Political Treatise 1

There is a widespread view amongst mostly professionals in various fields that government is not efficient and there needs to be better results for taxpayer money.? I agree to an extent, however too often people do not understand that efficiency is not the first and primary goal of any government or administration.? It is politics.? And that means understanding and representing the will of the people.? Often governments respond to demands for efficiency or fiscal responsibility which results in policies to achieve that.? But that is beneath government's main goal of serving the people - those who put them in power and also those who didn't.When you feel the government is not efficient in a certain area, you are most likely correct.? But it is also likely the government is aware of this and also subordinates efficiency to a higher goal.

One important point to remember is that over the past 70 years since WWII Western governmennt spending as a percentage of the econonomy has expanded dramatically.? The government efficiency problem is less of an issue when government makes up 15% of the GDP as when it spends over 50% of the GDP.? Yes government efficiency has become a significant issue in the West but it is not necessarily due to governments being inefficient - they always have been to an extent.? It is more because as each interest group grabs more and more of government spending without reducing that of the other, they give over to the government more and more of the economy.??

You cannot make government more efficient unless you elect a government on that basis. However those who desire a more efficient economy and government services invariably prefer to get to the root cause and they demand less government through lower taxes and lower spending.? They do not vote big blue or big red/green as it is in most countries.? These voters or interest groups either support right wing conservative parties or, more often, see the futility in supporting minor parties and prefer to infiltrate government departments, lobby groups, contractors, think tanks and be the first recipients and managers of the large amount of government spending.?

This is the current situation in most Western countries over the past 30 or so years. As the major parties have moved more and more to the centre and bought votes from the other side thereby increasing government spending as a percentage of GDP, professionals and managers have moved their focus to make sure they look after themselves and secure first access to government contracts, spending and subsidies.?

The corporate sector is a part of this including all the professsional and management positions that go along with it.The regular person, the small business, the small farmer are at the end of this chain.? They get an equal vote in who the government is but the professional managerial class puts itself in a position to get government spending before it reaches them.? Regulations and complex government policies are the bread and butter of the professional and managerial classes.? Regulations most often benefit incumbant large players in any market.? Large corporations often support increasing regulation which acts as a moat or barrier to entry around their market position and gives employment and work to the professional and managerial classes.?

This is yet another piece of the puzzle to why productivity has declined in the West over the past 50 years.? Growing government spending, at one point in history decried by those who work hard and are successful, is now seen as the source of income for their profession and their large customers.? The real revolving door is not between government and private employers, but between professionals and corporations.??

As you can imagine this is an insular parasitic system that gives no consideration to the overall government or people or the country.? There are numerous financial centres around the world that can contain such professionals and managers and they need not be within the country itself to exert pressure on it.? This is the format of the WEF and a myriad of other professional and financial organisations that attempt to suck on the GDP of countries from outside using professional, financial and managerial services.

What is to be done? One answer is to reduce government spending as a percentage of GDP and at the same time protect the value of the currency people earn and save by running a balanced budget and even by linking the currency to gold or a basket of commodities. This would not solve all problems but it would funnel less national wealth through parasitic mechanisms and ensure that the money the regular person earns and saves actually becomes more valuable or retains its value over time. A third policy that can help is to pursue a policy of over 90% private home ownership through taxes and policies that make it uneconomic to own a second or third home and more expensive for everyone else except an owner occupier to own the home.

A nation where more people own their own homes and earn a stable currency is one where the population has more chance to be a meaningful part of that economy and political system. This is good for democracy, good for government but may be bad for professionals and the managerial class.