Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Offspring of Jabba and Hydra

Conservative political punditry from the Cognoscenti--whether Erickson, Will, Sykes, or Jeffrey, has focused on "entitlement spending reform" as a salve to the deficit (and longer-term, to the national debt.)  That's a good discussion to have. 

But all those writers quietly forget that there are other ways to reduce Federal spending, such as elimination of Federal employees.  Curious, no? 

When MorganStanley finds a cost problem, they eliminate 1600 jobs.  Hatteras Yachts, 105.  Henredon Furniture and various coal-mining firms simply close plants, eliminating dozens or hundreds of jobs. 

The Feds?  Nope.

The giant sucking sound made by the Feds in the Department of "Education", the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Departments of Energy, the Transportation Security Administration Theatre, EPA--no layoffs, no cuts.

That group, and quite a few others in D.C., are collectively the offspring of Jabba the Hut and Hydra.  So long as "conservatives" forget that these departments and bureaus should be de-populated, "conservatives" will have a very hard time selling "entitlement reform."

After all, like charity, "reform" begins at home.  DC needs a root-and-branch radical surgery, and now is the time to do it.
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2 comments:

  1. Jim1/10/2013 3:43 PM

    Interesting, there are fewer executive branch federal employees as of 2010 then the entire 12 years of Reagan and Bush 41 with the exception of 1982 (right after Reagan fired the air traffic controllers). In fact, fewer than any year between 1967 and 1996 except 1982. During that time the population of the US rose by over 50%. - Source

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  2. Dad291/10/2013 9:23 PM

    Offhand, I'd say that the (R) congress during the Clinton years did a halfway decent job of cutting Feds.

    Of course, that little table doesn't count contractors, either military OR civilian, does it?

    The 1960 figures are about where the Feds should be--in total (including contractors.)

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