The American Spectator : Just Say Snow

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Just Say Snow

By Doug Bandow on 2.11.10 @ 6:07AM

What America needs is more snowstorms in Washington.

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Some 55,000 people work for the Transportation Department. There are some interstate transportation issues, but the federal government shouldn't be funding roads and bridges in communities across America. Indeed, the agency has become one of the worst sources of political pork at the national level. If local folks want a new left hand turn lane or park bike trail, let them pay for it. Most of this department's employees are anything but essential.

The Commerce Department employs 39,000. Another 16,000 people work at the Labor Department. Both of these agencies are special interest bureaucracies, dedicated to subsidizing businesses and labor unions. Neither should exist. There are a few legitimate functions buried within the two bureaucracies -- keeping economic statistics and conducting a census for the purpose of congressional apportionment, for instance. But most of these 55,000 employees should be working at useful jobs in the private sector.

Equally useless is the Energy Department and its 15,000 workers. The department is largely a forum for dispensing subsidies to favored energy interests. It also regulates the energy industry, usually to the detriment to consumers. Politicians love to dispense favors and micromanage the economy. The Energy Department is a vehicle for doing both.

The State Department also employs 15,000 people. The agency is legitimate, but many of its functions are not. There's no cause for foreign aid: the U.S. has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on "foreign aid" programs which have turned out to be mostly "foreign hindrance" to the recipients. State should eliminate financial transfers other than limited, emergency disaster relief. Moreover, the department should cut back oversize embassies around the world. Washington should not be attempting to sell U.S. products or micro-manage other societies. There's no reason for full-service embassies in many nations; small consulates would do just fine.

The Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Education have 9,000 and 4,000 employees, respectively. Neither of these agencies has a legitimate federal role. Housing and education should be state and local responsibilities to the extent that government is involved at all. There certainly is no reason for the federal government to create vast systems of wealth transfer from federal taxpayers to builders, local governments, developers, universities, federal bureaucrats, home buyers, students, renters, and everyone else involved in the housing and education industries. Indeed, the financial crisis, which started from an overheated housing market, demonstrates that federal involvement can be not just wasteful, but disastrously counterproductive.

A potpourri of independent agencies employs 180,000 people. The largest single bureaucracy is the Social Security Administration, which shouldn't exist. People should be allowed to keep their own money to invest for their own retirement. Impoverished seniors should be helped because of their need, not their age. Most of the other agencies could be similarly eliminated or streamlined.

Finally, shrink government, and cut back the 33,000 people who work for the judicial branch and 30,000 who work for Congress. These two overgrown bureaucracies demonstrate how government has grown far too large. Indeed, their expansion has helped fuel government's overall growth. More legislators, judges, aides, and clerks all want to do more. Which means an ever bigger government.

If you believe the official estimates, the three day federal shut-down cost Americans nearly a billion dollars. But don't worry. Although Snowmaggedon has been awful for those of us who live in the region, it likely has saved the American people billions of dollars by slowing down the waste of tax dollars and limiting the harm of regulations.

Now we could only shut down Washington permanently.

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topics:
Federal Workers, Big Government

About the Author

Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (15) | Leave a comment

Bram| 2.11.10 @ 8:35AM

It makes my stomach turn to read the number of people we pay for worthless causes. Numbers far higher than the biggest big business I've ever worked for.

There were times in my life when I was tempted to apply for a federal job (other than my military stint) - despite being unemployed at the time, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I’m glad I didn’t.

JohnD| 2.11.10 @ 9:26AM

This article actually understates the problem. I work for the Federal Government (I am from the DC area and it was either work for the Govt or bag groceries or sell houses).

There are 2.5 million actual federal employees, i.e. people hired by the civil and foreign services.

What the article doesn't mention is that almost all of the actual work is done by contractors, many of whom have offices in the federal buildings of the agencies they serve. Civil servants at SSA don't process the checks, contractors like EDS actually do it. Civil servants don't design, develop and program the computers, contractors do it.

The reason for this is that if a civil servant is tasked with doing something, and doesn't do it, you can't do anything to him or her. But if a contractor doesn't do something they are supposed to do, they can be fired, or the contract can be terminated for default. When something actually needs to be done, contractors do it. When something goes wrong, contractors are blamed.

I would estimate that if there are 2.5 million civil and foreign service people, then there must be at least 10-20 million contractor personnel doing the actual work of these agencies. And this number does not include people at Boeing making jet fighters, or people at Amgen building Humvees, etc. So its actually worse than this article lets on.

Sandra_in_Severn| 2.11.10 @ 10:48AM

BUT... contractors are not paid when they cannot get to their worksites. When the "Gov" personnel are not around to "unlock and open the door" a contractor cannot go to work. Even if they are able to get to the worksite and are available to work.

And while Military Personnel and Emergency Essential Gov personnel can "work until the job is done" and "work weekends or overnight shifts" a contractor cannot. Even if they volunteer, unless it is in the contract - no can do.

