Downsizing Government

Absent a seismic change in direction, the federal government is headed for a crash or something akin to a crash. According to a 2007 report of the GAO, the total of the debts and the present value of the unfunded commitments of the U.S. government, exclusive of Medicaid, military spending and ordinary government services, equaled approximately $50.5 Trillion in 2006, or about $440,000 per household. Also according to the GAO, total household net worth was $53.3 Trillion in 2006. This means that, under current fiscal policy, over time, the federal government will need to consume virtually all or all of the wealth of U.S. citizens. Between the wars on poverty, drugs and terrorism (and the war on terrorism is necessary, but the war in Iraq has significantly extended the war on terrorism), the massive entitlements, excessive government and the quasi-empire status of the U.S. (with military bases in 130+ countries), the U.S. is headed in a disastrous direction. With the Social Security and Medicare entitlements that are coming due soon, and seniors outvoting younger citizens 4-to-1, the Republic is in a very difficult situation.

There was a time when the Republicans stood for small government and less taxes. As evidenced by the growth of the Federal Government from 2001-2006, those days are long gone.

Remember: When government “pays” for something, that means that everyone pays for it. Government can and should be downsized in most areas, in a large part through attrition. Government needs to be run more like a business.

The federal government is too large and too intrusive. There is an appropriate amount of government for our capitalist republic, and an appropriate level (i.e. federal, state or local) for that government. Federal regulations often fail to properly balance interest and, thus, unnecessarily increase costs to businesses. A small business representative (perhaps a member of the SBA) should be included in regulation drafting projects that impact small businesses, with reasonable power to reject regulations that are unnecessarily complex for small businesses.

Between doing things through the public sector or the private sector, the private sector is more efficient. We need to balance the budget to stop destroying the potential for future prosperity. One of our goals should be to minimize the things that are done through the federal government. I believe that we can, and should, cut the size of the federal government by about one-third (1/3).

Because an annual balanced budget is a MUST (absent an emergency situation or a significant recession), the more the government spends, the more we must pay in taxes. Penalties could be increased in some areas of downsizing-walk small but carry a big stick. Greater incentives need to be created for government employees to save government money, such as by providing for greater sharing of cost savings. The “G” scale compensation of employees of government agencies should be reduced by ten percent with the reduction amount used to create bonus pools for sharing by the productive employees. The GAO could evaluate productivity. The areas where the federal government should be involved in individuals’ lives are national defense and security (including the CIA and FBI), relations with foreign countries, immigration, the federal legal system, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, transportation, food and drug safety (FDA) and disease prevention (CDC), investment regulation through the SEC, and protection of the environment (including the national parks). Substantially all other needs should be met by state and local governments or through the private sector. All government programs need to be analyzed from a cost-benefit perspective, to determine where change, reduction and/or elimination is necessary. An example of where immediate analysis is necessary is NASA. The space shuttle should be nixed.