Every so often, we are treated to a news story about horrific inefficiency, waste and fraud in government spending. While jokes about $400 hammers and $600 toilet seats have been around so long that we write them off as trivialities, the aggregate numbers are so astoundingly large as to defy comprehension. Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found $125 billion worth of waste in defense spending. Last year, the GAO found $60 billion in improper Medicare payments. The Economist reported that fraud (and fraud prevention spending) sucked $98 billion out of the government’s coffers back in 2012.

The GAO identified tens of billions in duplicative government spending – spending so out of control that they can’t even conclusively determine how much money the government wastes. Think tanks routinely publish lists of waste, as does the rare politician who seems to care. Organizations have arisen solely to fight government waste.

President Obama made some good noises on the subject during his tenure, but it seems that the efforts were more about handwaving than about tangible action. And, of course, President Trump has done the same. Trump scored some PR victories by essentially bullying cost cuts out of a couple companies, and a conditional “good for him (and us)” in that regard is warranted.

But, yesterday, Trump called for a massive $54 billion increase to defense spending, a nearly 10% increase to a budget that’s 50% higher than it was in the late 1990s.

That $54 billion increase, supposedly, will be paid for by spending cuts elsewhere. Good luck with that, Mr. President. We all know those cuts will be fought tooth-and-nail by Democrats, Republicans, cronyists, rent-seekers, and special interest/advocacy groups alike. Few have objection to spending cuts until their sacred cows are gored, and everyone has a few sacred cows. And, of course, those same folks love new spending on their priorities. History tells us that we’ll get the promised spending increase on one side, and we won’t get the promised spending cuts on the other side. Budget hawks will correctly be outraged and disheartened again, and the national debt will grow.

Why isn’t Trump talking about the $125 billion in waste? Cut less than half of it and his new spending will be fully funded. Sure, there will be squawking, because those who are thriving off that waste will have their spigots turned down, but I’d say a waste-cutting narrative is a much easier sell to the public. After all, people love to see those they deem illegitimately greedy get publicly shamed and skewered.

Why isn’t Congress chasing those tens of billions in waste and fraud in the Medicare system harder? The potential payoff is enormous, and even if the money isn’t used for deficit/debt reduction, it certainly would be great PR to convert, say, $25 billion in waste/fraud into $25 billion in aid for the poor.

The fact that it isn’t being done suggests that the perceived effort/reward balance isn’t high enough. Sure, there are anti-waste crusaders like Tom Coburn, Rand (and his father Ron) Paul, but their efforts haven’t caught on with the balance of Congress or the public.

The latter is where the root of the problem lies. Politicians, for all their principles, ultimately act in response to the public. After all, getting re-elected is their first order of business. Since we aren’t sufficiently outraged by the truly horrific mismanagement of our tax dollars by the government, politicians aren’t sufficiently motivated to do anything about it. Fact is, too many people would rather the government devote its time to their favorite causes and their favorite spending targets than to figuring out how to save money elsewhere. Fact is, too many people really aren’t all that concerned with the deficit or the national debt, for a range of reasons or no reason at all. Fact is, too many people simply don’t care that much about Other People’s Money, and their concerns with government spending and waste begin and end with their personal tax bills.

This is why big government sucks, and always will suck. If you think big government can be “done right” if, somehow, the good people get elected, you’re a fool, and the reason our debt is as high as it is.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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