Why is it that public administrators do not know how to save money? I think they do not consider themselves professional public administrators. Did this headline catch your eye: “In a Savings Shocker, the Government Discovers Paper Has Two Sides.” With instructions from the President of the United States to reduce the departmental budgets, the Department of Justice has figured out that “double-sided photocopying ” will help. Indeed even the Forest Service will no longer repaint its new white vehicles green…funny about that, you can see the white vehicles better on the trails and in the woods.
Indeed such reductions are a tip of the iceberg in belt- tightening – but didn’t these people learn how to save pennies, whether from their personal government pay check or from their professional departmental budget. Or through precedent, do they believe, “They can always ask for more?” Isn’t it time to recognize that tax dollars unwisely spent comes out of our personal pockets, too? Ethics and morals come in every size, whether pennies or millions. ‘Tis time to have government bureaucrats take responsibility for their actions and free-spending ways.
