I & I Editorial BoardIn just the first five months of the new fiscal year, the federal government has already spent more than $3 trillion – more than it spent in all of 2009 – $1 trillion of which it had to borrow.
And what is all this money going toward? The federal government was told 15 years ago to take a full, annual inventory of everything it does. It’s never been able to get that done.
“Each year, the federal government spends trillions of dollars on federal programs that support the American people and address policy goals,” notes the Government Accountability Office in a report released earlier this month. “However, it does not have a full inventory of these programs.”
That’s despite the fact that it’s been required to do so since 2011.
That law, signed by Barack Obama that January, requires a single, comprehensive list of federal programs that’s supposed to be posted on a website.
But of the 20 requirements contained in the law – for things such as identifying each program, listing program activities, whether they contribute to an agency’s mission and goals, and how much money went to management – the current inventory met only seven in 2025.
As the GAO correctly put it:
A comprehensive listing of programs, along with related funding and performance information, would help federal decision-makers and the public better understand what the government does, what it spends, and what it achieves each year.
Without a complete inventory, decision-makers lack a critical tool to help them better identify and manage fragmentation, overlap, and duplication across the federal government.
Sounds reasonable. For 15 years, the GAO has prodded and cajoled the federal government, but to no avail.
“That’s not merely a sad commentary on the sprawling size and eye-watering cost of the government. It’s also a violation of federal law,” notes Eric Boehm, a reporter at Reason magazine.
Sure, we know the broad contours of what the government does. We know how much money is spent and how much of it goes into each department. We have some idea of how much is lost to fraud. We occasionally learn about some whacked-out program. But there’s no single place that lists the programs the federal government operates.
An annual inventory – one that is easily accessible to the public online – would make it easy for regular citizens to find out how much is lost to waste and duplication, how many projects aren’t on mission, or are at cross-purposes, how much is being spent on management. You know, useful information like that.
But not only is there little interest in conducting a complete inventory of the federal government. There’s open hostility – which we saw with the attacks from Washington insiders against DOGE’s work.
The denizens of the swamp don’t want transparency. They want the water to be murky. Because that’s the only way they can keep their pet projects going.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
AI could do this. Make a form that collects information from every single person who does something for the government–every civil servant and contractor–giving their title, job description, their mission, and actual accomplishments, straight into some AI collection portal, and let AI figure it out. It could be done!
Governments purpose is to manage tax slaves for the owners, most often its the british royals, and currently its the pedo king, Chuckie.
Every government tax slave should read their law.
These guys did. Exempt Income . org
A more manageable comparison with the Federal Budget…
Philadelphia has a budget of $7 billion of which half is squandered. The City lists 126 departments, committees and agencies, half of which are overlapping and redundant, left on the vine from previous administration’s oddities and inabilities, and some were never needed in the first place to manage any city.
And then we have the additional $4.6 billion school budget.
Guess how much of the school budget, paying for too many employees, for underperformance, illiteracy, truancy, violence and magnet schools with ratings of 3 out of 10, is squandered? Producing thousands of unemployable 18 year olds, leading directly to crime, drugs, illegitimacy and indolence, which cost us 100s of millions in court and police costs!
We can do so much better!
I once worked for the Federal Government, specifically DOD, managing a project. At the beginning of the Fiscal year we were given a $40 million budget though we only requested $4 million. We let the development contracts we needed and started monitoring them closely. Our budget got cut to $5 million at the end of the 1st qtr which was fine.
Then at the beginning of the 4th qtr the rest of the fund were restored. We were told in no uncertain terms by the commanding General and HIS boss at the Pentagon that we WOULD spend the rest of that money before the end of the fiscal year. We stopped monitoring the development contracts and started spending money. The things we bought were 100% wastes of money and absurd but spending $35+ million dollars in 90 days is harder than it sounds.
But… we spent the money. THAT’S what your government does.
Note: One of the contracts had to be redone because we failed to monitor it closely enough. I left government service the next year.
Ditto, from a Logistics Command in St. Louis this was SOP every year. If you didn’t spend it the next FY you got a can of soup and a bent spoon.
Congress and ALL federal employees should not be paid until they comply with this law. After 12 months they lose all pensions. Boom.
The Federal Government has a good memory when its survival is at stake. I may forget to list and name what it uses the money for-but it never forgets when tax paying time (and who must pay and what amount) rolls around.
The Federal Government may forget (even though it shouldn’t by law) to list and name where the money goes-but it never forgets who must pay and how much they must pay when tax paying time rolls around.
Good article, and not the usual media cover.