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How Many Zombie Agencies Does Government Need?

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Posted By: Judy W., 11/16/2021 7:48:49 AM

How many federal agencies do we pay for? I bet you think, as I once did, that a quick internet search would tell. But researching for an essay a couple of years ago, I found numbers varying from 78 to 158, and websites saying the exact number was impossible to determine. Looking at the USA.gov website recently, I discovered a tab for Federal Agencies A to Z (actually there are none past W). Scrolling around the list for two days, subtracting duplicate listings, like Useless Policy, Office of and Office of Useless Policy, I counted 456

Comments:

Getting rid of the redundant, absurd, outmoded, useless, and harmful agencies should be an easy and popular act for the next Republican administration. But I'll bet the media and the media would fight for every one of them as if it were Social Security.

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Reply 1 - Posted by: Proud Texan 11/16/2021 8:15:47 AM (No. 979118)
We need sunset laws where every agency is up for renewal every so often, (it's ten years in Texas). Congress has to vote to keep the agency in existence. It is still virtually impossible to get rid of bureaucrats because they are professionals and bee-assing their way trough the committees to justify their existence. It is a start, though.
10 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: Clinger 11/16/2021 8:21:40 AM (No. 979128)
The bigger issue is that these agencies make rules that are not subject to the balance of powers, are not voted on by the peoples representatives yet failure to comply can result in the confiscation of your freedom and property. Most of all these rules are not applied equally and at times are actually written by one of the entities they regulate in a fashion that favors them. With equal justice under the law there is less opportunity for corruption, less favor to sell to the highest bidder. The enormous regulatory maze is a major part of what has led the republic away from our founding principles, and why positions of power attract opportunists and con artists not servants. We fell for a vocabulary game. By "rebranding" laws as "regulations" they connected a short circuit around the constitution.
12 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: lakerman1 11/16/2021 8:26:05 AM (No. 979135)
I lectured to my students about what is the basic theory of organizations. The first goal of any organization is survival. The Infantile Paralysis Foundation, aka March of Dimes, funded the research that ended the scourge of Polio. (Give credit to Dr. Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh but give no credit to Dr.. Sabin.) And when that happened, the Infantile Paralysis folks didn't say, 'break out the champagne, we have won, and our mission is accomplished and over!' Instead they probably said, 'holy cow! What do we do now!?' and the answer was to change the mission to End Birth Defects, a wise choice, since they would never again reach their mission's goal. A second example is TB. Remember those Christmas Seals, and the American Lung Association? They were founded to end the scourge of TB, and when Streptomycin came along and effectively ended the disease (until AIDS arrived) they changed their mission to 'end lung diseases.' Government organizations are no different. Survival, then growth. Every organization wants to grow. So let's not be surprised by the federal government. And let's not forget about NGO's, non government organizations, funded by the federal government. They exist in D.C., in abundance.
15 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: lakerman1 11/16/2021 8:40:44 AM (No. 979160)
Oops! I meant to mention a beautiful federal agency - The Board of Tea Experts, commonly known as the Tea Tasting Commission, created by the Tea Importation Act of 1897. The federal government was worried about importing inferior, bad tea, so thy hired tea tasters, who sipped a sample from each batch imported. Tea tasters were located at each port of entry for tea. The Tea Importation Act was not repealed until 99 years had passed by.
8 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: edgar 11/16/2021 8:43:17 AM (No. 979165)
... and how much $$$ is being funneled to left wing "non-profits" to carry out the left wing agenda? Not just NPR and CPB. This stuff needs to stop.
3 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: bad-hair 11/16/2021 9:17:16 AM (No. 979203)
Enough to burn up a TRILLION dollars. Times 5. Move the Dept of Agriculture to Kansas and Montana (out of DC) Move the Treasury to Alaska, the Energy Dept to Tulsa (out of DC) Cut salaries in half due to reduced cost of living and the zombies will burn.
6 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: MickTurn 11/16/2021 9:27:47 AM (No. 979220)
Bureaucrats are designed to Do the Democraps Dirty Work!
5 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: Strike3 11/16/2021 11:24:43 AM (No. 979343)
Calling them zombies implies that they take some kind of action. I was once employed by a computer consulting firm that expanded and had to move into a new building. We were extremely busy but soon noticed a small group of people who were constantly smoking on the front lawn, all day long. Sure enough, they were government Agriculture employees in charge of farm ponds or some such nonsense. It's all out of control. Had Donald Trump been able to work without constant Deep State harrassment and been allowed to serve his second term, I believe most of those parasites would be gone by now.
6 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: Strike3 11/16/2021 11:36:28 AM (No. 979358)
To add to information supplied by #3, #4, government organizations have a huge advantage over private. Charities and other do-gooders must work to raise money to keep their cookie jars full. Other scams include ASPCA, United Way, and all of the Tree Hugger groups. The government simply raises taxes and we all must increase our contributions to keep them running, whether we want to or not. Look how the Public School system has grown from teaching the basics of learning to funding sports, spreading government propaganda and feeding "the needy" three meals a day, all thanks to the generous taxpayer.
5 people like this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: Lawsy0 11/16/2021 12:04:31 PM (No. 979399)
She is asking an interesting question, to be sure. What I would really rather learn is how many No Show Jobs are we paying for the the departments we already know about?
3 people like this.

