A Dept of Govt Efficiency (D.O.G.E.)?

Post #1106

Rumors have surfaced that Elon Musk may be having second thoughts about the ability to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion, even though our Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves about the current federal overreach. As a libertarian before the word became popular, Thomas Jefferson would be throwing up in his mouth right now.

Only 17 tasks were assigned to Congress by the U.S. Constitution, along with an 18th clause about being able to raise the funds necessary for accomplishing the other 17 line items. With hundreds of federal agencies now in existence, we’re well beyond the enumerated powers of those 17 tasks to be performed by the federal government.

The federal government is now absurdly in violation of the original Law of the Land (U.S. Constitution). When limited to the tasks outlined in the U.S. Constitution, raising money is not a problem. The taxes required in order to pay for what the Constitution allows the federal government to do would amount to under 5% of GDP.

But because the federal government is doing too many things, it is spending too much money, and tax revenue is no longer high enough to fund the spending of the federal government. Here is a chart showing the growing difference between proper federal revenue (tax revenue) and federal spending:

Besides taking in proper revenue, the federal government can also improperly encroach into the free market and earn income there also — increasing total federal revenue beyond the federal tax revenue in red above — but that displaces those private citizens who might have profited in the sectors taken over by the government.

When government takes over enterprises that could be managed by private citizens, it does a worse job, on average, than the private citizens would have done. This is because private citizens are motivated by taking good care of their customers (profit motive), while government bureaucracies are only motivated by written rules.

Not breaking written rules is a lot easier than attempting to make others happy.

Just how bad?

Federal spending is more than twice the federal tax receipts, and even the improper encroaching into the free market, in order to make “beyond-tax” revenue, does not cover the gap. This has the effect of increasing the national debt, which increases the interest paid on the debt:

Yearly interest on the national debt now exceeds $1.1 trillion and is rising. It is on a path that will crowd out other federal spending. Interest payments are currently 36% of tax revenue, but if they continue rising, they might become 100% of tax revenue — making it so the only thing the federal government “properly” does is to pay interest.

Don’t give up, Elon, we need D.O.G.E.