A cure for Washington鈥檚 culture of debt
Zero-based budgeting might restore discipline and honesty to a Washington that seems overcome with financial attention-deficit disorder.
Charlottesville, Va.
There鈥檚 a Washington restaurant my wife and I went to recently that proudly promotes its 鈥淧re-Theater Specials鈥� menu. The menu allows a Kennedy Center patron to choose between several options for a starter, main course, and dessert, all for $35. Sound like a deal?
I did the math. If I bought the items separately, they鈥檇 cost less. 鈥淭he Pre-Theater Special comes with wine or coffee or something, right?鈥� I asked the waitress.
She sighed. 鈥淣o, it鈥檚 just the three food items.鈥�
鈥淎re they bigger portions?鈥�
鈥淣o,鈥� she sighed again, 鈥渋t鈥檚 just the three food items.鈥�
鈥淵ou do know why I鈥檓 asking, don鈥檛 you?鈥� I asked.
鈥淵es,鈥� she sighed even louder. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e from out of town.鈥�
After I quit chuckling, I realized something. The restaurant鈥檚 鈥渟pecial鈥� seems representative of Washington鈥檚 ways with money.
The politicians who swell our national debt apparently are so insular that at least one restaurant that caters to them knows they can鈥檛 鈥� or won鈥檛 鈥� do simple math. Only we 鈥渞ubes鈥� recognize that a special is supposed to decrease, not increase prices, and have the impudence to say so.
Twenty years ago, hundreds of members of Congress were caught writing personal checks with insufficient funds. Today, Congress is doing the same but on a much bigger scale 鈥� with your money. Yet such cavalier spending seems OK at a time when even our own Treasury secretary was caught making a large 鈥渕istake鈥� on his tax bill 鈥� in his favor.
Why is it that whoever we send to Washington, regardless of party, loses the capacity for the simple math taught in elementary school?
Call it 鈥渇inancial attention-deficit disorder.鈥�
I may sound picky here, but we鈥檙e talking about huge debt. The Senate is currently debating legislation to raise the so-called debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion, to $14.3 trillion. This is just weeks after Congress approved raising the ceiling by $290 billion, after it was packaged by the speaker of the House so that any member voting against it would appear also to be against supporting our troops.
After the House vote, a congressional hearing made it clear that Washington had no idea how much the United States pays contractors in Afghanistan.
Then, the US secretary of State pledged $100 billion to help developing countries adapt to global warming. That would mean the US will end up borrowing more money from China to give it back to developing nations. For free.
Over the course of the 2008-09 financial crisis, meanwhile, Washington supported bank bailouts without legally limiting bonuses.
Now that the 2009 books are closed, some Wall Streeters are being promised their biggest year-end bonuses in history 鈥� confirming that Washington鈥檚 financial attention-deficit disorder rewards you for losing dollars, regardless of whether those dollars belong to your employer or your fellow taxpayers.
It continues: Today, we鈥檙e watching the possible passage of a healthcare program. Most serious observers report it will skyrocket the annual deficit unless massive savings can be wrung out of Medicare and Medicaid fraud. This is a promise candidates have failed to fulfill for years.
And it鈥檚 not just the federal level that doesn鈥檛 seem to remember how to count.
Washington schools are misplacing student activity funds because 鈥渙versight is ineffective and the people responsible for plundering or squandering the money are rarely held accountable,鈥� as The Washington Post put it recently.
That series of Post articles came a year after a city employee was caught orchestrating a decade-long tax rebate scheme that makes corruption in Afghanistan appear like small potatoes.
When financial attention-deficit disorder becomes part of accepted culture, it鈥檚 easy to argue that nothing can be done. The 鈥渟pecials menu鈥� has been printed already, right?
But, as Britain is discovering with its 鈥淐omprehensive Spending Review鈥� and 鈥淓fficiency Programme,鈥� 鈥渮ero-based budgeting鈥� may be the way to go. Zero-based budgeting is a concept promoted by Jimmy Carter. By forcing departments to account for every dollar needed, rather than adapt from last year鈥檚 budget, it may be the way to prime Washington鈥檚 financial attention.
Zero-based budgeting would force politicians and bureaucrats to question some of the assumptions on which Washington has been basing its finances. It would provide tools for reviewing, reprioritizing, and eliminating long-term activities that aren鈥檛 affordable or efficient. Government officials would have to learn to count again.
A massive overhaul in budgeting procedures obviously can鈥檛 happen overnight, but a zero-based budgeting program could be piloted effectively in a small area in any given governmental department and then expanded over time.
Eventually, say once every four years, each governmental department would have to build its budget from the ground up. After that, they could incrementally budget the following three years. This would force bureaucrats and politicians to periodically think, with minimal disruption to governmental services, about the actual dollars they were requesting, and whether those dollars are adding up the way taxpayers want.
Incremental, intermittent, zero-based budgeting would address the financial attention-deficit disorder affecting politicians and bureaucrats in our national capital.
Once bureaucrats learn to add again, I鈥檒l bet on the so-called 鈥渟pecials鈥� at Washington restaurants actually being special.
Randy Salzman is a freelance writer and former journalism professor.
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