[dexter89_kp3]

I wonder why there is so much thought and work on raising taxes but not on efficient spending by the government. There are several examples around where government spending is inefficients and sometimes corrupt.

Any way to stir to conversation and political thinking on efficient spending?

[pmyteh]

These are the major concerns of the academic field known as 'public administration'. Running government services is easier than a private sector business in some senses (e.g. not subject to market fluctuations) and harder in others (e.g. no single 'bottom line' to optimise). We know how to minimise corruption quite well, but that comes with costs (e.g. rigid procurement rules) that also have downsides. Like everything else, public admin is hard and comes with unwelcome tradeoffs and decisions.

As for why it doesn't get that much political attention, I believe it's mostly because it's normally not that controversial in a partisan sense. Most political parties don't run on a 'corruption is good' ticket, and both left and right parties would normally like more efficient public services: the left so they can deliver more public goods for a given amount of money, and the right to allow them to reduce taxes. Which is not to say it doesn't ever become salient: the efficiency of public services was a big thing in US politics in the 90s, for example.

[JohnWhigham]

Because no one other than the people can hold politicians accountable on that (or "watchdog" agencies like the CBO, but they can't enforce anything), and the people are largely stupid.

[xiphias2]

For a corrupt government the more corrupt it becomes, the more efficient they see themselves. And of course they care a lot about this kind of efficiency (capturing even more money for themselves).

[ploika]

That's the function of the Comptroller and Auditor General where I live. I'd be surprised if there was no equivalent in the USA.

[germandiago]

I am with you and quite pissed withthis topic.

But at the root of all of this there is something many do not notice: spending efficiently is done way better by way more pure market dynamics. This means politicians do not have a place there.

Yet they want to control a bigger and bigger piece of the cake to justify their positions. Even a well-intentioned politician would not be able to manage more efficiently than a free market.

But when they know this and still insist is when their masks drop: they are not there to help anyone, just to justify their positions.

They really act increasingly more like a mafia in my opinion. I stay in Spain but I see the same trend in all the westerner world, including USA.

[imtringued]

>But at the root of all of this there is something many do not notice: spending efficiently is done way better by way more pure market dynamics. This means politicians do not have a place there.

Privately funded healthcare has no incentive to cure people because cures reduce future income streams. Publicly funded healthcare has no incentive to keep people ill if there is an easy cure.

I also do not want to pay tolls on pedestrian walkways.

If I had to describe your comments in one word I'd choose "cringe".

[germandiago]

I would pay pedestrian walks but noone asks me what to pay or not. Bad. Btw if you did not want to pay (I do not mean cannot) and you do not make use of them then, great! What is the problem?

As for health care, I recommend you to go find a privately funded health care business by a doctor from Lady Diana. He changed the protocols and management. It is 10 times as cheap and as reliable as others. Cancer tumors 700 usd.

There was a surgery that in US was 200,000 usd. In this place it was done by 10,000 and with profits. Yes, the state kidnaps the health care and makes it ridiculously expensive. This is what shows it: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-26/the-world...

For sure now you will tell me it is bad to make money and business from health care. U know what? Cutting costs like this saves WAY more lives than public monopolies and bankrupting countries with their amazing on-debt systems in the mid-run. That is the truth.

I do not see them killing people bc they are private. If u had free market in both education and health care then these things would be both WAY better than they are now because they would be way more affordable due to real competition and you would not pay all in taxes whether u use it or not. For the very minority that could not pay it something could be done. But hey no. Don't! Why? Because the State loses control of people. They just want to control you. That's it. Here is where the lie is. They do not help u. They pretend to help u. Data shows something else.

Instead we have way more rigid protocols and politicians babysitting every aspect whether you want or not, whether results are good or bad. That is bad. It is as if they chose the movie you have to watch in cinema or the phone you must use. Yet we accept it because "it has to be like that".

[tmcw]

Did you miss all of American politics from Reagan to Bush, the "era of small government"? Might want to check any political ad or speech from those few decades.

[dexter89_kp3]

Small government != efficient government.

A government can spend billions of dollars efficiently.

As an example look at current COVID rapid testing kits. The US government is purchasing them at 4x the cost in other developed economies. California gave away $31 billion dollars in unemployment benefits to criminals.

This is what frustrates me. I am happy paying 40% tax as long as I see it making a difference in society.

[tmcw]

Check out the investigation that Reagan pursued, the one in which he coined the phrase "Drain the swamp" and anchored the rest of his small-government ideas:

> Be bold and work like tireless bloodhounds, don't leave any stone unturned in your search to root out inefficiency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grace_Commission

You can find something similar in nearly every administration in the last 20 years. Want a Democratic example? Here's Al Gore on Letterman, talking about how government ashtrays are too expensive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQHyK3aUvJs

You can totally argue that government should be more efficient - and there are lots of people interested in that area, many of whom work for governments. But thinking that nobody is interested, or nobody is campaigning, or nobody is trying to create efficiency, is unbelievable.