Remember a few months back when Barry had one of his innumerable TV appearances to announce that they were going to trim "millions" from the federal budget in the short term? Yep, it was all very hopeychangey. By making small "changes" that add up over time you can "hope" to save a lot of money. Sounds great, right?
Here's how it worked out in practice. The gubmint asked civil service employees to make suggestions that they believed could save the taxpayers money. The employee with the best idea would win a prize or a pat on the head or something. The response was pretty enthusiastic, really, with 38,484 responses received. You'd think that somewhere in those 38,484 responses there would have been some really good ideas, right? Probably, but here are the four finalists that the administration picked:
1) Create a website to allow people to schedule Social Security Administration appointments online.
2) Streamline the money flow from National Park receipts to the Treasury.
3) Let veterans leaving VA hospitals keep all the consumable (i.e. non-reusable) medical supplies they were using while in the hospital, instead of throwing them away.
4) Streamline redundant inspection of public housing.
Here's what happened to the other 38,480 suggestions:
OMB staff assessed the ideas, passing back the best ones to agencies to include in their submissions for the FY 2011 budget. And the suggestions that were in need of government-wide action stayed here at OMB for our staff to begin working on. Over the coming months, we hope to implement many of these excellent ideas.
Translation: The other suggestions were filed under "never mind" in someone's garbage can.
Now since we're left with these four gems, let's examine them one by one, shall we?
With #1 I see failure on the horizon because the people who are trying to make those appointments are less likely than you or I to use a computer. This will end up costing us more in the long run, because now instead of just having people answer the phones you'll need a tech support staff to design/run/maintain the website. You'll also need a publishing company to develop and publish literature to "educate" the senior citizens in the use of the system (oh, and you'll need to bring in "diversity" experts to make sure all the "educational" materials are sensitive to "cultural issues" such as the fact that illegals who are filing for SSA payments may not speak English). Last, but not least, you'll still need the people in place to answer the phones because people will get fed up and call anyway.
Instead of #2, we should be selling the damned parks, not figuring out how to wring money out of them (i.e. you, the taxpayer) more efficiently.
For #3 I say, gee thanks. That half-used tube of bacitracin is really going to help ease the burden of the GI who just lost his leg in combat. But if he wants it, give it to him (plus an extra dozen). Personally, I think we should be reassigning all those Air Force Gulfstream jets (that Nancy "Palpatine" Pelosi gets to fly around in) to fly wounded military personnel back to their hometowns. But then I don't mind spending taxpayer funds to take care of my fellow veterans. If someone's got a problem with that, screw 'em.
And although #4 does, on its face, seem to make sense, shouldn't we have more eyes scrutinizing what goes on in public housing, not fewer?
I guess we should all look at the bright side here. If all four of these "great" ideas get implemented, the gubmint's going to save billions millions hundreds of tens of thousands...right??
