America’s #1 Growth Industry? Government

The Treasury building, Washington, D.C. By Steven Vona @ Shutterstock.com

Would you be surprised to read that our government today has more employees than America’s entire manufacturing sector? Stephen Moore, who wrote Government: America’s Number One Growth Industry 20 years ago, argues that is for this reason America has a $1 trillion deficit and $22 trillion debt.

Institutions that lose money year after year after year can’t afford to be spending tens of billions of dollars on nonessential activities.

If the partial government shutdown did one thing well, it demonstrated how irrelevant much of the country’s $4 trillion government is to the everyday lives of Americans.

Trump: Cut 5% from Every Agency

In October, Trump floated a proposal for every agency to cut at least 5 percent of its budget this year. The government shutdown has taught us how easy this should be.

Redundant, Wasteful, Obsolete

Now that the government is reopened, Congress needs to figure out what we can live without in terms of redundant, wasteful, and obsolete services. Congress could start by investigating the thousands upon thousands of examples of waste and misappropriation of funds. Why do federal-government workers get as many as 40 days a year in sick leave, vacation, holidays, personal days, and so on? Many private-sector workers don’t get benefits nearly this exorbitant.

Congress should also examine its spending priorities. Do we need an Urban Transit Agency? This should be conducted by cities and states, not the feds. Do we need a vast diplomatic corps at the State Department? Probably that could be cut in half. Do we need crop subsidies? Do we need the Defense Department to be spending money on climate change? Do we need to pay for foreign-aid programs or arrogant institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, all of which have done little to provide real and lasting economic aid to the poor around the world?

Read more from Mr. Moore here.