Morning Memo – 2025-02-25

D.O.G.E. could do better.

To: Roger
From: Jim Berger
Date: February 25, 2025
Subject: D. O. G. E.

I favor the work of D. O. G. E. in general. The government bureaucracy has grown out of hand. Philosophically, I don't believe they go far enough. To me, the term" government efficiency" is oxymoronic. Some say government is not efficient. I say government cannot be efficient. It has no way to calculate the use of resources. If government "needs more," it either steals more (taxation) or counterfeits (borrows) more.

If, however, you believe government has a legitimate role, D. 0. G. E. has the wrong strategy for making it more" efficient." Instead of having individual "workers" defend their jobs, they should find who designed those jobs and get them to explain why the job exists in the first place.

To explain, I will ask a theoretical question. What person has the most influence on how quickly an ocean liner can turn?

Usually people will answer," The captain." After that, they might say the engineer or the shipbuilder. Far down on the list of people who influence the performance of the ship, you should find the most influential person in ship performance: the designer.

All of these other people cannot overcome the flaws of a poor design.

In any organization, if to seek to improve performance, you must start with the structure of that organization. What do whole departments do to improve the liver of taxpayers? The individual" worker" simply accepted a job that someone else justified.

I will give a couple of examples: D. O. E. (the Department of Education) and F. E. M. A.

What does D. 0. E. do to improve the education of children. Schools generally fall under the jurisdiction of school districts and states. How can D. O. E. add value to this already over-regulated system? Nothing.

F.E. M. A. represents the epitome of uselessness. We actually spend money to have people wait around for natural disasters (which do not come at scheduled times and places.) We have firefighters, police, and EMTs at the local level to prepare for unplanned disasters. When they become overwhelmed, volunteers show up in large numbers.

In short, don't put the burden of justifying jobs on the workers. Ask whole departments to justify their existence.

But that might require Congress to get involved. Yes, why do they appropriate money for unnecessary and inefficient departments?

Later,
Jim