A few years ago Nancy Pelosi talked about how government spending was a great net creator of wealth. Funny how we have so much debt.
So much of what government spends money on is little more than paying one group to dig holes and then paying another group to fill in the holes. There's no added value. One sub-bureaucracy I deal with all the time does nothing but sign off on this one document I have to create for every contract action. The document requires 12 signatures; it takes each person up to a week to get around to signing. So, it could take up to three months to get this document staffed once I submit it. Funny thing is, this document (like many of the other documents) serves no purpose. It was created to monitor service contract during the Iraq war. That's over and my contracts have nothing to do with any war effort. So, taking this document and others into account, when it's time to renew or adjust contracts to meet evolving requirements, I must do so many, many months in advance. That's not really possible, so we are constantly modifying contracts, which means going through the near-endless bureaucratic processes in perpetuity. It's a really stupid and wasteful way to do things. Wars are temporary; bad policy is forever.
Additional thought: To put things in perspective. When I worked in the private sector for the home builder, the company could buy land, develop the land, build houses and sell them faster than some of the contracts I have take to work their way through the bureaucracy. Is there any doubt the private sector creates real jobs that add value and is far more efficient than the government?