The federal government may have a reputation for being a bit slow and bloated, but a new concept, the President’s SAVE award, hopes to change some of that. Begun in 2009 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), it’s “a contest for federal employees to come up with the best idea to save taxpayer dollars and make the government perform more effectively and efficiently.” (Where was this program when John Szilagyi needed it?) During the first submission window, the OMB received nearly 40,000 ideas within three weeks; the best ideas were passed to the appropriate government agencies. One idea is already bound for implementation: the Department of Homeland Security “announced that it is changing the default setting for its payroll statements from paper to electronic … By making e-statements the default option, while giving employees the option to opt out in favor of the paper statement, we hope to increase the percentage of federal employees who use this approach while saving the taxpayers’ money.” We have truly entered the Land of the Nudge. (HT: Zeke Emanuel)
Tighter Government, One Nudge at a Time
TAGS: government
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Lee it is great to see that Goverment is learning from credit card companies, banks, Insurance companies, phone companies, cable and power companies – that is the kind of free market innovation this country needs – overbilling customers and then not telling them about it, upping rates for no reason, creating obscure and confusing pricing, and piling on penalites for minor transgressions – yes companies are always more efficient than the government in fleecing people of their money – that why we need less goverment regulation, it destroys “value” created by fleecing the suckers.
Dang Ray, you beat me to it! Cut 50% and the gov’t will save a bundle.
A major company gasoline credit card has started charging me $5.00 to send me a paper statement. I kind of like my paper statements, so I now only use the card every few months to keep the account open. Five bucks seems excessive and, in my case, has had a negative result.
I can pretty much assure you that the government will spend more money reviewing the cost saving ideas than will ever be saved through the implementation of any of them.
@Dr J
Yeah, but if Verizon screws me on my high speed internet bill I can switch to Comcast. If the government screws me on my taxes, they just get to screw me again next year and there’s nothing I can do.
Brett – You beat me to it!
My favorite argument from those for bigger government is the fact that 90% of businesses fail within the first year, so the free market can’t be that good. Well, if 90% of government programs run a deficit in the first year, guess what, instead of “going out of business”, we’re stuck with them.
@Brett
You live in a representative democracy. How about you and all the other government complainers stop whining and do something about it. If you know so damn much about saving the government money, run for office.
Or, if you don’t want to take part in your democracy, you’re always free to try to find a country that’s more efficient.
As a long time government worker I was often appalled at waste and did a great deal to change it.
But whenever I associated with private sector businesses at conferences and educational settings, I was even more appalled at their waste. I learned that it is a function of attitude and management, not job sector. We, collectively, as a tribe, always value our own whatever ore than that of the other guy. That’s why 75% of any group of parents say our schools are failing, but 80% of the same parents say the school *their* child attends is great.
So whenever I hear complainers talkng about the government I am reminded that they work in places that have made waste a watchword – they’re always willing to watch what others do, not themseelves.
@Kevin
If I were railing on a corporation instead of the government would you be as critical?
If a corporation screws me over I vote with my dollars and let other people know what happened.
If the government screws me over I vote at the ballot box and let other people know how I feel.
The difference is that my effects on a corporation can be immediate, I can usually make an instantaneous break from any corporation, but I only get a chance to vote for new representation every couple of years. Even then I only get the effects I desire if my vote jibes with the majority, and if a supposedly promising candidate then turns out to be corrupt and screws me over again I’m stuck with him/her for the next few years.
This is exactly why government should be as limited as possible. Government is necessary, but it will invariable disappoint so let’s make it as small as possible so that the disappointment is as minimal as possible.