One Explanation for the Expanding US Deficit ...

With all of the progress -- and there has been significant progress -- made on the competitive sourcing front in various Federal agencies and departments in recent years it's a shame that our own politicians are muddying up the sourcing waters for our public servants. According to the above-linked article on the subject, "Lawmakers are working on several major bills that could undermine the Bush administration's competitive-sourcing initiative, according to the government's top procurement official ... Language in those bills would make it difficult to create a fair environment in which federal employees and private companies compete for non-inherently governmental work." Now, I'm not a fan of Bush -- especially his own free spending, big government ways. But I do support the efforts that his staff has made -- along with the DOD, Postal Service and many other agencies and departments -- to begin to look at strategic sourcing as a central component of the Federal acquisition process. Still, when I read things like this about what amounts to staffing thwarting the right set of "make" vs. "buy" staffing decisions, it makes me want to continue to bet against the dollar.

- Jason Busch