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Our government is absolutely brilliant at managing things. I hope.

Dr. Bastiat
@drbastiat
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Portrait photograph of Jimmy Carter by Ansel Adams, 1979. Wikimedia Commons

In an effort to gain the support of a public sector union before an election, Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education in 1979. Its first year in operation was 1980, when it had a budget of $14 billion (a little over $50 billion in today's dollars). That $14 billion in taxpayer dollars was enough to get him significant campaign contributions from teachers' unions. So it was a successful policy, politically. Although he still lost the election. Oh, well. Still, $14 billion is a lot of money. Today the Dept of Education's budget is around $260 billion. That is absolutely remarkable growth. The Dept of Education is doing better than nearly any company in the private sector.

If you look at the list of Fortune 500 companies from 1979, 40% of them no longer exist. Only around 14% of those companies are still on the Fortune 500 list today. The Dept of Education has grown exponentially over this time, but only 3% of 1979's Fortune 500 companies have moved up that list since that year.

Which means one of two things:
1) Perhaps our government is much, MUCH better at managing things than private companies.
2) Perhaps we have a very serious problem.

Tough call. What do you think? Hard to say.

But I think we may have a very serious problem...

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Discussion (14)

  • DonG (Here.We.Go.)@DonG

    We spend about $2 Trillion/year on education in America. We now have a situation where 20% of college students read at elementary school levels and cheating and grade inflation are rampant. The primary purpose of a college credential used to be a way for employers to screen based on intelligence testing, but now colleges don't require SAT/ACT and that purpose is lost. A college degree is useless for many and about 2/3rds of students would be better off in trade school or on-the-job training. Congress should bring back intelligence testing and let half of colleges fail. But the party of "more government" won't let that happen.

  • Freeven@Freeven
    ReplyingtoDonG (Here.We.Go.)

    DonG (Here.We.Go.) (View Comment):

    We spend about $2 Trillion/year on education in America. We now have a situation where 20% of college students read at elementary school levels and cheating and grade inflation are rampant. The primary purpose of a college credential used to be a way for employers to screen based on intelligence testing, but now colleges don’t require SAT/ACT and that purpose is lost. A college degree is useless for many and about 2/3rds of students would be better off in trade school or on-the-job training. Congress should bring back intelligence testing and let half of colleges fail. But the party of “more government” won’t let that happen.

    Unfortunately, America has two of those parties.

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