After seven years of government work, I would argue that the following problems exist in many government organizations:
(1) People are promoted until they reach a position where they are incompetent (The Peter Principle)
Antidote: Prioritize Passion & Skill over Pay (don’t let your rank force you into a position you don’t like)
(2) Work, often unproductive, will be created to fill the time allotted for it (Parkinson’s Law)
Antidote: Reward yourself for a job well-done not the time you spend at work (i.e. be task-oriented not time-oriented; output-focused not time-based)
(3) Prospective Government Budgets (i.e. the government passes their spending plan before they receive tax dollars)
Antidote: Don’t make a plan to spend your money before you have it.
(4) Penalties for Frugality – Agencies/offices that underspend their budgets get their budgets cut not maintained or increased. So, agencies/offices will often wasteful spend the rest of their budgets at the end of each fiscal year in order to avoid cuts in the following fiscal year.
Antidote: Don’t penalize savings. Rollover that money to the next fiscal year or pool it into a “sovereign wealth fund” or other form of savings. If managed competently, the money will benefit the taxpayers (e.g. Norway, Korea, Alberta).
These problems tend to exist in top-down organizations far removed from the sources of their revenue. I cannot tell if Trump, Musk, and DOGE are addressing these problems because their process is not transparent. Failing to create a more transparent and accountable government will allow these problems to persist in different or similar forms.
Sources:
Finkler, S. A., Smith, D. L., Calabrese, T. D., & Purtell, R. M. (2017). Financial Management for Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit Organizations. 5th Ed.
Parkinson, C. N. 1. (1980). Parkinson, the law. 1st American ed. Boston, Houghton Mifflin.
Peter, L. J., Hull, R., & Hull, R. (1969). The Peter principle. New York, W. Morrow.
Deliberating Truth 