LIES, DAMN LIES, STATISTICS

These is an age old saying which I hesitate to credit to any one source, but it goes,

“There are lies, damn lies and then there are statistics.”

 I studied graduate level statistical analysis for two years and God help me I enjoyed it. I try to resist the temptation to indulge in statistical analysis but today I think it is warranted.

Federal Work Force Now and 1981

We are hearing a lot about the bloated, wasteful, corrupt Federal Work Force. So here are some numbers that might surprise you. January 1981 the Federal Work Force consisted of 2.961 million workers. After forty-five years in which the population of the United States has grown by 67% and the GDP of this country has increased tenfold from 2.7 trillion to 27 trillion, Guess what. The Federal Work Force, January 2025 stands at 3.1 million workers that is an increase of 6%.

If a private corporation could show that a 6% increase in work force that serviced 67% more customers and increased revenue by 1,000%, their leadership would be singing their praises.  They would not be arbitrarily reducint head count. Certainly, some of this outstanding performance can be the result of increased productivity. However, business productivity during this same period only doubled.

Surfeit of Accusations

So today we are hearing a surfeit of accusations from a group of folks who have never worked in governance, have never worked on government-based computer systems. They are bombarding us with phantasmagorical claims of inefficiencies and fraud. Not going to waste my reader’s time in refuting each of these claims. Trust me if it’s on social media there is a good chance it is just false. Viewer beware. Wired magazine has done a good job of refuting this nonsense. Kudos to them.

An interesting statistic that flys in the face of the current obsession. From 1981 to 2025 local governments have increased their work force from 9.7 million to 15.06 million. An increase of 54%. So perhaps we are looking for fat in the wrong places.

Sensible Governance

It is the mantra of this author that Sensible Governance Helps Citizens Lead Better Lives. It appears we were getting that Sensible Governance with the same level of service employees that were providing it 45 years ago. That is a pretty impressive accomplishment. Is there corruption and fraud. Of course there is. In a multi trillion-dollar enterprise there is bound to be. No organization of this scale is perfect. However, the value it provides to its customers, we the citizens of this great country, far outweighs its imperfections.

Lies, Damn Lies, Social Media Posts.

So, beware of the man born into wealth and now the richest man in the world. He professes without evidence of the corruption, fraud and inefficiencies in the Federal Government. The headlines he generates are easily posted and shared on social media. They are presented to the public via META, X and Google Algorithm feeds. So perhaps we should alter this age old Maxim, “There are lies, damn lies, and social media posts.”