In 1982 President Ronald Reagan asked the Grace Commission to identify waste in government and ways to eliminate it. The commission’s much debated report, issued in January of 1984, provided a shocking inventory of bureaucratic squandering, highlighting fiscal malfeasance of epic proportions. Hundreds of billions of dollars were being wasted, claimed the commissioners, and if massive adjustments were not adopted the federal deficit would reach $2 trillion by 2000, and the national debt ”in that year would be $13 trillion.” Thankfully, the Grace Commission under-estimated the American economy’s ability to expand and thereby generate unexpectedly high tax revenues. As President Clinton’s second term was winding down, deficits shrank to comparatively miniscule amounts and the national debt stood at about $5 trillion. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the Grace Commission’s gloomy predictions were only about a decade off. Between this year’s projected deficit of some $1.2 trillion and the off-budget expenditures of war and bailout packages (probably another $1 trillion), by the end of 2009 the national debt will exceed $12 trillion and could conceivably surpass the Commission’s funereal $13 trillion forecast by Christmas 2010. Obama’s anticipation of trillion dollar deficits stretching into the foreseeable future should make all Americans swallow hard.
The causes of government over-spending have been repeatedly identified. There is no savings incentive in the public arena, and virtually no negative consequences for wasteful expenditures. Once in place, government bureaucracies are nearly impossible to dismantle. Ineffective programs remain in operation as more enlightened attempts to solve the same issues are funded. Special interest groups lobby for financial benefits, while the taxpayers who bankroll the giveaways are relatively unrepresented. Congressional members purchase votes by providing hometown pork. In short, it is in the government’s best interest to expand, and legislators have practically unlimited access to enormous amounts of money with which to build their kingdoms. Unscrupulous politicians tirelessly fleece American companies and individuals, patronize their pet projects and constituents, thereby extending their legislative careers. It’s a damnable conformation that is ruining the country.
One indicator of how top-heavy government at all levels has become is the number of civil servants now pushing paper from one desk to another. Average Americans may be surprised to learn that, in city after city, governments dominate as the area’s largest employers. For instance, following is data taken from http://sourcebook.sddt.com/Source/companies.cfm?BusinessCategory_ID=205 showing San Diego’s employment hierarchy, excluding military personnel:
- Federal Government: 39,100
- State of California: 37,100
- University of California, San Diego: 24,790
- San Diego Unified School District: 21,073
- City of San Diego: 20,700
- County of San Diego: 18,900
Not until reaching the seventh largest employer in San Diego do we encounter a private company, Sharp Healthcare with 13,872 workers. Think San Diego is an exception? Think again. Here is the list of the largest employers in Los Angeles County (http://www.laalmanac.com/employment/em21e.htm):
- County of Los Angeles: 93,200
- Los Angeles Unified School District: 74,632
- Federal Government: 53,200
- City of Los Angeles: 53,471
- University of California at Los Angeles: 35,543
- Kaiser Permanente (a private company): 32,180
- State of California (non-education): 30,200
These bloated payrolls are but a symptom of government’s insatiable appetite for power and control. Tens of thousands of government employees should be culled from public employment, especially in these times of decreasing revenues. However, instead of paring back the scope and size of California State government, for instance, most Sacramento lawmakers propose tax increases to solve their budget shortfall. It’s precisely what we should expect of them, and exactly the opposite of what should happen.
Average Americans need to re-engage with the American political system before it’s too late. Our Federal government is, at best, mortgaging the country’s future. State governments are broke and, rather than cutting expenses, are bellowing for federal handouts. City and county governments are much larger than they should be and must charge exorbitant fees for building permits, plan checks and the like in order to remain solvent. Enough! As a frustrated Southern California letter writer said just today, government growth will never end “until we — all of us — assume personal responsibility for our actions and stop depending on an expanded and incapable collective body of government to do it for us.”
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Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Government Waste, Limiting Government