Thursday, January 14, 2010

How do you stop inefficient spending in government? do more of it...

I'm constantly in awe at how our government can find any excuse for why they are failing us. Here's the latest:

"A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office. This startling admission came Thursday from Peter Orszag, who manages the federal bureaucracy for President Barack Obama. The public is getting a bad return on its tax dollars because government workers are operating with outdated technologies, Orszag said in a statement that kicked off a summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs."

My Perspective:

This in fact may be true. I have no doubt that some systems in our government are not up to date, but that hardly qualifies as an excuse for all of the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of government. Hell, if that were the case then we would only need a few Macs and some software and all our problems would be over, or at least severely improved.

I will agree with one statement from this article: “The American people deserve better service from their government, and better return for their tax dollars.” Unfortunately, knowing this government they will tell us that the way to get a better return is to spend millions, if not billions, of our dollars on "improving" technology. It will be a bigger waste than what is currently happening. If you don't believe me, just look at how much they spent on one freakin' web site: Recovery.gov (not actual site).

This administration spent $18 million on a web site redesign. And you want to trust them with your healthcare? This is just another lie, another way to pass the buck, and another way to justify more stimulus type spending.

"The White House release that included Orszag’s comments said one “specific source” of ineffective and inefficient government is the huge technology gap between the public and private sectors that results in billions of dollars in waste, slow and inadequate customer service and a lack of transparency about how dollars are spent."

"“Improving the technology our government uses isn’t about having the fanciest bells and whistles on our websites — it’s about how we use the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars to make government work better for them,” Obama said in a statement." Yeah, instead you will spend $18 million and not get all "the fanciest bells and whistles [your] websites." That's just retarded, or the most egregious misallocation of funds ever.

Orszag claims that the technological inefficiencies of government cost us billions of dollars in waste. I would contend that it isn't the technology causing that waste, it's the people using the "outdated" technology. You want better customer service (aka your government listening to you and actually representing you) and more transparency, then don't spend billions on new tech, just spend 44 cents and mail in your ballot to get rid of these adolescents.


1 comment:

  1. In rereading this something struck me. I take exception to the notion of government "customer service." The government is not here to be a body that doles out money and benefits to people. The fact that they are so involved in the private sector costs us millions in compliance and operating/labor costs alone. Then add-in government intervention and its negative effects on the economy and business --the private sector, aka You.

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