Wisdom Of The Week

Definite Keepers

• Department of Defense: It’s still a dangerous world and we remain the steadying Leviathan amidst all those rising powers. But we also spend way beyond the “common defense.” One radical option: kill the Air Force as we embrace drones.

• Department of State: It’s still a world dominated by nation-states, and the ones doing best by globalization are those fielding the sharpest diplomats. Plus, the better State is, the more you can whack Defense.

• Department of Treasury: Money makes the world go round and America still owns the planet’s reserve currency of choice. Frankly, this is the most important department going forward – just like when we were starting out.

• Department of Justice: Nothing defines our “more perfect union” better than our judicial system, and our “federal police” (FBI, etc.) is tiny compared to most states.  Plus, the best counter-terrorism stuff is performed here.

• Department of Transportation: In the global economy, it’s not location that matters but infrastructure, infrastructure, INFRASTRUCTURE!  Ours is crumbling and needs a lot more federal attention.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: In an interconnected world, during a century when biological science will dominate, this is the primary national security threat we face – to include bioterrorism.  Seen the movie “Contagion”?  You should.

• Government Accountability Office: Washington’s official – and sole – truth-telling entity.  They watch the watchers.

• National Science Foundation and National Labs: Our economy lives and dies with its high-tech competitive advantages, and these agencies spend time and money on the basic research that undergirds it all – you know, the “boring stuff” the private sector doesn’t bother with until . . . cha-ching!

Can’t Kill But Have to Radically Restructure

• The big 3 entitlements: The Supreme Court will decide on Obamacare (or whatever you want to call it) come June, but it’s clear that an aging America (a good thing, mind you!) can’t afford Social Security and Medicare – as is. Bottom line: expect to work a lot longer before retiring.

• Internal Revenue Service: Can’t have a government without taxation, but the complexity of our current code is indefensible, creating supreme inefficiencies throughout our economy. Tax simplification is desperately warranted.

• Intelligence Community: Seventeen agencies, really?  The need is compelling all right, but the redundancy here – not to mention the continuing lack of coordination – is stunning. The Brits get by with two primary agencies (one domestic and one foreign), and – frankly – they routinely outperform our Keystone collection.

• U.S. Mint: It’s time to ditch all coins except quarters. Heck, soon enough we should ditch all bills as well. Don’t believe us? Sweden, the first European country to intro bank notes (1661) is planning to move to a completely cashless economy!

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Okay, we still got a thing for JFK. But NASA should focus exclusively on the stuff beyond the Moon and leave all the close-in stuff to the private sector – meaning Richard Branson.

On the Bubble 

• Department of Homeland Security: Hard to argue against homeland defense (“As opposed to  . . .?”), but this massive kluge job was a disaster from the get-go and still stinks today. Most experts will tell you we’d all be better off sending all those adopted agencies back to their “birth” departments.

• Department of Commerce: Clearly, the promotion of U.S. trade is incredibly important in this “flat world” globalization, but Commerce isn’t worth the sum of its many worthy parts (National Weather Service, Census Bureau, Patent Office), most of which would be better off as independent agencies.

• Department of Labor: The key issue of labor in this country is “continuing education,” so either kill Labor and subsume under the Department of Education or vice versa. The regulations part can be a small independent agency.

• Department of Education: See, Department of Labor.

Deserve the Axe

• Department of Agriculture: We’ve got something like one Dept. of Ag employee for every dozen farmers in America – seriously. With U.S. farm exports booming, ag subsidies should be nixed in full, and this legacy department should be whacked down to a bare minimum and then shoved inside the Food and Drug administration.

• Department of Energy: Energy is important all right, but the Department of Energy has little to do with any of that, outside of badly running the National Labs (worth keeping) and maintaining the nuclear weapon stockpile (also worth keeping). Give the nuke duty to Defense and have somebody else run the Labs – case closed!

• Department of Interior: Hard to see why the U.S. Government should own “federal lands” across all 50 states. Harder still to understand why we need a cabinet-level department to manage them.

• Department of Housing and Urban Development: Federal public housing in this country is a disaster, and a costly one at that. If we want to spend Federal tax funds on this, given them directly to the states.

• Department of Health and Human Services: All social work programs, like politics, are local, so why the Federal role here?  Aren’t we always better off letting states experiment within our federal system?

• Department of Veterans Affairs: This is mostly about a ghettoized healthcare system for veterans.  It’s not a good one and shouldn’t be continued. Yes, honor their service, but simply pay for good care in the private healthcare system. This department can be folded within Defense with no great conflict-of interest danger.

• United States Postal Service: The time has come. Incentivize the private sector to make sure everybody’s mailbox is serviced and let’s move on to more important 21^st-century matters.

- What Should The Government Cut?