Title: Reducing Wasteful Federal Spending | Cato Institute
Headings: Reducing Wasteful Federal Spending
Reducing Wasteful Federal Spending
The Need to Cut Spending
Causes of Waste in Federal Spending
Aid to the States Is Particularly Inefficient
Conclusions
About the Author
Chris Edwards

Content: One reason for all the rules is to prevent corruption and fraud, which are concerns because the government hands out so many contracts and subsidies. Another reason is that there is no profit goal in government, and so detailed rules provide an alternate way to monitor workers. Finally, government workers themselves have reasons to favor red tape: if they follow detailed rules, they can “cover their behinds” and shield themselves from criticism. Bureaucratic Layering. Research has found that American businesses have become leaner in recent decades, with flatter managements. 15 By contrast, the number of layers of federal management has greatly increased. Paul Light of the Brookings Institution found that the number of layers, or ranks by title, in the typical federal agency has jumped from 7 to 18 since the 1960s. 16 Light argues that today’s “over‐​layered chain of command” in the government is a major cause of failure. 17 Overlaying stifles information flow and makes it harder to hold anyone accountable for failures.