Doubletap
VIP Member
- Dec 28, 2012
- 451
- 131
- 78
It's that time of year again! President Obama is asking Federal employees to submit their ideas to his widely advertised SAVE Award to make government operations "more effective and efficient and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely." The lucky winner of the annual contest gets to present his or her cost-cutting idea "to President Obama in person" (wow!!!).
Save Award | The White House
The objective of the award is noble in theory, so what objections could a small government advocate possibly raise?
The unfortunate truth about the SAVE Award is it's in fact just a taxpayer-funded promotional campaign for our President with no actual leadership involved and pocket change for savings. The winning SAVE Award ideas from 2009-2012 have invariably consisted of totally uncontroversial doodads that require no significant tradeoffs, burned special interest groups, or decision-making. In past years, the SAVE Award forums quickly filled with much-favorited submissions such as "End the War on Drugs," "Fire Useless Employees," or "Sell Nancy Pelosi's Public Jet," only to have these leading submissions flagged and scoured by a team of online moderators.
The winning SAVE entry last year (2012) was that "all Federal employees who receive public transit benefits shift from regular transit fare to the reduced senior fare as soon as they are eligible." The previous year's (2011) selection was "creating a centralized tool repository - or 'lending library' - where [NASA] tools can be stored, catalogued, and checked in and out by NASA employees."
Not exactly game-changing stuff there, is it?
The SAVE Award exclusively - and by design - selects one-time gimmicks with modest savings to keep from embarrassing the President while presenting an airbrushed public appearance of being concerned with reducing costs. All this culminates in a gushing and grandiose photo-op with the Celebrity-In-Chief. The clear progressive implication is - not only are these modest proposals the best ideas for reducing government spending out there - but we can maintain a lean and effective government through technocratic tinkering alone, without any debate, struggle, or sacrifices necessary.
Based on the track record, it's difficult to argue the SAVE Award is anything more than a publicity stunt with little value to those actually concerned with efficiency of government operations. Don't expect the Affordable Care Act to make an appearance in SAVE 2013.
Save Award | The White House
The objective of the award is noble in theory, so what objections could a small government advocate possibly raise?
The unfortunate truth about the SAVE Award is it's in fact just a taxpayer-funded promotional campaign for our President with no actual leadership involved and pocket change for savings. The winning SAVE Award ideas from 2009-2012 have invariably consisted of totally uncontroversial doodads that require no significant tradeoffs, burned special interest groups, or decision-making. In past years, the SAVE Award forums quickly filled with much-favorited submissions such as "End the War on Drugs," "Fire Useless Employees," or "Sell Nancy Pelosi's Public Jet," only to have these leading submissions flagged and scoured by a team of online moderators.
The winning SAVE entry last year (2012) was that "all Federal employees who receive public transit benefits shift from regular transit fare to the reduced senior fare as soon as they are eligible." The previous year's (2011) selection was "creating a centralized tool repository - or 'lending library' - where [NASA] tools can be stored, catalogued, and checked in and out by NASA employees."
Not exactly game-changing stuff there, is it?
The SAVE Award exclusively - and by design - selects one-time gimmicks with modest savings to keep from embarrassing the President while presenting an airbrushed public appearance of being concerned with reducing costs. All this culminates in a gushing and grandiose photo-op with the Celebrity-In-Chief. The clear progressive implication is - not only are these modest proposals the best ideas for reducing government spending out there - but we can maintain a lean and effective government through technocratic tinkering alone, without any debate, struggle, or sacrifices necessary.
Based on the track record, it's difficult to argue the SAVE Award is anything more than a publicity stunt with little value to those actually concerned with efficiency of government operations. Don't expect the Affordable Care Act to make an appearance in SAVE 2013.