We have many friends that work for a specific contractor that will not receive an entire week's pay because of the weather and roads here.

Some CAN use banked PTO, others are just out of luck.

Sandra_in_Severn| 2.11.10 @ 10:51AM

As to the Gov employees, the SES and upper GS grades; most were still working since the majority of their employees (and responsibilities) are outside the region.

My DH is a GS-13 for the USAF and has "clocked" more than 15 hours of work from home, between snowblowing out neighbors and digging us out. Mostly by "crackberry" while outside. He joked that he can get more done from home than from work. But he is NOT one of those that are allowed to telecommute.

Please remember, not all Gov employees were idle this week.

JohnD| 2.11.10 @ 11:41AM

Sandra, you are absolutely right. The Feds get paid while the contractors get stiffed (the people who do all the work). I was a contractor before getting hired in the civil service, and the inequities are almost Dickensian.

I also worked from home Monday and Tuesday, despite the Government being closed. I also get much more done from home than I can do at the office.

Paul D| 2.11.10 @ 4:27PM

Absolutely right. Me and my fellow contractors have been braving the snow to come into work while our Fed Gov't overseers are sitting at home.

Paul D| 2.11.10 @ 4:31PM

But not that I'm complaining because we are paid exorbitant amounts more money than they are to do their work for them.

More of your taxpayer dollars at work.

JohnD| 2.11.10 @ 9:28PM

Yeah, Paul, but at least the traffic isn't as bad getting in to work.

Jim O'Brien| 2.11.10 @ 8:45PM

A few months ago, a woman on the TV show Jeopardy said she worked for the State Department, and her area of specialization was "climate change". And we are paying for this idiocy.

Jeff Perren| 2.12.10 @ 12:23AM

Piling on to the "it's work than you think" meme: if you think the money paid to useless bureaucrats is bad, consider how much wealth is never created as a result of the regulations they enforce.

The EPA alone undoubtedly costs the country trillions by preventing safe, efficient use of land and energy production and hobbling improved trade.

In another area, just considering Sarbanes-Oxley alone is enough to give a sensible person a stomach ache.

Jeff Perren| 2.12.10 @ 12:25AM

That should read: "It's worse than you think" meme...

Richard Baker| 2.12.10 @ 2:45PM

Good that they are closed down. Meanwhile, life goes on without these people. Tell me again why we need these bureaucrats in DC? Remember, Mark Twain said that "no man's life, liberty, or property is safe while Congress is in session." He also said that "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." Snow on!

Tom Mahany| 2.12.10 @ 2:48PM

Time was, this wasn't much of the problem. The U.S. Federal Government diverted only about 3% of the national wealth to perform the duties outlined in our national charter, The Constitution, as ammended. Of course, during those times, the Congressmen and other swells abandoned the District of Columbia every summer because of the heat and humidity. I've lived and worked as a self-supporting grad student in the Potomac bottoms. During the summers, I can tell you that I could get a lot more work done when I was at the (air-conditioned )office than in a sweltering lab and / or apartment.

I say that we just proscribe air conditioners in places of government business. There's no way that the minions of our National Government's nanny state work-in-progress would be enlarging upon as many directives by a swelter - recessed Congress for a good 3 months a year if they were forced to submit to the prevailing weather in D.C. A forced annual retreat to the countryside would reduce the production of reams of laws, and the resultant gigabytes of regulations, mandates and other experiments against reality, by directly getting them away from their desks, and by forcing them to deal with the people who daily sweat to comply with the diktats.

Nikki Mytels| 3.16.10 @ 12:37PM

Dear Doug,

Your suggestion that the best of our national parks be perhaps turned over to environmental groups was scary. You see, environmental groups want to protect and preserve the environment, not let the RV driving hoi polloi tromp around and enjoy themselves in the great outdoors. What would become of the great American (or snowbird Canadian) family vacation?

Also, I can't believe you didn't include Bryce Canyon in your short-list of parks to be spared from this mass mulcting of the American people. Your mother always went on about how much she loved that park! Seriously, if a great majority of our national parks are strip-mined (probably, ironically, by foreign investors), just think what a nightmare it would be to get reservations for the few remaining parks. The traffic! It would scarcely be worth the trip. In that case, yes, you might as well just auction these properties off to the Hilton or Burger King or Halliburton. Once the national parks are gone, future generations won't even have any idea what they are missing. No harm done. I'm sure those kids would rather enjoy Wii Grand Canyon River Rafting than actually travel there, anyway.

By the way, the heinous crime of crapping up a wetland with fill dirt would probably most likely be perpetrated by some evil greedy corporation that is angling for a permit to overbuild a stupid marina or golf course. Grrr! Next time you are out in California, I would be happy to tell you why wetlands are so important.

I'm sorry I didn't think to Google you since the dawn of the internet, but better late than never! I've been enjoying your blog since I saw you again last month after all of these years. Even though a few of your opinions are so annoying, you do have a great way with words!

--Nikki