It's good to be working in free enterprise again. After 7.75 years too long in a government contracting job that lasted 8 years, I'm finally able to see objectively how the process "works." I've set up a little textual flowchart to demonstrate this.
Step 1: Government decides it wants something done.
Step 2: Government discovers it doesn't know how to do anything.
Step 3: Government decides to hire a contractor who knows how to do something
Step 4: Government discovers it has no money with which to pay someone who knows how to do something, such as a government contractor.
Step 5: Government collects taxes from people who have real jobs because they know how to do something...however the particular something these people know how to do may not be precisely what the government wants done.
Step 6: Government takes tax money it has collected from people who know how to do something and gives it to government contractors who know how to do something else.
Step 7: Government collects additional tax dollars from the very government contractors they hired, after they've performed the thing that the government decided it wanted done in the first place.
Step 8: Government uses tax dollars collected from government contractors to figure out something else it wants done.
Now, here's how actual free enterprise works:
Step 1: I discover I have three feet of snow on my driveway.
Step 2: I find toothless old guy who lives down the block who has a snowplow.
Step 3: I pay toothless old guy $35 to keep my driveway plowed for the winter.
Step 4: Toothless guy goes away $35 richer, and I have a nice clean driveway.
See....only half the number of steps involved.....and not one of them involves the government.
Life is grand.
Step 1: Government decides it wants something done.
Step 2: Government discovers it doesn't know how to do anything.
Step 3: Government decides to hire a contractor who knows how to do something
Step 4: Government discovers it has no money with which to pay someone who knows how to do something, such as a government contractor.
Step 5: Government collects taxes from people who have real jobs because they know how to do something...however the particular something these people know how to do may not be precisely what the government wants done.
Step 6: Government takes tax money it has collected from people who know how to do something and gives it to government contractors who know how to do something else.
Step 7: Government collects additional tax dollars from the very government contractors they hired, after they've performed the thing that the government decided it wanted done in the first place.
Step 8: Government uses tax dollars collected from government contractors to figure out something else it wants done.
Now, here's how actual free enterprise works:
Step 1: I discover I have three feet of snow on my driveway.
Step 2: I find toothless old guy who lives down the block who has a snowplow.
Step 3: I pay toothless old guy $35 to keep my driveway plowed for the winter.
Step 4: Toothless guy goes away $35 richer, and I have a nice clean driveway.
See....only half the number of steps involved.....and not one of them involves the government.
Life is grand.