The government’s annoyance economy is just waste.
Many bureaucratic jobs in the private sector are just BS jobs. David Graeber wrote a whole book about it.
AI and Automation will take over some percentage of real jobs.
We are going to have to redefine our whole economic model if we get rid of the waste and BS and if we take advantage of new technology. I think a very small percentage of humans will have to contribute to the national labor force.
“Big government sucks.”- Charlie Kirk
pong
$166B ??
Why, that’s the same amount as the tariffs Trump has collected, to date.
What a coinky-dink.
We're in the midst of some work, and the local government's "nickels and dimes" of additional paperwork is an annoyance, as well as an additional expense each time the bureaucrats "need" another piece of paper.
I used to run bank call centers. Every month we calculated the cost to answer customer calls with a human. The cost was incredible, about $4.50-8.00 per call depending on the agent and complexity of the contact.
When we launched internet banking (this was a long time ago) our call volume dropped about 35% in a month. The cost to handle an internet banking inquiry was about $0.35. We were able to close call centers and consolidate our operations quickly and our satisfaction ratings soared.
I can imagine that the cost to handle a healthcare insurance call today is probably pushing $15-$20. Those agents are on the call for 20-30 minutes at a time. So, $21 Billion wasted on those calls seems reasonable.
Now…consider that medical coding is half assed most of the time. If you clean up the input, the costs on the recovery side drop like a rock.
When my wife was undergoing cancer treatment we had to pick apart every bill because the coding errors were so egregious. Over 18 months we NEVER got a bill that did not need correction.
In the past couple of years the hospital system integrated a better billing system where everything is scanned into the chart. The result is much better billing and payments. It’s saved us a ton of time and everything gets approved and paid faster.
“System” related waste is a huge thing. In government it has to be incredibly bad because their systems and people are calcified.
A massive bloated bureaucracy was one of the things (one of several) which brought down the Roman Empire.
The federal govt imposes a wide variety of taxes on income, transactions, and
property, categorized into major types that drive the vast majority of govt revenue.
Individual Income Taxes: This is the largest source of federal revenue. For the 2025 and 2026 tax years, there are seven progressive income tax brackets/rates: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.
Payroll Taxes (Social Insurance Taxes): These are deducted from employee paychecks to fund Social Security and Medicare.
Corporate Income Taxes: A flat rate of 21% is applied to the taxable income of C corporations.
Excise Taxes: Special taxes on specific goods or services, such as fuel, tobacco, alcohol, and air travel.
Estate and Gift Taxes: Taxes on the transfer of large, high-value estates or large monetary gifts.
Customs Duties (Tariffs): Taxes on imported goods. (Tax Policy Center)
Progressive Structure: The federal income tax system uses seven different rates that rise with income.
Payroll Dominance: For most low- and middle-income taxpayers, payroll taxes (Social Security/Medicare) often exceed federal income tax liability.
Capital Gains: A separate, lower tax rate (0%, 15%, or 20%) applies to long-term capital gains and dividends.
Total Revenue: In FY 2024, approximately $5 trillion in revenue was collected through these combined mechanisms. (Tax Policy Center)
Note all those fees. Many are called that ‘cause to pass a state tax requires the state legislature to pass a bill . This is scary as it threatens re-election.
So, they tell the bureaucracy to implement a fee.
Obama’s Admin commissioned a study on total tax rate vs gov’mt revenue. What occurred was the Laffer curve. Looks like IQ curve. At 0% tax, no gov’mt revenue (well, d’oh). At 100% also zero since everyone quits working. Or, at least quits reporting income and becomes a criminal.
So, there is a sweet spot in the middle where total tax rate maximizes revenue. It is ~37%. A smidgen higher or lower and revenue drops.
That total tax rate includes all those fees. Add ‘em all up to see if your local gov’mt is ignoring Obama’s finding and taxing you just for the ‘Ell of it. If so, your gov’mt officials are more stupid than you imagined.
How the heck would you quantify that cost?
Time is money. I guess they plug in a average salary for a typical job that people who find themselves stuck dealing with the lord high poobahs of our benevolent betters.
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