Cutting the Budget

In response to “Someone Has to Cut the Budget” by Jeffrey A. Tucker, published in the Aug. 14–20 edition:

Let me try to identify the problem and suggest a solution.

The Problem: Government is not designed to be efficient. Government is known as a bureaucracy, and as a bureaucracy, it is designed to spend every dollar allocated and ask for more. Bureaucracy is the last stage in the business cycle before a business goes out of business. The objective in a bureaucracy is to maintain your position of authority and power. Productivity and success in a mission is never measured, only the size of your budget.

Solution: The Pie Theory. In an effort to change the objective of a bureaucracy, you need to establish goals and rewards for success in achieving those goals. The goals can be established by taking the budget revenue two years prior to the year being budgeted (2025 would be structured on 2023 revenues). Each department would receive the percentage of the budget that they were awarded two years prior (their piece of the pie). For every dollar the department saves from its original portion of the pie, it gets to keep 50 cents to do with whatever it likes (bonuses, trips, parties—in essence, have a good time with it). The other 50 cents would go toward debt reduction.

Remember, this is the Pie Theory. Just a theory.

Mark Gotz Florida