Let's talk bureaucratic(government and corporate) waste

[ygolo]

I believe there is a need for a functioning government. Removing funding and then complaining things are moving slow seems structurally nonsensical.

I also think there is a place for administrative, regulatory, and clerical processes.

However, we know that bureaucracy is one of the main ways of discriminating against disadvantaged people without doing it "out loud". The people with means can pay someone to navigate the bureaucracy. In some countries, there is even outright bribery as a matter-of-course.

Government programs to help people in disadvantaged people, in particular, are often laughably bureaucratic. It generally seems like the vast majority of the money goes to people who talk about helping disadvantaged people rather than to disadvantaged people themselves. The money goes to "infrastructure"(bureaucracy) to assess the distribution of funds to build the best new "infrastructure"(bureaucracy) to assess ...

It's the same (Ponzi)scheme all over the many bureaucracies.

There was a very influential book that argued strongly against this process:

Just Give Money to the Poor

* Argues strongly for overlooked approach to development by showing how the poor use money in ways that confound stereotypical notions of aid and handouts * Team authored by foremost scholars in the development field Amid all the complicated economic theories about the causes and solutions to...

books.google.com

Charity navigator(https://www.charitynavigator.org/) was created to avoid similar issues with charities. Though over time this has eroded too.

 

[ygolo]

There are longer versions but here's an interview that touches on waste, fraud, and corruption in the military-industrial complex:

This is a longer piece on TANF and how Brett Farve was able to get funds for sports facilities, but actual needy families were rejected.

 

[ceecee]

This is one of the worst, most soulless forms of bureaucracy I know of.

Parents that are unable to financially support children often have their children placed in foster care.
Foster parents are given $$ to care for the foster children.
Why not give this $$ to the parents? It's the most stupid thing. Naturally I don't mean give $$ to abusive, addicted parents or some other form of criminal and neglect situation.

On a nauseating level...

Defense Spending Reaches Record High as Pentagon Fails Its Audit – For Fifth Time

Time for Congress to insist on the bare minimum from DoD: accountability.

blog.ucsusa.org

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the Department of Defense's (DOD) failure to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. In November 2022, DOD failed its fifth consecutive audit, unable to account for sixty-one percent of its $3.5 trillion in assets.

 

[ygolo]

I came across this article:

The Fine Art of Navigating Bureaucracy

Please file form B136-X to view this article.

allen-faulton.medium.com

It's an article I will need to re-read a few times to really get it. But there are some initial points that really hit me (and depressed me a bit).

1) First is the "Iron Law of Bureaucracy"

Jerry Pournelle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals that the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.

2) The Three rules together:

• Every bureaucracy will act to preserve itself and its resources before acting to achieve its mission goals.
• The larger the bureaucracy is, the less likely it is that you can work outside its rules.
• The older the bureaucracy is, the more red tape it will have.

3) The people you deal with in a bureaucracy are line-workers and have no more control than you.

4) He offers suggestions for when dealing with bureaucracy:

• If possible, always deal with the same person.
• Always be polite.
• If possible, be funny and likable.
• If you can’t be likable, be relatable.
• Ask for help.
• Ask how things work.
• Ask what you need to do next.
• Get their contact info.
• If they suck, move on.
• Be prompt.

5) For reforming bureaucracy:

• Find an incentive that the bureaucracy responds to and then push.
• Be persistent.