"Gubmint" and How "Gubmint" Works


Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.


Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions and one person to do time studies.


Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people, one to do the studies and one to write the reports.


Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created two positions, a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people.


Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"


So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, an Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.


Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year, and we are $918,000 over budget. We must cut back." So they laid off the night watchman.


NOW slowly, let that sink in.


Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.


Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY..... during the Carter Administration?


Anybody?


Anything?


No?


Didn't think so!


Bottom line: We've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency...the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!


Ready?? It was very simple . . . and, at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.



The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.


Hey, pretty efficient, huh???


AND, NOW, IT'S 2010 -- 33 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES, AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"




A little over 33 years ago, 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports.Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.


Ah, yes -- the good old Federal bureaucracy!!
If one goes through the same process with the U.S. Department of Education, one gets a similar return on investment of taxpayer dollars! NOTHING!! Stay tuned!!!



NOW, WE HAVE TURNED THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY OVER TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?


Hello!! Anybody Home?

I would have said target but could invite speculation of another kind. The post presents my kind of questioning on this very, very simple task, objective, organization, time allowed to get the job done and measure. Well as presented above 33 years (times how many billions?) and we have doubled our dependency.
How could that be possible?
How could it be allowed for 33 years?
How can we shut down space exploration because we have no money? A program that actually accomplishes something with a big payback in jobs, accomplishment, a return of technology to we the people....security!!
How can we continue funding a useless $24 billion entity?

Ditto on Department of education.

Allowed by the same folks who continue re-elect the business as usual in Washington DC.

When will the reckoning begin?

btk

When the DOE was established, the entire nuclear defense program was brought into the program. With this came many other efforts in such fields such as nuclear waste management, theoretical physics, the fusion program, etc. These programs are carried out by the same organization that designs, develops, produces nuclear weapons. Some of the parts of the organization include Los Alamos National Lab, Oak Ridge Lab, the Berkley, Livermore and Argonne labs, the production and recycling facilities for nuclear weapons, etc.

These labs and production facilities consume $17 billion of the DOE budget. I do agree that the DOE has failed miserably in meeting the charge of lessening our dependence on foreign oil and its mission needs to be more clearly focused on energy independence. Fold the labs and production facilities into DARPA. At least the people involved understand the language of science and engineering.

And then we have the Federal Education Department.....ED was created in 1980

ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
ED has 4,200 employees and $63.7 billion budget

Grade 8 math scores, the US ranks 28th world.

Originally Posted by barb1191

"Gubmint" and How "Gubmint" Works


Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.


Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions and one person to do time studies.


Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people, one to do the studies and one to write the reports.


Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created two positions, a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people.


Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"


So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, an Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.


Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year, and we are $918,000 over budget. We must cut back." So they laid off the night watchman.


NOW slowly, let that sink in.


Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.


Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY..... during the Carter Administration?


Anybody?


Anything?


No?


Didn't think so!


Bottom line: We've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency...the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!


Ready?? It was very simple . . . and, at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.



The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.


Hey, pretty efficient, huh???


AND, NOW, IT'S 2010 -- 33 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES, AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"




A little over 33 years ago, 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports.Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.


Ah, yes -- the good old Federal bureaucracy!!
If one goes through the same process with the U.S. Department of Education, one gets a similar return on investment of taxpayer dollars! NOTHING!! Stay tuned!!!



NOW, WE HAVE TURNED THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY OVER TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?


Hello!! Anybody Home?

Point well taken.

You had me until the end.

The government is selling it's shares in the banks that were bailed out (at a profit). They are selling their shares in GM (depending on who's accounting you believe it could be at a profit - there were several programs there). "Government health care" is really a welfare program for the private insurers.

You were making a great point until you used three examples that go directly against the grain of what you were saying. They are examples of the government getting OUT of private enterprise after an intervention. (Though which way the finale on health care will go is anyone's guess)

Originally Posted by novie2

And then we have the Federal Education Department.....ED was created in 1980

ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
ED has 4,200 employees and $63.7 billion budget

Grade 8 math scores, the US ranks 28th world.

Yes now that's another great waste of our money. Lets get the crooks hands out of our pockets.