Colman: THE DEEP STATE

It will take massive changes in the law—even ending the civil service rights to a lifetime job.  Regardless of the President or Party controlling Congress, the strong arm of government lengthens and grows.  Only by massive cuts in programs and authority, forcing government workers to obey Federal law, can we end the Deep State.

“Referring to the Bay Bridge, Parkinson, said:  “Take the Oakland bridge,” adding that “[w]hen it was finished, a permanent staff of 12 was hired to keep it [the bridge] repainted.  Over the years, it [the paint crew] grew to 77 . . .”

The size of the paint crew increased despite the development of better paints and better automation to apply paint.

From 1913, when the U.S. federal government started to increase in size, the bureaucracy has become –- to the present day — enormous.  In 1913, the federal government implemented the federal income tax.  In 1935, Congress passed and the president (Franklin Roosevelt) signed the Social Security Act.  In 1966, the federal government passed Medicare, a program to provide health care to senior citizens.

What also happened as the federal government grew in size was the amount of debt the federal government carried.  In 1981, the debt reached $1 trillion.  By 2023, the debt has become $33 trillion.”

THE DEEP STATE

By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views  10/20/23   www.capoliticalreview.com

The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States brought together a group of individuals who complained about the Deep State.

Opponents of the Deep State –- another term for bureaucracy -– wanted to reduce the number of employees working for government.

Deep State opponents perhaps did not make enough use of the arguments of C. Northcote Parkinson, a British historian.  Parkinson, who lived from 1909 to 1993, was famous for Parkinson’s Law which says that bureaucracy expands, sometime exponentially, regardless of the amount of work to be done.

In an article in The New York Times (June 19, 1978) Parkinson, used, as an example, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which opened in 1936.

Referring to the Bay Bridge, Parkinson, said:  “Take the Oakland bridge,” adding that “[w]hen it was finished, a permanent staff of 12 was hired to keep it [the bridge] repainted.  Over the years, it [the paint crew] grew to 77 . . .”

The size of the paint crew increased despite the development of better paints and better automation to apply paint.

From 1913, when the U.S. federal government started to increase in size, the bureaucracy has become –- to the present day — enormous.  In 1913, the federal government implemented the federal income tax.  In 1935, Congress passed and the president (Franklin Roosevelt) signed the Social Security Act.  In 1966, the federal government passed Medicare, a program to provide health care to senior citizens.

What also happened as the federal government grew in size was the amount of debt the federal government carried.  In 1981, the debt reached $1 trillion.  By 2023, the debt has become $33 trillion.

How long can the debt keep expanding?  No one knows.

Debt is financed by the selling of bonds, often called U.S. Treasuries, that pay the borrowers interest.   As long as lenders keep providing funds to the federal government, government can increase its debt.

However, there may come a time when lenders no longer want to buy American debt.  When that time comes, the federal government may have to curtail its spending or raise taxes.

Sometimes debt can shrink.  During years that Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was president and Newt Gingrich, a Republican, was speaker of the House of Representatives, federal government spending was less than its income.  From about 1996 to 2000, the federal government had budget surpluses.  After Clinton left office in 2001, debt reappeared.

During Clinton’s presidency (1993-2001), inflation was low, employment was high, prosperity reigned, and some stock market indices grew about four times in value.

The time has come to heed the lessons of Parkinson:  Government is growing too rapidly and may eventually cause America to become bankrupt.

The national debt of $33 trillion should be paid off, perhaps over a 30-year period.  Paying off the debt may make many Americans uncomfortable as government benefits like Social Security and Medicare are trimmed.

Opponents of the Deep State, often reviled, may be premature in their analysis of the dangers of excessive bureaucracy and excessive spending.  However, persistent and growing debt may eventually pose a danger to the economic well-being of Americans.

A nation that is debt-free, may find that economic growth -– with no inflation and full employment –- brings about a level of prosperity that no one today can imagine.