Why Government Doesn't Work

Dig this.

The Motor City has lots of drafty houses and tens of thousands of unemployed people. So when the U.S. Congress proposed spending $5 billion to insulate homes as part of the stimulus bill, Detroit got excited. The director of the city agency managing the program advertised for construction companies before the legislation even passed.

But on the same day in March 2009 that Shenetta Coleman picked up applications from 46 companies, she received an email from the Michigan Department of Human Services telling her she couldn't award work to anyone.

The problem: Ms. Coleman hadn't met requirements for her advertisement. Those included specifying the precise wages that contractors would have to pay, and posting the advertisement on a specific website. There were other rules—federal, state and local—for grant and contract-award processes, historic preservation and labor standards.

The bureaucratic obstacles Ms. Coleman hit took more than a year to clear. Some were mandated by the stimulus bill, the same legislation that was supposed to rapidly create jobs. For example, there is a union-backed provision that requires that weatherization workers receive the prevailing wages in the area.

First off, you really should read the whole thing. It's an excellent summary of how government works. Government contracts and grants must obey all laws and regulations in order to be awarded. These laws and regulations are an ever-increasing aggregation of every law and regulation ever passed. That means if it was this hard today, it will be harder tomorrow.

Seriously, read the whole thing. If you've never worked for or with the government, it will open your eyes quite a bit.