SentFrom.Us/Bureaucracy
 

This Message To
Family and Friends

We all know that the dollar is being recklessly printed, and numbers increased by all possible means. These include bureaucracy, bonds, T-bills, foreign investments, and every known way to spend, and debase the currency. Bureaucracies are one of the most offending, currency debilitating devices known to man, be they in the private or public sector. The largest organizations have the most entrenched, usually worthless bureaucracies imaginable. Would GM be bankrupt if it were a smaller, easier controlled corporation? Of course. But GM doesn't print money. The U.S. government, in cooperation with the non-federal reserve increases the money supply, thereby decreasing its value. There are the US government bureaucracies, and the city, state, county, and school bureaucracies as well, which may not increase the money supply, but certainly do increase your taxes!

STATE AND LOCAL

Between 1994 and 2004, the number of school teachers and school administrators (K-12) climbed 22%, while the school enrollment grew but 9%, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Colleges' payrolls increased 17%, while enrollment increased far less. Police, fire departments, corrections, sheriff, and law enforcement in general, during a ten year period, showed a 21% increase in payroll. Bureaucracies in the U.S. kept growing, without any sign of a letup. State and local bureaucracies employ over 16 million, 40 % of whom are represented by unions. The average state and local bureaucrat enjoyed an average $36 per hour wage, as opposed to $24 per hour for private sector workers.

Nevada has the smallest number of bureaucrats per capita, and Alaska, District of Columbia, and Wyoming the largest. Believe it or not, Bill Clinton reduced the number of welfare recipients by 66%, but the number of welfare bureaucrats was only reduced by only 4%.

FEDERAL

Here's where we really go to town. There are 457 'federal agencies,' all with dozens of bureaucracies within them. There is perhaps no 'agency' less known about, nor less publicized than the NIH, or National Institutes of Health Just a small cog in a large wheel. Still, look at what sub-bureaucracies there are in the NIH.

Office of the Director Program Offices.
Office of Research on Women's Health Issues.
Office of AIDS Research.
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.
Office of Disease Prevention.
Office of the Director Staff Offices.
Office of Extramural Research.
Office of Intramural Research.
Office of Management/Chief Financial Officer.
Office of Science Policy.
Office of Communications and Public Liaison.
Office of Science Policy.
Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management.
Office of Program Coordination.
Office of Legislative Policy and Analysis.
Office of Community Liaison.
Executive Office.
Office of the Ombudsman/Ctr. For Cooperative Resolution.
NIH Ethics Office.
Immediate Office of the Director.
National Cancer Institute.
National Human Genome Research Institute.
National heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
National Institute on Aging.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
National institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
National Institute lf Child Health and Human Development.
National institute on Drug Abuse.
National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
National institute of Mental Health.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
National Institute of Nursing Research.
National Library of Medicine.
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Clinical Center.
Center for Information Technology.
Center for Scientific Review.
Fogarty International Center.
National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
National Center for Complimentary Medicine.
National Center for Research Resources.

Each of these bureaucracies within a bureaucracy, undoubtedly has hundreds of employees. All occupy space, use endless copy machines, computers, telephones, desks, parking privileges, expensive offices, and for all practical purposes, contribute to the decline of the dollar. Each bureaucrat always sees ways to increase or elevate him or herself by hiring underlings, thereby making them more important and higher on the chain. Next week, I'll discuss the idiocy of bureaucracy, but for now, just consider all 457 'agencies,' or major bureaucracies, with their millions of employees and accompanying offices, buildings, communications, and utter nonsense.

Does the NIH cure anything? Has anything ever been attributed to the NIH? Most medical discoveries are made in for profit drug labs, or even by accident, as was penicillin and a few others. Would America be worse off if the NIH was simply abolished? Would the dollar decline slower if the NIH were simply abolished tomorrow? Would your or my health be endangered if the NIH were discarded? Looking at the above various bureaucracies in the NIH, can you find a single one which we could not easily do without?

As an example, the NTSB or National Transportation Safety Board, which examines every single accident on a train, truck, or plane. It undoubtedly has tens of thousands of employees, vehicles, planes, phones, offices, desks, and all sorts of appurtenances, which cost billions and tens of billions of depreciating dollars each and every year. Railroads have had accidents since they were invented in the 1830's and have always found the trouble, corrected it, and have operated with an incredible safety record. Railroads build and maintain their own tracks, signals, dispatching, and speed restrictions. They don't need the NTSB messing in their business, and neither does the taxpayer who tries to stay ahead with depreciating dollars. A couple of years ago, a nut case drove his Jeep onto the tracks of a commuter rail line and caused a horrific crash which killed several. From the get go, everyone knew who did it, and he was on the sidelines watching. Did we need a hoard of bureaucrats rushing onto the scene? Of course not. What on earth did the airlines ever do before the NTSB, or the truckers? Did they provide for their own and our safety? Of course!

You wouldn't believe the various tax costing, dollar depreciating 'agencies' which the D.C. Gang has fostered. Beginning with "A" there is the Administration for Children and Families, and ending with Worldnet Television. There are millions of worthless, over-paid employees, with lifetime job guarantees, pensions, and medical care in these 'agencies.' They occupy hundreds of millions of square feet of offices, and daily make our life miserable. Do you think that the Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee, The Denali Commission, or the Millennium Challenge Corporation are worthwhile or indispensable?

Remember that America has a Constitution, which allows government to do certain things. 99% of what the government and the D.C. Gang, is doing, is not allowed by our Constitution. If all things not allowed by the Constitution were stopped short, and like Grandfather's Clock, never to go again, the dollar might even recover. There'd be a few million unemployed, and probably unemployable, but that would be a small price to pay for a valuable dollar. If the federal government were 97% eliminated, even if we weren't neutral as we should be, it might not be necessary to buy gold and silver to protect one's self. If the D.C. Gang were throttled in, D.C. might well become a virtual ghost town, and wouldn't we all cry about that one? Protect yourself.



May 25, 2006

Don Stott has been a precious metals dealer since 1977, has written five books, hundreds of columns, and his web site is www.ColoradoGold.com