The Fraser Institute has been busy churning out truth these days. It’s why I like them so.
I didn’t want to blog about the Fraser Institute’s already-getting-famous “Government Failure in Canada, 2005 Report: A Review of the Auditor General’s Reports, 1992-2005”, without reading all or at least most of it, which I now have. And it’s a doozy. It’s also very informative for those who haven’t already cottoned onto the rationale for thinking right. Hello Canada’s liberal-left!
I wrote down this sentence (from toward the end of the report—page 44) because it is practically a permanent part of my evening prayers nowadays. Imagine me telling God:
“There are a number of obvious examples where it is difficult to articulate a clear mandate or even need for government involvement, given the presence of a functioning market. “
OK I’m warped, but it’s true.
(And yes, this qualifies and is duly entered as a nomination for our coveted ProudToBeCanadian.ca Quote Of The Week Award for this week. I mean the “prayer” part. Not the “I’m warped” part. Crikies.)
Read the report’s summary here. Download it here (PDF).
But I liked Greg Weston’s column at the Ottawa Sun today in which he reviews it as well. I liked it because he seems to be using it as part of his bedtime prayers too.
In all, the researchers studied 284 “government failures” identified by the auditor general, and assigned each to one of seven categories such as waste, incompetence, program failure and “self-dealing.”
Suffice it to say, so much government squander in one document is enough to make even the most forgiving taxpayer see red.
But the real value of the Fraser Institute study is its conclusion that what makes government work is precisely what ensures it doesn’t.
The researchers, for instance, challenge what they properly identify as the wrong-headed assumption that politicians and bureaucracies act in the best interests of society, and not out of self-interest:
“This thinking assumed that people become political and economic eunuchs when they enter government.” Instead, the authors argue, politicians make decisions to spend public funds based as much on their own need for re-election as on their duty to serve the country.
The result is everywhere apparent on the public books, from the $500-million helicopter cancellation fiasco to the ongoing saga of squander in the various regional development sinkholes.
Similarly, by definition, bureaucracies are equally prone to commit bad government. “While sometimes typecast as lazy and inefficient, the overwhelming majority of bureaucrats are honest, hardworking and diligent,” the study concludes.
The problem is they work for government.
[…] Add to that the monopolistic inefficiencies of government, the pressure on managers to empty their budgets, and programs driven more by politics than prudence—the only wonder is there aren’t more Adscams.
Conclusion: The only practical way to reduce government waste and mismanagement is less government.
“The main lesson from the facts assembled by the auditor general is that governments are not very effective vehicles for accomplishing outcomes,” the Fraser study concludes.
“Therefore, the objective must be to minimize the tasks that are undertaken in the public sector.
“Public purpose can be accomplished as well, or better, by contracting, privatizing, or ceding the activity to the private sector.”
Amen.
Read the whole thing (30 seconds). Amen.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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