Elizabeth Davies: Government needs to tighten its belt, too

Consider this: You are making a meatloaf and realize you have too much.

Do you:

A. Freeze the excess meat to save for another time.

B. Give the extra portion to your vegetarian neighbor.

If you are the U.S. government, the obvious answer is “B.”

Never was this nonsense more evident than last week, when I got an “important document” from the U.S. Census Bureau. Inside was a letter that told me, “Next week, you will receive the U.S. Census. Be sure to fill it out and mail it back.”

Really? You wasted my taxpayer dollars on that?

I understand the once-a-decade push to get an accurate census count. I don’t have a problem with the television ads, brochures or newspaper articles. But wasting money and resources for a direct mailing? That just seems silly. If someone is going to throw away the actual census, they are probably going to throw away that letter, too. I have my doubts that even one census will be returned based on that letter.

Recently, I encountered another example of government waste: I went to the post office to mail an oversized envelope. I paid cash for the small fee and was about to leave when the cashier offered me the receipt, which had printed automatically. I declined, and she promptly crumpled it up and threw it away.

Just a receipt, perhaps, but I thought of the thousands of receipts that must find their way into the trash that way — adding up to a plentiful sum of tax dollars that are thrown away after serving no purpose whatsoever.

All across the country, private business and consumers alike are finding ways to do more with less. Corporate expense accounts are being cut, Christmas bonuses were slashed, vacated jobs sit unfilled.

At my house, I’ve been put on a spending diet. Hubby wouldn’t call it that, of course. Just as every good dieter knows, it’s not a diet when you shun chocolate. It’s a lifestyle change — one that you hope will end as soon as everything is lean and trim again.

This spending diet has us on a cash-only budget. When the cash runs out, the spending stops — or so the theory goes. Being the savvy shopper that I am, I started tracking my costs as I go through the grocery store, adding it up at the end to make sure I haven’t overspent.

The first time, I was a whopping $77 over budget. Whoops. Back through the aisles we went, putting back beef roasts and raisins, orange juice and cheese.

Yes, we are being a little more creative in the kitchen, but no one is starving in our home.

Actually, thanks to the financial diet, we are also on a health diet. I told my husband that there was no butter for his popcorn because I had to put it back on the shelf. He grinned.

“Well, it looks like we’re healthier too, then,” he said.   

It’s precisely the type of spending plan that should be incorporated at all levels of the U.S. government. It needs to steward our collective dollars as we would watch over our own.

If you think money management can’t be done on such a large scale, look at some of the most successful companies around the world. Toyota is one company known for eliminating extra costs in every step of production. In fact, I think Toyota execs would have a field day eliminating the excess spending in the U.S. government.

Of course, then we might find ourselves with runaway legislation and politicians who won’t stop.

So basically the same as we have now — only cheaper.

Rockford Register Star