How Government Works

How Government Works (Or just about any large corporation these days)

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the
middle of a desert. Congress said "Someone may steal from it at
night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a
person for the job.

Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without
instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two
people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to
do time studies.

Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing
the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control
department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to
write the reports.

Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So
they created the following positions, a timekeeper, and a payroll
officer, then hired two people.

Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these
people?" So they created an administrative section and hired
three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative
Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for
one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall
cost."

So they laid off the night watchman.