CCRC Editorial Section

9/26/2010 to the Union Leader (Published 3 Oct 10, on left side, “Governments need a FedEx solution”)

What would FEDEX do if it's business were increasing, but its revenues were declining? Hire more employees and lose money? Pass up the opportunity to get more customers? The answer is neither. They'd expect, and get, more productivity out of their existing staff.

In a similar situation, what does our government do? With tax receipts down and welfare rolls up, they hire more bureaucrats, spend more money and raise taxes. Has anyone considered asking for increased productivity instead? Are the bureaucrats already working at 110%? Could they possibly do more with less?

There was a “Fair Tax Forum” on 21 September in Keene, the first in a series around the state. Not one speaker even suggested the FedEx option.

(deleted....Not one of their comments to cope with limited budgets even hinted at increased productivity out of our well-paid workers. Imagine, if you can, the hilarity following a speaker blurting out “Our workers are already overburdened”...deleted)

And so we heard only sets of numbers, all presented with the assumption that if their work load increases, the number of government workers increases proportionally. Nary a word about increased productivity, about expecting public workers to do what those in private industry do when things get tough.

Maybe the tea partiers should ask “What would FEDEX do?”

Fred Ward
386 Route 123 South
Stoddard 03464

446-2312
drfred@hughes.net