America: Fed.Gov wastes 50 cents of every dollar

Hey, all I know is what I read from Gallup:

Americans are markedly cynical about the amount of waste in federal spending, more so than at several other times in recent history. On average, Americans believe 50 cents of every tax dollar that goes to the government in Washington, D.C., today are wasted. That's an increase from 46 cents per dollar in 2001.

Gee, ya think?

The further from Washington the government is, the less Americans think is wasted:

Americans are only a bit less critical of state government spending. The average amount they now say their own state wastes is 42 cents, again topping the previous high by a few cents. Slightly more Americans today, compared with eight years ago, believe more than 50 cents of each state tax dollar is wasted (23% today versus 16% in 2001).

...

Local government fares best among the three levels of government, and has not seen much change in its reading since the last measurement. The average amount per dollar Americans believe their own local government wastes is 37 cents, similar to the 36 cents recorded in the Sept. 7-10, 2001, Gallup survey.

So, the closer the government is to the people, the less the people think that the government wastes their money.

I feel this way myself. While I think that the Mass.Gov is even more wasteful than the Fed.Gov*, I know precisely what my town spends. Every spring, we have a Town Meeting where everyone shows up at the High School Gym and votes on the budget. Schools, Police, and Fire make up over 90% of the budget. Is there waste in those? Sure. Waste like the Mass.Gov or the Fed.Gov? Forget it.

This is a law of organizations - the bigger they are, the more wasteful they are. The smaller they are, the more careful they are with their money. This applies to non-government organizations, too. At Internet Security Startup #2, we were the cheapest guys on the face of the earth: we got cheap hotels from Priceline.com. When we were bought by Big Tech Company, we laughed when they told us about their "Culture of Frugality" which made us stay at Hilton. We got noticeably more from our dollar than they did.

The poll (and my commentary) is measure of people's perception - the reality may be different. The Fed.Gov could be much, much more efficient than people think. And the Unicorn that pees high test into my tank may show up tomorrow.

* Exhibit A for the case of the People vs. the Mass.Gov is the Turnpike Authority, that consumes something like 85% of all toll revenue they take. Exhibit B is the fact that Massachusetts pays around ten times as much per mile of highway maintained as neighboring New Hampshire does.

Hat tip: Capital Gains and Games, via TJIC.