FatCratz

FatCratz Spend $440 Million a Year Printing Documents They Don't Need

The most dangerous waste in government is so small that most people have never thought of it. Like how bureaucrats use their printers in the office.

The government can generate substantial savings by reining in superfluous printing, according to a study released on Tuesday. ... the government spends nearly $1.3 billion annually on printing. Of that, about $440 million -- more than four times the amount President Obama recently asked agency managers collectively to eliminate from their administrative budgets -- is spent on pages that don't need to be printed, the survey found.

Over a third of pages printed are thrown out the same day they come off the printer.

Is the government more wasteful than the private sector? If you work for a company in the real economy, ask yourself if your boss would let you waste 35% of your printing budget. There's your answer.

Hat tip to Senator Coburn's "Pork Report."

Speed Reading Legislation--No Joke!

You know the radio commercials that make a joke about fine print by having a speed reader breathlessly read through the required material?

That's how our current majority in Congress views the legislation they pass.

One of the few tactics open to a legislative minority in the U.S. Congress is to demand that the full text of any law be read before a vote. Given the size and utterly incoherent complexity of virtually all legislation these days, this is an onerous and time-consuming task.

Democrats have come up with a response. They've hired a speed reader:

Democrats in the House Energy and Commerce Committee have taken a novel precaution to head off Republican efforts to slow action this week on a sweeping climate bill. They are hiring a speed reader. Republicans on the committee have said they may force the reading of the entire 946-page bill -- as well as major amendments that measure several hundred pages -- all aloud. This is a procedure lawmakers have a right to invoke.

Legislators have become so accustomed to not actually reading the bills they vote on, that they're willing to publicly flaunt a procedural requirement to do just that. That they are not embarrassed by this fact reveals their utter contempt for the citizens who have to abide by the reckless laws they pass, under threat of prosecution.

Government Vs. Business

John Steele Gordon has a great piece on the differences between government and business, which gives seven reasons why government can't run a business. It's a brilliant summary of the public vs. private sector contrast that is the heart and soul of this blog. Well worth reading.

I have two favorites. First, government is a monopoly, and virtually never faces competition, thus voiding the most powerful force driving capitalism toward greater efficiency. Second, Government is regulated by government:

When "postalization" of the nation's phone system appeared imminent in 1917, Theodore Vail, the president of AT&T, admitted that his company was, effectively, a monopoly. But he noted that "all monopolies should be regulated. Government ownership would be an unregulated monopoly."

It is government's job to make and enforce the rules that allow a civilized society to flourish. But it has a dismal record of regulating itself.

Another great tidbit from this piece, for which I couldn't find the source:

In 1913, for instance, thinking it was being overcharged by the steel companies for armor plate for warships, the federal government decided to build its own plant. It estimated that a plant with a 10,000-ton annual capacity could produce armor plate for only 70% of what the steel companies charged. When the plant was finally finished, however -- three years after World War I had ended -- it was millions over budget and able to produce armor plate only at twice what the steel companies charged. It produced one batch and then shut down, never to reopen.

Guess What Country Has Balanced It's Budget For the Last Ten Years

Canada.

Believe it or not, our neighbor to the north has been far more fiscally sound than the U.S. for over a decade. And they're balancing the books by cutting spending, not increasing taxes. Personal taxes are equal to the US; corporate tax rates are far lower than ours.

Check out these charts. The numbers are staggering.

The key statistic? Only 41% of all government spending in Canada occurs at the federal level. In the U.S. it is 62% and growing. The further one gets from the taxpayers--literally and metaphorically--the easier it is to spend their money without accountability.

Moat Cleaning at Taxpayers' Expense

A scandal has been brewing in the UK over abuses of housing expense subsidies provided for Members of Parliament. The fun part is that when something like this happens in Britain, some pretty extravagant expenses show up on the public account. Like moat cleaning.

The perquisites claimed offer a colorful reminder of the resilience of the class system in Britain: from the Tory MP who claimed for the upkeep of the moat at his country house, to the Labour man who charged for a couple of toilet seats.

The scandal crosses party lines. It turns out that in the 1980's, MPs wanted to vote themselves a raise during an economic downturn, but couldn't handle the public scrutiny. So they agreed to expand the list of expensible items. Most of the expenses are, in fact, legal under the current regime, while many others are clear abuses of the system. One such abusive scheme entails flipping "second home" designations to rack up expenses renovating multiple residences in turn, all at taxpayer expense.

The bottom line here is daylight. Most british citizens had no idea such a housing subsidy existed, and are frankly shocked that during an economic downturn MPs would have the taxpayers paying for their light bulbs to be replaced, or their swimming pool to be cleaned, or for $1,100 television sets. It just shows what politicians will try to get away with when they don't think anyone is looking.