Wall Street is now to blame for our financial mess. Before that it was President George W. Bush. Then it was the Japanese Tsunami, the Arab Spring, and Europe.
We don’t have to look any further to discover the causes of our problems – it’s Washington lawmakers. However, while there’s plenty of blame to go around with the current and previous administrations, the problem goes much deeper.
The government is getting more and more involved in running not only government agencies, but the private sector. This means a few elitists in Washington, D.C., believe they know more than trained businesspeople and the systems and practices in place in corporate America.
Let’s take a closer look at how government has done managing its organizations.
Social Security was established more than 70 years ago. Today, the program is hanging on as it relies on the Ponzi scheme to fund current services with current money coming into the pot. Eventually, the pot stops growing and it all comes crumbling down. This is expected to happen in 2037. While millions of Americans have paid into the system for decades, the future for their retirement is uncertain. Even worse, other federal agencies “borrowed “money from the Social Security trust fund for their own initiatives. This one action alone shows that government is inefficient.
Medicare and Medicaid are rampant with fraud and abuse. Estimates show that $60 billion is swiped from the federal government each year under Medicare. A report by the Medicare board of trustees stated that Medicare is on course to becoming insolvent by 2019 as it is spending significantly more than it is taking in.
Then there’s the U.S. Postal Service. Founded in 1775, it is on the brink of insolvency and cannot compete with private carriers such as FedEx, UPS, and even smaller, more profitable organizations.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the lynchpin for the current economic crises that the country is currently in. These entities, created by Congress, became insolvent in 2008. They were then bailed out by the federal government to the tune of $400 billion.
Although the Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, we have seen gas prices close to $4 a gallon. We’re still significantly behind in energy exploration and development.
Let’s move on to education. The Department of Education usurps power from the states and away from those closest to the school in their local area. Our country spends more per student in the public schools than any other country, yet it continues to fall behind in test scores. The schools are teaching less of the “three R’s” (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic) and more about social agendas.
Obama’s stimulus program was a $787 billion package that was signed into law in 2009. The goal was to “get America back working again.” The administration said that this would create “shovel-ready” jobs to rebuild infrastructure: roads, bridges and buildings. The net outcome was that unemployment rose from 7.7 percent to 9.2 percent.
On top of all this is the fact that the national debt currently stands at $14.8 trillion. What kind of track record is this for any entity? Not a very good one. If this were a CEO, he or she would be fired. If this were a NFL quarterback, he would be cut from the team.
Yet, despite these colossal failures, Washington continues to take on more of a societal role and will oversee health care in a few months; an initiative that will put the feds in charge of managing one-sixth of the American economy. •
Dave Costello is a political commentator and management consultant.
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A “political commentator”? For whom?
This puff piece stinks of crap. Thanks for the completely useless, tired lie that “gubmint is the problem.” You people best start stepping aside before you’re pushed.