Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the desert. Congress said, “Someone could steal from it at night.” So they hired a night watchman to watch it. Then Congress said, “The watchman can’t do his job properly without instructions.” So they created a planning department and hired two people—one to write instructions and one to do time studies. So Congress said, “How do we know the watchman is doing his job correctly?” So they created a Quality Control Department and hired two people—one to do the studies and one to write reports. Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So they created two positions—a time keeper and a payroll officer and hired two more people. Then Congress said, “Who will hold these employees accountable?” So they hired three people—an administrative officer, assistant administrative officer, and a legal secretary. Then Congress said, “We have had this operation for one year, and we are $918,000 over budget. We must cut back.” So they laid off the night watchman.
Does anybody remember why the Department of Energy was created in 1977? To lessen our dependence on foreign oil. We’ve spent several hundred billion dollars to support this agency. Now 35 years later the budget for this department is at $24.2 billion per year. It has 16,000 federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees. When the department was created 30% of our oil came from foreign imports; today it is at 70%.
And how we have turned over our Health Care, the Banking System and Auto Industry to the same government.