Reply 11 - Posted by: Come And Take It 11/16/2021 12:13:54 PM (No. 979414)
The primary point of all of these ghost agencies are to move around billions and billions of Federal dollars until they get lost in the shuffle, and end up funding countless black ops projects that you will never hear about. Its basically the same model that organized crime uses - moving money in and out of shell corporations and trusts until it can no longer be found. Where do you think OC got the idea in the first place?
1 person likes this.

Reply 12 - Posted by: Birddog 11/16/2021 12:20:24 PM (No. 979424)
Not just agencies, but also every "program" in every Agency. They all should be be put to the "If we were deciding whether to START this today, would we?" testing rubric. It is part/parcel of Omnibus spending bills, Continuing Resolutions and Debt Limit increases. Instead of actual appropriations budgets.
4 people like this.

Reply 13 - Posted by: Enoch Powell 11/16/2021 12:31:37 PM (No. 979447)
We don't need a federal law enforcement agency, the FBI, which has been corrupt from its inception; nor do we need the CIA, which has corrupted itself over time. Like large corporations do from time to time, we need an outside agency (Trump) to come in and clean house. The McCabes, Lois Lerners, corrupted DOJ fascist illiberals... the whole bunch needs to go. Good luck to them finding a real job in the private economy lol.
2 people like this.

Reply 14 - Posted by: Enoch Powell 11/16/2021 12:34:42 PM (No. 979451)
I want to iterate O.P.'s comment: all corporate entities, including government and governmental agencies, exist to survive and grow. There is no solution other than disbanding them.
2 people like this.

Reply 15 - Posted by: Penney 11/16/2021 12:39:48 PM (No. 979456)
How many? Apparently enough to provide tax-funded paychecks for their children, other relatives and political cronies.
1 person likes this.

Reply 16 - Posted by: Philipsonh 11/16/2021 12:59:42 PM (No. 979492)
It is the same with agency budgets. If an agency does not spend every last penny by the end of the budget year, they fear having their budget cut the following year. SO, they spend every last penny, no matter what they spend the $$$ on, needed or not. In fact, memos are sent out one month ahead of year end requesting employees make sure that they have spent all they are allotted. That is the government way.
2 people like this.

Reply 17 - Posted by: privateer 11/16/2021 1:35:13 PM (No. 979552)
My personal favorite: Department of Redundancy Department, Department of
2 people like this.

Reply 18 - Posted by: stablemoney 11/16/2021 1:51:13 PM (No. 979577)
How many Republicans do you guess are employed by these agencies?
1 person likes this.

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