Use it or lose it.

OPM is addictive. When it’s not your money, spending OTHER PEOPLES’ MONEY frivolously is easy to do. This is why public budgets don’t balance and public debt exceeds all manner if rationality.

FEAR - The Great Motivator.

Epoch Times journalist Rachel Acenas wrote the following in today’s article.

Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Outlines Blueprint to Weed Out Government Waste

The new chair of the Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus has identified about one trillion dollars in potential federal spending cuts.

In a letter sent on Monday to DOGE advisors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) outlined her “instruction manual” of ways to eliminate government waste.

“With $3 billion of interest being added to our national debt every day, the longer we delay tackling the problem, the further away the finish line gets,” Ernst wrote in the letter. “To give you a head start, here are a trillion dollars’ worth of ideas for trimming the fat and reducing red ink.”

Sen. Joni Ernst also called for the DOGE to act as the “Grinch” on the government’s end-of-year “use it or lose it” spending spree which she called “Christmas in September.” The senator said that Sept. 20 every year marks the deadline for the federal government to spend money left over at the end of a fiscal year.

Department of Accountability.

Reading Rachel’s article, a light bulb turned on in my head (a dangerous thing as my friend Steve Baker will claim 😜)

What if…

What if DOGE featured a roving audit committee to conduct surprise departmental audits and had the authority to issue consequences to first time and subsequent offenders.

Here is how it might work:

• Use modern AI technology to track all government expenditures year-round through a single Payments Portal to monitor and flag payments that suspiciously violate rules for “purchases in the public interest” (PIPI)

• A small, expert team of DOGE auditors would visit the department head and staff to review and discuss any suspected purchase violations. This will allow everyone benefiting from or associated with the expenditure to justify the money spent under PIPI rules. A labour union representative may be present if appropriate.

• The consequences for unjustified PIPI violations may follow a prescribed SCHEDULE such as:

First offence:

Every member of the department suffers a salary decrease of (up to) 5% indefinitely as an enduring reminder that he or she shares a fiduciary duty to protect the use of public resources for their intended purpose. The percentage of cut will align with each individual’s degree of culpability. Shared responsibility is the message to encourage everyone to protect public interest.

Second+ offences

An additional maximum of a 10% salary decrease will be assigned for each instance of PIPI violation to the guilty party or parties. Every staff member who was either involved with, benefited from or was aware of the spending violations would be required to attend in a department meeting attended by all coworkers. The suspects(s) who cannot justify their actions according to PIPI rules will face up to 10% salary decrease for every guilty infraction. The percentage will be allocated according to the extent of each individual’s personal involvement and/or their efforts to prevent/report the ensuing harm.

Weeding out the “bad actors”

Over time, the most serially guilty actors may seek employment elsewhere, especially as their salaries decline. However, their infraction history will follow them for all subsequent public sector employment, expunged only after seven years with a clean record.

Rationale

Fear of growing and distributed culpability will encourage every staff member to be forever diligent of abuses to public funds. A work culture of fiscal prudence will emerge and be sustained. (Gives a new meaning for “sustainability”, doesn’t it 😉.)

Fear of being caught and embarrassed within the department as the person responsible for salary cuts will provide an enduring shame deterrent. No one wants to become a pariah among their coworkers.

Fear of legal charges for embezzlement of public funds will remain a deterrent because the PIPI rules will not replace the law if violations sufficiently serious to warrant legal action.

Fear is a proven motivator.

While many people believe that love is “what makes the world go round”, it has proven to be a less potent motivator of human choice and action by many.

Fear of the above consequences will shape a work culture similar to that found in private sector companies. All owners and their employees must live and work according to market forces that determine profit & loss, viability or collapse.

Government employees are not subject to the fears associated by market forces. Consequently, innovative ways must be used to “keep everyone honest” and to ensure that every “public servant” abides by PIPI rules.