Whose Money Is It Anyway?

Leather Tanner in Fez, Morocco - photo by JoAnn Sturman

By Steve Demel

Steve Demel is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a former Air Force helicopter search and rescue pilot. He has twenty five years experience as a contract and procurement manager, working for the Air Force, state of Washington, and the Tacoma public schools. He holds a Master’s degree in Procurement Management and Finance from Webster University.


Did you recently hear the story about the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) spending $16 for a muffin, $8 for a cup of coffee, and $5 for a meatball at DOJ sponsored conferences? After reading about this latest government boondoggle, some people undoubtedly will be outraged about these excessive costs which also included a $32 price tag for cracker jacks and candy bars at a conference snack break. But, many people will probably say to themselves, “Oh well, just another example of incompetent government employees screwing the taxpayers.”

After 25 years in government purchasing, I have arrived at a different conclusion. In my opinion, instead of the home of the brave and land of the free, our country has become the home of the elitist and the land of the entitled. The “you owe me mentality” has permeated our society, and this is particularly the mind set of elitists who work in all levels of government.

My definition for government elitists: People who believe that their views carry the most weight, their actions are the most constructive, and their extraordinary skills, abilities and wisdom make them the most fit to govern.

The elitists you hear about in the news are usually the incompetent ones, like the $16 muffin buyers. I say incompetent, because they easily are caught. The ones that should keep you awake at night are the clever ones who don’t get caught. For example, a clever government elitist would have convinced the conference hotel to charge $5 for muffins, while wrapping all non-food costs related to the muffins such as wait staff, into a higher general conference fee. Figures don’t lie. Oh, and by the way, in the private sector, incompetent people get fired. Know of any examples of an incompetent government employee getting fired?

Most of us have played Monopoly, a Parker Brothers board game . Win or lose, it is only “funny money” and there are no real repercussions for a bad decision. The “Oh darn, I knew I should have bought Park Place” revelation merely means you lost something without any real value. Unfortunately, many government employees treat the tax dollars they manage like Monopoly money. If they spend money unwisely there is no “Go to Jail” card or any meaningful consequence.

Are all government employees elitists who waste tax payer dollars? No, but government mirrors society, so the number of government elitists is growing. How does one recognize a government elitist? It’s pretty easy. Just listen for key words or terms they use: essential, vital, critical, crucial, urgent, must have, indispensable, integral, fundamental, necessary, needed, imperative, bottom line, national security, life-or-death, and significant. The name of any government program can be inserted handily into the following sentence: “The ____ program is vital to our national security.”

What’s the solution? Leaders with integrity from the top of government down who have zero tolerance for Monopoly money mentalities is crucial. However, this may be impossible since soon the majority of the voters who elect these leaders will themselves be drawing cards from the Community Chest.

Back to the muffins – a Justice Department spokesperson said that these conferences are vital to the Department of Justice and the nation. Really? Taxpayers need to spend millions of dollars to send government employees to Palm Springs or San Francisco for five days at a time? Why not replace some or all of these conferences with webinars or video teleconferences? It sounds so practical, but then the poor government employees would have to buy their own lunches, not to mention the difficulty of working on their tans in January in Minneapolis.