Okay, we all know there is some waste in government. But I just don’t get these folks who think the solution is starving it. Or those who think that a smaller or larger government has any correlation to waste reduction.
There is waste everywhere including in business and in people’s personal habits. But starving anything just doesn’t seem to me to have ever been a good strategy for change.
We don’t motivate employees by denying them the tools to do their job or cutting their benefits. We don’t teach greedy business executives a lesson by refusing to buy their products; we just take away someone else’s job. We don’t teach recycling by prohibiting purchase of consumer products. We don’t motivate children by fear and deprivation. And trying to starve Cuba all these years hasn’t accomplished anything.
The way to make government more efficient isn’t to worry about whether it is small or large…it should be large enough to do the job.
We need to vote wisely, hold people accountable, hire expert management and let them do their jobs. We need to insist on and reward maintenance of what we have above the latest new and shiny thing. We need to give government the freedom to reassign or even release employees who are not willing to do their jobs and reward those who do a very good job. We need to make sure things are fair. We need to trust.
And the private sector needs to stop whining about taxes. Taxes provide the quality of place that helps them attract good talent. It provides clean water and sanitation and provides a regulated and balanced playing field. It shouldn’t be about whether taxes are too high or too low…but whether they are productive. Rather than whining about taxes, run for office, get involved in making the system even better.
There is waste everywhere including in business and in people’s personal habits. But starving anything just doesn’t seem to me to have ever been a good strategy for change.
We don’t motivate employees by denying them the tools to do their job or cutting their benefits. We don’t teach greedy business executives a lesson by refusing to buy their products; we just take away someone else’s job. We don’t teach recycling by prohibiting purchase of consumer products. We don’t motivate children by fear and deprivation. And trying to starve Cuba all these years hasn’t accomplished anything.
The way to make government more efficient isn’t to worry about whether it is small or large…it should be large enough to do the job.
We need to vote wisely, hold people accountable, hire expert management and let them do their jobs. We need to insist on and reward maintenance of what we have above the latest new and shiny thing. We need to give government the freedom to reassign or even release employees who are not willing to do their jobs and reward those who do a very good job. We need to make sure things are fair. We need to trust.
And the private sector needs to stop whining about taxes. Taxes provide the quality of place that helps them attract good talent. It provides clean water and sanitation and provides a regulated and balanced playing field. It shouldn’t be about whether taxes are too high or too low…but whether they are productive. Rather than whining about taxes, run for office, get involved in making the system even better.
_large.jpg){kind=link}
1 comment:
Amen. I think that those who complain about government's largesse don't understand how directly it really does affect their day to day lives.
Post a Comment