We have the criminal, now we only need the crime. This may be how government works in this time of Trump. The crime is the alleged bloated budget in the government caused by over staffed agencies and the over funded bureaucracy. Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy have decided the solution is to cut the federal bureaucracy. These two have claimed that moving agencies out of DC and reducing the bureaucratic headcount by 50% is needed. All without ever serving in any government agency. This appears to be similar to the investigative technique where we know the criminal, now let’s find the crime. Why do we want to believe that government is not only a problem but that it is the problem?
As a way of support some economists opine that “Downsizing the Bureaucracy Won’t Crash the Economy” in a report by Brian Wesbury and others with First Trust Portfolios. The report discusses why the proposed downsizing will not create skyrocketing unemployment except that’s not really the issue. The Trump acolytes assume that many government agencies are unnecessary or bloated? None of these people have studied or written reports on why government can or should be reduced. Like so many of us they believe much of the government bureaucracy is unnecessary. The needed agencies are over staffed and over funded in their uninformed minds. Many of these agencies were created because our Congress saw a reason to support and fund them. Both Musk, Ramaswamy and other Trump adherents maintain a Libertarian focuses on limited government and regulatory agencies. These advocates form the apex of the social media generations. Research to them is deciding what opinion you prefer, locate specific information on the internet, read an opinion with which you agree, then proclaim your opinion is supported and correct based on your faulty research. Welcome to the the world of the uninformed experts.
Conducting proper research previously necessitated using the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature. Lack of its use may contribute to the cause of our current dilemma. When we used the Readers Guide, we chose an article of interest based on a phrase, a word possibly even a title. There could be one or several such articles which may be similar or very dissimilar. Each such article could include notes, references to other articles or a phrase which leads to further research. The internet is a wonderful invention providing we do not end our research on the first or perhaps only article we choose to read. The internet can save enormous amounts of time doing research. Unfortunately, many may see touching the search button as research.
My concern is that the agreed upon opinion with many in the coming Trump administration is they know what needs to be done before any research. This may be more common now than it has been in the past and not restricted to Trump appointees. These are the positions where the appointees must be well informed. The apparently random selection of individuals based on personal loyalty may be the problem. This selection process says mountains about those being selected and perhaps more about the person doing the selecting.
Phil's Personal Perspectives 