Global economist David Malpass explains in the latest issue of Forbes magazine why the federal government needs a major shock to the system.
This column has advocated a sweeping government upheaval that would rewrite federal rules in order to limit Washington’s power and redirect it toward growth, security and higher middle-class incomes. Every government department needs to be reinvented and, in most cases, downsized through strong cabinet leadership and oversight. Interactions with Congress need to be transformed. Hundreds of “independent agencies” need to be disbanded or reacquainted with the practice of checks and balances.
Washington hates the idea of an upheaval. The current system is entrenched because it works well for those on the inside, the people who control the outcomes while achieving wealth and status for themselves. Many politicians and former government officials make large fortunes, which is reflected in the capital region’s having the highest per capita income in the nation. This is wrong.
The reasons for this bonanza are clear and demand an upheaval. Washington will soon be spending $4 trillion per year, heading toward $5 trillion, yet it doesn’t have a working budget process or limits on spending and taxation. Instead, power is arbitrary and nearly absolute, a recipe for corruption, mistakes and inequality.
For example, the combined wisdom of the Pentagon, Congress and the White House has spent $1 trillion on an F-35 fighter jet that doesn’t meet defense needs, while lobbyists pay richly for the access needed to guide the procurement process.
On the international front too much power has been vested in multilateral organizations that work against American values and interests. The IMF regularly imposes austerity on poor people, lowering incomes while increasing government power. The UN is divisive and incompetent, whether in dealing with human rights, women’s safety or North Korean missiles terrorizing the Pacific.
The recently disclosed Panama Papers show the extent of government corruption worldwide–often taking place under the noses of U.S.-funded watchdogs. Washington’s political establishment seems unable to cut a single program.
