Posted on 03/09/2022 5:23:56 AM PST by sodpoodle
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 was to do the studies and one was 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, 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 it 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? Anyone? No? Didn't think so!
Bottom line is, we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency, the reason for which very few people who read 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 2022 -- 45 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $242 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?") 34 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.
Ah, yes -- good old Federal bureaucracy.
NOW, WE HAVE TURNED OVER THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT? What can possibly go wrong?
Hello!! Anybody Home?
Signed.... The Night Watchman
None that wouldn’t be removed by the Mods.
That’s why President Trump was removed. President Trump showed congress where 200 plus billion dollars per year was being wasted, congress became angry and fired the Night Watchman
Git a rope!
It’s not funny.
It was not listed as ‘humor’. No funny emails in these troubled times, sorry.
I was agreeing with it. Sorry, for the bone-dry humor. I thought it fitting. ;)
I can’t recall where nuclear was organized prior, but Dept. of Energy was/is responsible for maintaining our nuclear arsenal and the fission materials for that. So it has a national defense function. As far as getting us off foreign oil, it’s not lived up to that role, but I’m not sure if that really is it’s core mission.
The story posted certainly applies to several govt agencies. Not sure I’d apply it to Energy first. Maybe start with education and HUD. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if those budgets were bigger, too.
All govt agencies eventually grow beyond their original mandate. They should be trimmed back to their core national defense functions.
Thanks for posting.
The DOE and it's goal of, "energy independence," are a good example, but virtually every department, bureau and agency exists under the same principle. If a problem is solved the need for the agency (and by extension, the careers of the people in that agency) goes away.
This is a problem with the administrative state. An elected official who answers to his or her constituency has every incentive to go back to their voters and say, "I solved this problem." An elected official who answers to a bureaucracy is incentivized to go back to their departments (and associated donor industries) and say, "I was able to secure a 10% increase in funding over last year."
"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. "
And in the end the costs of the bureaucracy exceeds the value of the scrap they were protecting.
"So they created an administrative section and hired three people"
But they left out the diversity and justice person, and then the department of staff that resulted, and the Equal rights commission to deal with complaints Then the resulting legal dept. to deal with what this inquisition finds guilty, as being judge and jury. And a lobbying dept. to keep this bureaucracy in perpetuity.
But then there was a top secret industrial plant in East Germany years ago, and security guards were told to diligently search the workers and their bags etc. every day when they left for home, and to not do anything but exactly what the instructions said. And so every day the workers left and clothing and any bags, pockets, hats, briefcases were searched, and as well the small bucket of mud that one worker had with him every day. Finding this very suspicious the guards diligently searched through the mud to see what he could possibly be hiding, but found nothing. Finally after many months they told their superiors who examined the case and came to the conclusion that the man was stealing buckets. Which should be obvious but so should the fact that a bureaucracy can be more costly than the very thing it was created to protect, or counterproductive the very thing it was created to enable.
Name me one govt entity that has not had mission creep and is still on the original purpose?
Everyone has political correctness as the MAIN purpose.
And sadly true of many private business.
NAME ME ONE AREA OF THE ECONSOMY/SOCIETY THAT THE GOVT ISN’T.
I will add that in my experience, nothing will change until the cash flow stops.
Tough times is the CURE for what ails us.
Now if you lived in Germany in the late 30’s and saw what was coming, what were your choices.
Think about it.
Get out as fast as you can.
Stand up and lose your job, wealth and even life
Go underground and your family and friends lose their livelihood or life
Go along and survive ..................maybe survive
There are many survival posts here. Plans that might get you out the city oR live for 3 or 4 months.
THEN WHAT?
There were a few INDIVIDUALS in Germany that planned for the rebuild, saw beyond the current problems.
Let’s talk about that.
The primary goal of a bureaucracy is to sustain itself. A group of bureaucrats charged with the responsibility of cleaning up dog poop will always create more dog poop to clean up. They will also do a qualitatively poorer job requiring more funding to improve their capability, to create more dog poop.
It’s the nature of men to not work their way out of a job. It’s congress’s responsibility to stop funding when the mission is complete. They seem to fail in this responsibility in every way except when it comes to the military, which they routinely trim to the bone.
Sick, dark humor pointing out the Absurd; yeah, still funny.
This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer. — Will Rogers
Comments?
We’re toast.
5.56mm
Finally, some useful facts are coming out about all of those airport full body scans!😳
FULL BODY SCANS AT AIRPORTS
TSA disclosed the following Airport Screening Results
2021 Statistics On Airport Full Body Screening From TSA :
Terrorists Discovered
0
Transvestites
133
Hernias
1,485
Hemorrhoid Cases
3,172
Enlarged Prostates
8,249
Breast Implants
59,350
Natural Blondes
3
It was also discovered that 308 politicians had no balls.
Thought you’d like to know
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