Your electric company will likely provide flawless service today. Almost everyone will take it for granted. We will turn on our lights, watch our TVs, and take cold food out of our refrigerators. Almost no one will think about the many employees, from engineers to technicians to office workers, who make our lives so much better thanks to predictable electricity.
The same lack of appreciation applies to most government services and workers. With the current focus on government efficiency, we sometimes lose sight of how these services improve our lives in many ways. And we may forget that changes to these services should be made in a thoughtful manner.
Last week, I flew back into the U.S. after an overseas vacation. I didn’t think about the air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who enabled my plane to land safely. I didn’t realize that a meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NWS) had created a specialized aviation forecast that the pilot used to minimize turbulence. I was unaware that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were protecting me from hostile aircraft and hijackings.
When I entered immigration, I groaned upon seeing the line, yet I barely noticed that the agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) worked the long line in just a few minutes, because of their skill and new facial-recognition technology.
When I left baggage claim, a friendly woman with a clipboard and a smile finally popped my take-it-for-granted bubble. She asked me to participate in a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study on virus transmission. I swabbed my nose with a Q-tip, and she placed it in a jar for analysis. Unlike the many other government services which I had used obliviously that morning, the study’s novelty caught my attention. I said, “What a great idea. You could prevent my next cold or even the next COVID.”
As I said this, I remembered reading a disturbing article on my iPhone during my flight (which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made possible by its regulation of satellites and onboard Wi-Fi). The article described how rash cost-cutting efforts are damaging the federal government.
I turned to the CDC staff around me and said, “I want to thank you for doing this, especially given all the grief you are getting these days. Please know that many of us appreciate you and what you do. Hang in there. We support you.”
I learned that the CDC will spend $86 million on this three-year virus study. That works out to $0.25 per American. I will gladly pay a quarter to reduce the risk of my next cold, or God forbid, the outbreak of the next COVID. I don’t want some cost-cutter to save me this quarter.
Even if we were willing to suffer from colds and COVID to save a quarter, I question whether the cost savings are real. The U.S. government spent $4.5 trillion on COVID relief, according to the U.S. Treasury, which amounts to $13,235 per American. Diseases and illnesses cost the government and businesses vast sums of money. I prefer a government that spends quarters to save me thousands in expenses.
Similarly, I consider all the value the government provided my flight. I don’t want anyone to make cuts that disrupt my simple pleasures like inflight Wi-Fi and fast immigration lines. More importantly, I don’t want anyone to cut government services in ways that would make flights more dangerous by straining air traffic control or increasing hijacking risks.
I’m all for greater government efficiency. But I question if these efforts should be spearheaded by people like Elon Musk, who showed up in the Oval Office with a chainsaw. This is the same man who bought X (formerly known as Twitter) for $44 billion and then cut costs and mismanaged things so badly that X’s value plunged 80% to only $9 billion, per the estimate last year of Fidelity Investments. Our government needs wise cost-cutting by thoughtful people.
On a personal note, my airport experience showed me a powerful and simple way to take action:
When I meet a government worker, I will thank them for making my life better and tell them that they have my support.
And, as a taxpayer:
I will monitor my government services. I will be vocal about their value and any deterioration – to members of my community, the media, and my U.S. representative and senators.
Ironically, this rash cost-cutting may be the reason we finally appreciate our government services. We can no longer take them for granted like we do with the electric company. We can recognize their value now and defend them. Or, when these services deteriorate, we can feel pain in more ways than we ever imagined.
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