Why does it cost so much to run our government? This is a question asked time and time again but I never hear a satisfactory answer. After working in government for 4 years I can now give you the answer. But as with everything it's complicated. First, Congress and the Executive branch have been slowly taking away operational authority from all government agencies. Congressional spending is highly specific, often in the form of so-called earmarks that mandate a specific agency to spend money on a specific pet project. This ties the hands of agency directors which have limited ability to redirect funds or use them more efficiently. Second, our government sets very high employment standards that are monitored by reams of government red tape. Ethics training, sensitivity training, security training, etc., etc. etc. is mandated for all employees. Aside from being political cover, these activities are useless, costly, and wasteful. Finally, and most important, annual baseline budgeting is killing us. Each year every agency must spend all of the money they get or it will be cut the next year. This means a spending spree at the end of every year. All of the government vendors know it and rely on it. It is so wasteful. It discourages efficiency and their is absolutely no incentive to save money or reduce costs. I could list a number of other reasons as well but these are the major points.