In praise of inefficiency

As our good friends in Washington shake their heads about the various failures of FEMA and Homeland Security, pointing fingers at one another and heaping scorn on the men they confirmed as competent and efficient sometimes mere months ago; as their flapping mouths spin tales of federal disaster aid spent on strippers and tattoos, of thousands of debit cards given away by mistake or to people who didn't qualify for them, I say, "Keep it up, guys. You're doing great!"

Seriously. Giving money to people who spend it exactly as they wish is probably the least harmful thing government can do with it, other than just leaving it alone in the first place.

Yes, it's a waste of resources, frought with self-interest and fraud, on a scale such as the world has never experienced. But if Congress is going to steal those resources from the people who created them (and it is now clear that, Republican or Democrat-led, they are going to do exactly that), the best possible solution is that nothing comes of it but richer strippers and bigger tattoos.

The federal government will spend $2.8 trillion dollars this year. That's approximately $50,000 for a married couple with three kids. Not only is it probably more than they earn, but it's enough to give them their very own bureaucrat, full-time, to watch over them and make sure they obey the millions of regulations that turn every citizen into a lawbreaker.

Believe me, the last thing you want is to get your money's worth from government.

Failing the bounds of the Constitution to contain the devouring maw of government, the best we can hope is that the damage they do, they will do poorly and inefficiently. I pray that we never get all the government we are paying for.

And besides, the world can always use better and bigger tattoos.