The Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE for short, has one highly visible and vitally important set of Key Result Measures, federal government revenue, spending, and borrowing.
The information is available HERE but some customizing is required to get the format below, quarterly figures for spending, income, and borrowing beginning in 2000, the last year that revenue and spending matched and ending with the 4th quarter of 2024 just before DOGE started creating chaos.
Note that things went out of control at the time of the 2008 stock market crash and went totally berserk with the irresponsible government reaction to Covid. It continues to worsen quarterly!
For those who prefer numbers rather over charts, here are the actual numbers for 2024, all expressed in annual rates. Our Federal Government had income in 2024 of $5.1T, spent $7.2T, and increased the debt by $2.1T ($6,000 per person in the USA). That is an absurd set of numbers for the wealthiest nation in the world. The only possible explanation is sorry and irresponsible management!
So the question is: When will we see the spending and revenue merging together and the borrowing moving toward zero?
It won’t happen soon because there will be spending required to cover the cost of layoffs and early retirements and the cost of upgrading ridiculously outdated technology used to manage and document expenditures and to make sure expenditures are going to the proper places in proper amounts.
I hope that by 2027 the two upper curves will be merging and the borrowing will be steadily decreasing. Given the bad habits and poor management methods that have become engraved, that may be too much to hope for.
But no improvement will be sustainable unless the culture and management systems are changed. The Senate, in particular, needs to quit worrying about sending enough money to their states to assure re-election and start focusing on what is good for the nation. House members are supposed to represent their states, but it won’t hurt if they start thinking a bit about the nation as well.
So, forget all the stuff you are seeing on social media about how wonderful DOGE is on the one hand, and how, on the other hand, it is destroying the nation. There is some truth on both sides. Just watch the Key Result Measures. We must stop this wasteful spending and borrowing unless we want to see inflation out of control and the financial security of millions destroyed.
The United States House and Senate members, current and in the past 15 years, should be ashamed of themselves for letting this ridiculous set of circumstances develop!
And yes, I am upset about and ashamed of the situation!
