The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis Book

Government is broke. The 2004 federal deficit will be the highest in U.S. history. The states have suffered three years of record shortfalls. Cities, counties and school districts are laying off policemen and teachers, closing schools, and cutting services. Government leaders have patched together combinations of accounting gimmicks, on- time fixes, real cuts, and tax and fee increases to relieve the fiscal pain. But it won't go away. Overall, American governments from the White House to City Hall are enduring their worst fiscal crisis since World War II. But this time, the crisis will be permanent. On one side are skyrocketing costs for health care, Social Security and pensions. On the other is opposition to tax increases. In the face of this crisis the bankrupt ideologies of left and right offer little guidance. The Price of Government does. Whereas Reinventing Government, David Osborne's 1992 New York Times bestseller, was a manifesto for change, The Price of Government is a clear, step-by-step roadmap for change, offering concrete solutions drawn from the authors' combined thirty years of experience leading and advising public institutions. The authors begin by describing a radically different approach to budgeting-one that focuses on buying results for citizens rather than cutting or adding to last year's spending programs. They go on to show how leaders can use consolidation, competition, customer choice, and a relentless focus on results to save millions while improving public services, at all levels of government. These ideas have been put into practice successfully from schoolhouses to statehouses and from City Hall to the Pentagon. They are built on common sense, not ideology. The Price of Government will interest everyone who is concerned with how tax dollars are spent-and how to get the results we need at a price we're willing to pay.Read More