Archive for the 'Waste' category

The Continuing Superfluity of the USDA Graduate School

Feb 05 2008 Published by under Craziness, Government, Waste

About a year and a half ago, I posted on the ridiculousness that is the Graduate School, USDA.

[S]urely education initiatives would fall squarely under the Department of Education, right? After all, the department name kind of makes that obvious, doesn’t it?

Not to the guys at the Department of Agriculture, apparently. They operate the USDA Graduate School. “Hey”, you may be saying, “This must be like the DOE thing. There’s a logical explanation, right?”

Not that I can find. If this were some sort of program to teach subsidized farmers how to not grow corn, I could understand it. If it were a program to teach failed farmers how to do other things, I could get that to. Instead, this project seems to be a giant community college for anyone living in Washington, DC that wants to learn such critical life needs as: Creating a Podcast; Conversational French; Mushroom Identification; and Screenwriting.

In the nearly 18 months since, I have received the occasional e-mail or comment from people either chastising me for taking issue with such a noble program or, more recently, asking further questions about it. This comes from a note I received today.

Hi Turk! I came upon your USDA Grad School posts by a google search. Ironically, I was trying to do research on whether they are actually affiliated with the USDA or not. Just for background, the reason that I was trying to find this out is that government agencies can purchase many things tax-exempt at a state/local tax level in the state of [redacted], as states are
not permitted by the US Constitution to tax the US Government. However, [redacted] law does allow for the taxation of private universities from out of state. Naturally, they want to be tax-exempt as a government agency despite not receiving any funding as a government agency.

The author of this note cites a Washington Post article in which the Graduate School extols the virtue of not being funded by the USDA, and yet they tout the fact that the governing board is appointed by (you guessed it) the Secretary of Agriculture. So “funded by” and “controlled by” are two different things. Here are the kickers from that WaPo piece.

“We’re a self-financing organization,” Jerry T. Ice, the school’s executive director, said in an interview. “The folks that work at the graduate school are not federal employees.”

… The school has a staff of 300, an annual budget of more than $60 million and a governing board whose 17 members are appointed by the secretary of agriculture. (emphasis mine)

Sixty million dollars? And yet they want to skip taxes in the states in which they operate? They want to use a technical loophole to claim government affiliation for the purpose of avoiding obligations that apply to every “actual” college, but they want to profess their independence from such groups for the purpose of justifying their existence.

OMG! This is infuriating. It was bad enough when I thought this was simply a ridiculous holdover from some bygone era of retraining milk maids to use typewriters, but this has gotten absurd.

If there is, as the WaPo piece argues, some legitimate good that comes from this school, fine. In that case, get rid of the appointed board, let private companies bid for the right to run it, and privatize what should be a private entity. There is no compelling national interest in this program being run by USDA (or not run, depending on which argument you buy). Spin it off. Make it a commercial entity and let it pay taxes to the government rather than skipping out on its financial obligations while claiming exemption.

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Hell Hath No Fury Like The DMV

Mar 21 2007 Published by under Government, Miscellany, Society, Stuff That Sucks, The Law, Waste

Having spent yesterday trying to get my car registered and me licensed in Virginia, I actually missed the bloated inefficiency of the federal government. There is something refreshing about interacting with a level of government that is inefficient due to its own ineptness that really draws attention to the fact that the fed is at least inefficient due to size and waste.

In my life I have come to savor the subtle distinctions of poor government service the way wine and cigar connoisseurs appreciate the variations of flavor in a nice pinot noir or hand rolled stogie. It lifts the spirit to see a bureaucracy running at top speed – doggedly enforcing rules that you know they can’t possibly agree with.

In my case, that took the form of a requirement to show two forms of ID and a proof of residency. Who knew that the gas company (Dominion) doesn’t actually put your name on your bill? Show up with that one in hand and it’s a round trip back home for another bill. It’s also fascinating, given our mobile culture, that a cellular phone bill is also unacceptable. Yet another round trip to the house.

By the time I found a bill they would accept, I had moved a large chunk of my personal financial records into the DMV lobby.

All of this made me ponder the inevitable question, “What would I have done if all my bills were sent to a PO Box?” If I wanted to consolidate my bills in one place, and wanted to keep my residential address more or less private (who knows, maybe I am afraid of identity theft), it would be nearly impossible to get my license in Virginia.

