editorial: Lean bureaucracy could be healthier for nation

By the time Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy get through with their examination of the federal government labor force — expect that sooner than later — will subsequent cuts help or hurt average taxpaying citizens?

Some analysts say it will hurt — and possibly hurt badly. 

You’ve already seen warnings that cutting massive swaths through all or most government departments, with some entire departments potentially facing death sentences, will send national unemployment skyrocketing and service to the public plummeting.

Musk and Ramaswamy, forecasting “mass head-count reductions,” are keeping those analysts (and countless federal employees) awake at night. 

And yet, other analysts aren’t seeing a silver lining in storm clouds. They’re seeing sunny days ahead for the economy and, yes, even for many of those whose federal jobs might vanish.

One of the most intriguing opinions on the positives of thorough analysis followed by deep but logical cuts was the subject of a Nov. 15 report by the respected First Trust economists including Brian S. Wesbury. The opinion piece’s title, “Downsizing the Bureaucracy Won’t Crash the Economy,” is pretty emphatic — and well-supported, too.

Wesbury & Co. point out that the federal government employs about 3 million people, while some 160 million overall are employed. Even if under President-elect Trump half that federal head count was knocked off the public payroll and none of them got other jobs, the national unemployment rate would rise from 4.1% to a still-manageable 5%.

The economists agree that if many of the job losses occurred in private sector fields like construction, where actual production takes place, that unemployment impact could be substantial. 

But because federal bureaucracy is almost indisputably bloated and doesn’t produce consumable products — its regulatory functions in fact often hinder private sector production — eliminating many positions could improve the economy.

Here’s another excellent bit of economic conjecture by the First Trust economists:

"Further, the vast majority of these workers will find work in the private sector, where free markets more efficiently allocate resources. These are well educated individuals with lots of potentially valuable skills that aren’t being fully utilized. 

"The unemployment rate for people with a college degree or higher in the U.S. is currently just 2.5%. These former bureaucrats would be able to find new jobs relatively quickly and this reallocation of talent would be an asset to future growth and innovation."

Thorough, fair efficiency analysis should be standard operating procedure wherever taxpayer money is concerned. Cutting wisely — and there’s the rub — would be a net positive regardless of political agendas.

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Here’s the report: https://tinyurl.com/4z7wwd52