http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/washington/04contract.html
A depressing-yet-important New York Times article detailing the recent trend of the United States government contracting out what were once governmental tasks and jobs. Reading some of the numbers involved reinforces the feeling that the US is at the peak of a steeply graded slope towards financial ruin. I wish they’d partner stories like this with helpful tips on how to survive the pending financial apocalypse.
Without a public debate or formal policy decision, contractors have become a virtual fourth branch of government. On the rise for decades, spending on federal contracts has soared during the Bush administration, to about $400 billion last year from $207 billion in 2000, fueled by the war in Iraq, domestic security and Hurricane Katrina, but also by a philosophy that encourages outsourcing almost everything government does.