What should have been two fairly simple processes – titling/registering my car and getting my license – turned into a four hour trial by fire that would have made Job weep. God bless America and our warm embrace of inadequate government solutions.

One response so far

USDA Graduate School Part II

Jan 10 2007 Published by under Government, Waste

A while back I posted about the USDA Graduate School. The general point to the post was a generic quandary I have always had about government and the fact that they engage in activities that have no compelling national interest. The USDA grad program is one of my favorite examples of that.

So four months go by and I get the following e-mail. I suspect the sender works for either the graduate school or the Ag, but I will respect their privacy and not publish their name. I suspect the note was meant to be a private conversation and was not done as an official communication by a government official.

GS USDA is a NAFI. That means, unlike federal government agencies, they do NOT receive any appropriation. They have to earn their bread through tuition. You can check with OMB to validate this fact.

I accept that, but it does not address my larger point, and I sent the following reply:

“Care to address the larger point of the post and explain the reason USDA feels the need to run a school to teach valuable skills like Photography? Do you need farmers to take pictures to verify they are not growing the crops we subsidize?

“I’ve got nothing against Ag, but your school is indicative of big government doing things it has no business doing.

“If this school were run by the education department, I’d let it slide. What compelling national agriculture interest is served by the USDA’s graduate program?”

I’ll let you know if they reply…

One response so far

More On Gay Marriage

Jun 06 2006 Published by under Congress, Elections, Government, Legislation, Politics, Republicans, Waste

PoliticsWell, it seems I am not alone in questioning the decision to charge forward on a gay marriage amendment at this time. My earlier post was echoed by Governor Whitman on the It’s My Party Too blog. In addition, At least two republican Senators have publicly stated their opposition to the amendment.

Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (both of Maine) are questioning the need for the amendment given that the existing law (The Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 or DOMA) already defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and gives states the right to refuse recognition of gay marriage.

Of course, anyone who has followed this debate knows that’s not what this is about. This is about election year pandering – and nothing more. It is an effort meant to fail, but meant to give Republicans a vote on which we can run in November. It’s the ultimate circle jerk in American politics.

In 1996, when DOMA was passed, the GOP had the sense to make it a law, not an amendment, and give the states the power. (Which is not to say I am even conceptually in favor of DOMA. I think it’s ridiculous.) But that was back when Republicans were republican. Now we’re merely obsessed with winning despite the damage we inflict on our principles. Pandering to the narrow minded right is what we do to win, and win we must. So charge forward with a meaningless amendment you know you will never pass and lament the loss with cries that “we would have won if not for the Democrats.”

It’s a hell of a way to run a government, guys.

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An Important Issue

Jun 05 2006 Published by under Congress, Government, Politics, Republicans, The President, Waste

RepublicansPoliticsOk, I’m about sick to death of Congress and the President. I’m a supporter of the party – despite the dumb things we’ve been doing lately – but I am about to throw in the towel. As a small government, fiscal conservative, I have been abandoned by my party. That became glaringly apparent when I received an e-mail from the Alliance for Marriage.

The account under which I received that message is not signed up for any other lists but the RNC’s. It is clear that the national committee provided my address to them. That, in and of itself, doesn’t bother me at all. I signed up for their list and part of the terms of that included an agreement that they could provide my name to affiliated groups.

What bothers me is that, given the many, many other pressing issues facing our nation – terrorism, immigration reform, etc. – what my party cares most about is keeping the gay couples from wearing wedding rings. Give me a break. I understand that the party is caving in around you, and you’re looking for some lifeline to save you, but it’s not the social conservatives that are bailing out.

It’s people like me that are walking away from the party. We’ve watched our ideals of lower taxes, smaller government, and restrained spending sold out in favor of lower taxes, a bloated bureaucracy, runaway spending, and a government that increasingly looks like an Orwellian nightmare. It seems someone at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue didn’t get a copy of the party platform.

Having abandoned the fiscal conservatives, the GOP is facing an ass-whooping in November, and has convinced itself that the thing that will save them is a last minute desperate appeal to the homophobia exhibited by the self-anointed regulators of society – the Christian right.

I seriously hope we have a more sophisticated plan in place for November than this.

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