Public scorn of public sector continues to grow
Published February 18, 2016
Editorial by Burlington Times-News, February 17, 2016.
In the seminal 1984 movie comedy “Ghostbusters,” one memorable line seems appropriate. A university professor about to lose his job remarks, “I’ve worked in the private sector. They expect results.”
Indeed.
What made us think of this piece of dialogue was the recent release of an annual report on federal government agencies by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. A CBSNews.com story about the results says it all: “Americans hate the U.S. government more than ever.” Though perhaps a bit melodramatic, it is true that the satisfaction index recorded the lowest score since ACSI started evaluating government agencies in 1999: 63.9 on a scale of 0-100.
That is down from the previous record low set last year, 64.4, and continues a general downward trend that has persisted since 2006.
It should be little surprise that the worst score went to the Treasury Department (55), which houses the Internal Revenue Service. The Justice Department (59) and the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs (60) also brought up the rear.
The highest scores went to the Department of the Interior (75), which runs the National Park system, the Department of State (71), whose passport service generally receives good marks, and the Defense Department (70).
The government consistently underperforms the private sector in customer satisfaction, however, which has also been a long-term trend. “As in prior years of ACSI measurement, both federal and local government services score far below every private economic sector in user satisfaction,” the report stated.
This is the almost inevitable result when an operation is influenced by political partisanship or influence as opposed to serving taxpayers. A private business offering such service would be out of business soon enough. Government needs an incentive beyond politics to perform.
And when assessing why outsider candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are scoring with voters, well, this is probably part of the answer.
February 18, 2016 at 10:20 am
bruce stanley says:
Having worked my entire career in the private sector, I never enjoyed funding the jobs of people who like to think that they rule over me.
