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The Spectacle Blog
The nonpartisan General Accounting Office (GAO) has looked into the amount of duplicate government programs and found a massive amount of waste. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who requested the study, has estimated duplicative spending costs between $100 billion and $200 billion. The GAO wasn’t that specific but concluded, “Reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could potentially save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services.”
According to a copy of the report obtained by the Wall Street Journal, there’s bloat throughout the government:
- 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.
- There are 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality; 80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation; 47 for job training and employment; and 56 to help people understand finances.
- 18 federal programs spent a combined $62.5 billion in 2008 on food and nutrition assistance, but there is little information about the efficacy of 11 of these programs because they haven’t been well studied.
- Five divisions within the Department of Transportation account for 100 different programs that fund things like highways, rail projects and safety programs.
- GAO reports there are 130,000 military and government medical professionals, 59 Defense Department hospitals and hundreds of clinics that could benefit from consolidating administrative, management and clinical functions
- There are numerous redundancies in the military’s purchase of tactical wheeled vehicles and procurement.
The WSJ also has a 12-point summary here. These finding will loom large in the budget battle as this kind of spending — the old-fashioned “waste, fraud, and abuse” — should theoretically be the easiest to cut. Yet even duplicative spending will have its defenders in the executive branch or on Capitol Hill.
View all comments (5) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/03/01/gao-billions-wasted-in-duplica
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Dixie Pixie| 3.1.11 @ 1:25PM
You should check out the NYT article by Paul "Barking Mad" Krugman.
He tries to make the point there are too few bureaucrats in the Federal Government.
This from the same man who came to the conclusion the "Stimulus Spending" did not work because the money did not go into hiring enough bureaucrats but it just made the already hired one's more expensive.
"Barking Mad" Krugman still has not figured out the more people in a bureaucracy the slower it becomes.
This effect is caused by the fact that people have to communicate to function.
The more people, the more time is spent communicating not working.
There is a mathematical point when enough people are added, a bureaucracy it will grind to a halt.
There will be too many people involved for the system to make a decision therefore not function.
The problem is Obama is pouring TRILLION'S in excess spending on the Federal Bureaucracies.
Why is it not obvious we are getting less services for more money and as an added bonus the taxpayer got a rerun of the Great Depression.
The article cited is::::
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.c.....reaucrats/
PattyMor| 3.1.11 @ 1:38PM
We needed a study for this? Rand Paul has proposed $500,000,000 in cuts without a study. Maybe Rand is just a fast learner! Or maybe he just sees things a little clearer since he is an eye doctor and hasn't been in DC for very long.
Oldefarte| 3.1.11 @ 4:09PM
Anyone wishing to obtain an indication of governmental wasting of taxpayers' money should simply stroll into their neighborhood college/university's library and find within same its governmental publicans stacks/collection, which will include the most ridiculous governmental studies [again financed by taxpayers] the world has ever imagined [ie, possibly some on the SEX LIVES OF BOLL WEEVALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Irish22| 3.2.11 @ 11:06AM
Here's an idea: pick 2 of the 15 agencies overseeing food safety, and defund the rest. Give clear guidelines for performance, best agency wins (gets to keep its funding next year)! GO!
pauline burkhart| 4.23.11 @ 12:15PM
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/.....678731/pg1