Many if not most of our political battles are wrapped in virtue.  After all, we are always on the side of what is right and those who oppose us are aligning with evil.  This way of thinking allows us to build up a sufficient reservoir of righteous indignation when we don’t get, via political means, what we want.

At the end of the day, most voters ultimately align themselves with their economic interests. The exercises in virtue are too often just a cover to not appear so nakedly selfish as to get more of what we want.  There also lies the inherent issue that the study of economics is hard, and economic illiteracy is rampant yet unacceptable in a country that is a beacon for modern day capitalism.

This introduction is a pretext to discuss the current narrative coming out of Washington where the new administration, fortified with the world’s richest man and a team of his best engineers, is taking a hard look at how Washington spends our money.  The results are not unexpected.  Many agencies have appeared to at least turned a blind eye to fraud waste and abuse.  At least one seems to have that as its pretense to exist.

What is somewhat surprising, though given their recent history probably shouldn’t be, is the reaction of the White House Press Corps and national media outlets with respect to news that some agencies have few controls on how our money is being spent, and it appears that hundreds of billions of dollars have been wasted and/or outright stolen.  They’re more concerned with shooting the messengers than the message.

While data is coming out via leak and via post from Elon Musk and others on his X platform, it’s too early to draw specific conclusions.  We do seem to have a real problem with how money has been spent at USAID, with real questions as to whether the money appropriated has been used for the international relief that it was intended, or if it has become more of a slush fund.

Journalists used to be skeptical of government and power.  They now seem to wish to protect it more than to uncover abuses or outright fraud. Instead of digging further into the details that are currently available, there seems to be an outright defense of maintaining the status quo, and the fiefdoms within the vast bureaucracy that is our federal government.  

Note the number of stories flooding our largest media outlets reminding us of all the good agencies like USAID, or the National Institutes of Health do.  Note the lack of the same outlets asking if all of the money allocated is given to these programs, or if some is being skimmed off the top for other programs or, perhaps worse, for individuals and groups who provide no benefit to taxpayers whatsoever.

We’re used to some of this on the local level.  When a city or county needs to raise taxes or cut a budget, the first thing they do is propose cuts to the most vital services.  Media are all too happy to frame the narrative of “would you rather pay more per month on your tax bill, or have less fire or police service?”.   

Rarely is there an overall evaluation of the total scope of services provided, and if some of the programs started years ago are still relevant today, or even achieving their mission.  We just get threats to cut the services we like until we capitulate to allow the bureaucracy to grow, often unchecked.

There are a litany of program grants that have been funded by USAID that need further explanation to taxpayers.  They may represent a tiny fraction of total federal spending, but so does mine and your total tax payments each year.  

If the government is willing to put us in jail if we don’t pay our taxes that are counted in the thousands every year, then why is it too much ask for the government to justify, grant by grant, expenditures that are in the hundreds of thousands or hundreds of millions?

The tiny fractions add up.  They become trillions when yours and my tax revenues reach DC.  We have every right to demand that the tiny fractions clearly being abused be defended, explained, and accounted for.

The defenders of these programs will appeal to our virtue.  I want to know why these dollars should be taken by force from me, or from the waitress who serves me breakfast and is trying to buy her first home and asks me regularly for an update on “no taxes on tips.”  

I really don’t think the answer is she can’t have that break because what she will pay in taxes in the next decade funded an opera in Colombia or comic books in Peru.  She is at work 5-6 days per week, starting at 7am, and often works full shifts through the lunch crowd.  

Some may find virtue in the spending on these line items.  I’d like someone to explain why taking her tax withholdings to fund them helps her, our us as Americans, more than spending that money on direct priorities here. Or better yet, than by letting her keep it to fund her own priorities as she sees fit.