Why Is Government Inefficient?

Column for week of June 9, 2014

     Government is generally believed to be inefficient.  It
pays $600 for a screwdriver anyone else can buy for $10.  It
pays many employees far more than does the private sector. 
Also, those employees are rarely over worked.

     I had some personal experience with this a few decades
ago.  I fought boredom in my own ways.  I drew many house
plans.  The department where I worked didn't do houses.  Within
a year I resorted to the ultimate boredom fighter.  I quit.

     People are not inherently inefficient.  Most people seek to
achieve their goals in the  most efficient way possible.  In other
words, get what you want with as little effort as possible.  It has
been said "Laziness is the mother of invention."  There is
nothing wrong with finding an easier way to do something.

     Finding easier ways is the foundation of our prosperity. 
If we still did everything in the old inefficient ways of a mere
hundred years ago we would have but a small fraction of what
we have today.

     In the private sector people prosper by finding efficient
ways to serve others.  The more efficiently we serve others, the
more we get for the time spent serving them.  Making a pair of
shoes in one hour is more profitable than spending two hours
making the shoes.  When earning your living producing for
willing customers, efficiency is vital to your prosperity.

     It is hard to imagine that the inherent nature to be
efficient dies when the individual crosses the line into the
government sector.  So, why are those on the government side so
inefficient?  Not only do they produce inefficiently, much of
their effort is invested in producing things not worth making.

     People are motivated to efficiently produce the things that
benefit them.  Imagine a person who spends his entire day
making paper airplanes he doesn't want and no one will buy. 
What motivation does he have to be efficient?

     It doesn't matter whether he produces 100 great airplanes
or one really bad one.  His goal isn't to improve his efficiency of
production.  His goal is only to make his day as pleasant as
possible.

     Of course, everyone's goal is to make their days as
pleasant as possible.  The individual who is paid more for
producing more can gain satisfaction from efficient production. 
The individual who gains nothing from efficient production has
no reason to be efficient.

     It is the government environment that sucks the
efficiency out of its inhabitants.  Actually it doesn't suck out the
efficiency, it redirects it.  Instead of rewarding efficient
production, government rewards efficient manipulators.  Those
best at manipulating the bosses, the rules, and the voters are
rewarded with higher pay and more power.  As manipulators
their efficiency is second to none.

     Even if government employees want to be efficient, they
usually have no way to measure their efficiency.   Sure, they can
measure the number or new rules they produce or enforce, the
number of reports they write, and the number of accounts they
audit.

     The only way to measure the value of a product is to see
what a willing customer will pay for it.  Most of what
government produces isn't sold to willing customers.  It is paid
for by less than willing taxpayers who seldom even know what
they are paying for.

     It is inevitable that government will always be inefficient
at producing what taxpayers want because the taxpayers aren't in
control.  Taxpayers usually aren't in a position to reward
efficient behavior and punish inefficient behavior.  Government
will be efficient only at producing what politicians, bureaucrats,
and their powerful accomplices want.

     Government always has been and always will be a
conspiracy of the powerful exploiting the weak.  The only
defense the weak have is to keep government as small and weak
as possible.  Powerful government is the most destructive force
on earth.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2014
Albert D. McCallum