COS’ proposed balanced budget amendment requires cost cutting. DOGE can provide the cost cuts that COS needs. Much of the cost cutting can be achieved utilizing the concept of Price’s Law.

“Funded by the government just means funded by the people. Government, by the way, has no money. It only takes money from the people. Sometimes people forget that that's really what occurs.” Elon Musk Which Comes First: Restraint or Cuts? In the summer of 2023 Convention of States Action proposed the following restraints to promote Federal government fiscal responsibility: Section 1. Congress shall adopt a preliminary fiscal year budget no later than the first Monday in May for the following fiscal year and submit said budget to the President for consideration. Federal expenditures for each fiscal year shall not exceed average annual revenue collected in the prior three fiscal years. Total expenditures shall include all expenditures of the United States, including those for payment of interest on debt. Total revenue shall include all revenue of the United States except that derived from borrowing. Any surplus of revenue over expenditures in any fiscal year shall be applied to outstanding federal debt.  Despite its noble purpose, the proposed amendment can only restrain profligate spending. It does not advise where best to make cuts to an already bloated budget. Where can “We the People” expect to find the most effective cuts? Enter DOGE The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative of the current administration to focus on the elimination of waste and fraud. It is an advisory body and carries no enforcement powers. In its current form it utilizes technology to track and expose illicit and/or inefficient government programs while sharing these findings with the citizenry through social media. DOGE’s purpose is to serve as both financial auditor and efficiency advisor to the American citizenry. Perhaps the most unique feature of its mission is the emphatic focus on open sharing with “We the People.” Can DOGE effect the needed cuts for the proposed COS fiscal restraints to succeed if passed? The Biggest Expense Ask any business owner or CEO what his/her biggest expense is and the universal reply is “payroll.” This answer is supported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2011, employee compensation accounted for over 70% of employer costs. Unsurprisingly, companies looking to improve profit margins take a critical eye towards their labor expenses. Without profits starvation sets in. The private sector is forced to restrain labor costs in order to survive. The Federal government has no profitability restraints on its operations and, as a result, has grown into the nation’s largest employer (2.7 million NOT including private governmental contractors or active-duty military). Can this “biggest expense” be effectively reduced? Price’s Law to the Rescue? In 1965, a British scientist named Derek de Solla Price argued that in any group “half the work is done by the square root of the total number of people in the group” (Price’s Law).  For a mid-size law firm of 100 employees, ten people can be expected to provide half the work. Half the output of a large manufacturing company with 10,000 employees would be performed by just 100 top performers. Price’s Law indicates that organizations must identify top performers and place them in positions of maximum responsibility. The Federal government, however, is notorious for rewarding failure with advancement.  Can the Twitter Experience Be Replicated? Putting aside the political discourse arguments over Elon Musk’s purchase of the Twitter social media platform; did his application of mass employee firings harm Twitter (now X) performance? Prior to the Musk takeover, Twitter faced a $3 billion negative cash flow and four months of life. His early moves to fix the cash flow situation included an 80% reduction in staff. The, arguably, most dominant social media corporation on Planet Earth shrank from 8,000 employees to only 1,500. For those who utilize X for their social media interactions, the question is: Has X maintained or improved service since the Twitter cost savings firings? Based on the continued market dominance after the X transition, the answer appears to be YES. Price’s Law seems to have held under Musk’s famous reputation for demanding employee work ethic “or else.” Federal Government Payroll The Federal government payroll (excluding private contractors and active-military) is $340 billion. Adding in federal contracting services of $750 billion, the payroll and consulting services exceed $1 trillion. While trailing mandatory spending (a topic for another day!) the amount is still enormous and invites an application of Price’s Law across all departments (absent active-duty military). Applying Price’s Law on the Federal workforce of 2.7 million employees indicates that about 1,600 people are performing 50% of the actual work being done in D.C. Suffice it to say that a 50% reduction in the Federal workforce (absent the top performers)  would result in over $170 billion in direct taxpayer savings each year without a drop in services. Targeting the waste in $750 billion of federal contracting services is precisely what DOGE’s mission and target statements emphasize. Just how much savings in billable hours can be found is yet to be determined but Price’s Law holds across both private and public entities. Hundreds of billions in unnecessary labor costs seems realistic. The Workforce Reductions Begin In recent weeks both the Departments of Education (DoE) and State (DoS) have announced downsizing of staff. Education plans to eliminate 1,300 positions while State plans to eliminate 1,350 spots. Both departments survived judicial challenges obstructing the cuts and the door is now open for more cost cutting efforts. Just this week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a 23% reduction in force. The reduction will eliminate more than 3,700 department employees and save EPA $750 million each year. COS, Price’s Law and DOGE: Mutual Support As noted before COS’ proposed balanced budget amendment requires cost cutting up front to start with a sustainable budget. DOGE can provide the cost cuts that COS needs through its technological and social media outreach expertise. Much of the cost cutting can be achieved utilizing the concept of Price’s Law without sacrificing services. In a perfect world the federal budget would be cut to a number below current receipts via DOGE and Price’s Law followed by sustained restraints made possible through an **Article V Convention of States**. If you believe that the United States of America is on the fiscal path to ruin, consider that COS offers the ONLY solution that bypasses federal obstruction.  Your voice is desperately needed. Please sign the COS petition today and **consider serving as a COS volunteer** in one of many available roles. God bless the USA and those patriots willing to protect it! #

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