I would hope that everyone would understand that the financial situation the US (and other countries, to be sure) finds itself navigating is simply untenable. Without a doubt, it is not a formula for long term success or excellence even stretching the bounds of imagination.
With USD $36 trillion in debt and (I don't remember) a $2 trillion annual deficit, the picture, as they say, is solidly etched on the wall. This is a predictable train wreck.
In many ways, this is not unlike what Argentina has been doing. The reduction of the size and cost of government is an important and necessary lever to pull.
The latest revelation, the fact --fact-- that US government worker retirement processing is handled by hand and managed in an underground facility (mine) where over 700 workers process --again, by hand-- retirement matter and records are kept on paper in envelopes is, well, unimaginably stupid, costly and damaging.
Like this, thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of issues, big and small.
Anyone who's ever run a non-trivial business fully understands that every so often to need to engage in forensic analysis to make sure you are not burning cash that could be put to better use. Like paying for a bunch of servers you haven't used for over a year (I've done that!), etc.
I am, frankly, quite surprised by some of the reactions out there. The hatred is what is most surprising to me. Frankly, I am pretty sick and tired of this constant culture of hatred.
Don't these people understand that we are in serious trouble? We have a sick population (need healthcare reform), terrible education results (need education reform) a massively bloated government that is spending us into bankruptcy (over 400 federal agencies, need to chop that down significantly) and, in general, a focus away from innovation and excellence and towards bullshit.
I often use the joke of the high speed train in California. We can't even build a new train a few hundred miles long. That's what the US has become. This has to change.