in 2008 on food and nutrition assistance, but little is known about the effectiveness of 11 of these programs because they haven't been well studied.There is also nothing in the US Constitution that authorizes the federal government to take money from taxpayers and use it to hand out food to people. This is a function more rightly done at the local level, and better and more efficiently done by private charities. What does a DC apparatchik know about poverty in Denver or Detroit? Do they even care about the people they hand this stuff out to? Do they care if bums and welfare cheats are receiving benefits?
This is why faceless, mechanistic charity does not work, and in fact is not charity. There is no connection and no feedback loop. The givers become callous cogs in a self-serving machine, turning the the entitled recipients into faceless, thankless wards of the state.
Here's More Wasteful Duplication...
"The agency found 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality…"
That clearly has failed—End it!
"80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation…"
Could you imagine President Washington and Congressman Adams handing out horses to those who have none?
"47 for job training and employment…"
That’s what schools and community colleges are for
"… and 56 to help people understand finances"
Government obviously does not understand finances. How in the hell does it expect others to do so? This is madness!
Many of my blogger buddies are probably tired of my Air Force budget cut stories from the Clinton 90’s, but they are apropos. He slashed the DoD budget, and to be fair to him, Bush the Elder started it. DoD ended up being the only department that took real, no kidding cuts, as opposed to others who just had their rate of increase slashed. Bottom line: It forced us to get rid of the dead wood and drop inefficient practices. We came out a leaner, meaner fighting force in the end.
Every corner of federal, state and municipal budgets should be slashed so they can experience the same beneficial process.
