"Red tape" versus accountability

[BlueStreak]

Romney is trying to walk back his position on FEMA by throwing out the red herring of "red tape", as in (paraphrasing here) "Of course I love FEMA, but when I am elected, I will empower them to do their jobs efficiently and quickly with no government 'red tape'."

In reality, nobody is accusing FEMA of having excessive 'red tape' in any of the emergencies handled by the Obama administration. Indeed Bush's Brownie seems to be arguing that we need MORE red tape.

Be that as it may, but let us be very clear that one persons "freedom from red tape" is another person's "government program out of control." When the Obama administration made grants under the stimulus program, three was a minimum of 'red tape' in order to get the economy moving ASAP. A very small percentage of those grants ended up in companies that eventually went bankrupt. The percentage of bankruptcies under the stimulus program was much lower, for example, than the percentage of Bain acquisitions that went bankrupt.

When the Republicans attack Obama about the stimulus grants, their argument is that we don't have ENOUGH 'red tape'.

They shape shift to fit any argument they want to make on any given day.

[MrYikes]

1. What I write here is not the truth, its made up

I own a snow cone machine on the boardwalk, in July I made $100,000. I need to be paid that much for November even though my cone machine was in a garage. And if you say no, I'll call Obama.


What regulations? We don't need no stinkin regulations.

[BlueStreak]

2. I'm sure that is a real risk (with a minority of people)

I have never worked for FEMA, not been a client. I have been a supplier to FEMA, but I'm not speaking from any strong experience here.

I would expect that in the initial days of the emergency, FEMA people have a lot of discretion to get things done. If you need rescue vehicles, fresh water, generators, diapers, food, and immediate housing arrangements, I'd expect very few questions would be asked.

When it comes to rebuilding properties and businesses, I'd expect a lot more scrutiny and in general those things should be covered by private insurance whenever possible.

In the case of the grants made to new energy companies under the stimulus program, there is a great book that goes into great detail here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Deal-Hidden-Change/dp/1451642326

Some people are hailing this as one of the MOST accountable, responsible government programs of its type ever. There were lots of requirements that a company had to meet in order to get those grants. One of the key requirements was that the company had to raise its own private investments before the government would match that. That seemed to be an effective way to filter out the con artists. A few companies failed, but that is to be expected.

So I guess my point is that "red tape" is not inherently good or bad. There are times where the situation required immediate solutions without many questions. And there are other times that much more scrutiny is needed.