Another Futile Bureaucratic Way of Developing the Economy

There is another bit of information from the April 4th issue of C&E News. It reports on another bureaucratic boondoggle.

The Department of Commerce is in its second year of a grant program, with the usual tricky government name of "i6 Challenge". The intent is to foster development of a new technology or product into a commercial success. The DOC has apparently never heard of research and development departments of large corporations or Investment bankers for small entrepreneurs. Or perhaps, it has invented a new way to waste taxpayer funds.

The sub-department handling this boondoggle project is the Economic Development Administration (EDA) It manages a multi-agency group to promote Pres. Obama's "Startup American innovation to promote job creation through US [pie in the sky] innovation".

Funding for this year's Challenge is $12.3 million, of which $6 million will come from the taxpayers through the DOC budget. The remaining funding of $6.3 million will come from the taxpayers through the cooperating agencies, which include the USDA, the EPA, DOE and the NSF. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Patent and Trademark Office P&TO) are also participating but are said to be using non-monetary ways. I suppose that means they are not giving out grant money, but that does not mean there is no cost to the tax payer. What about salaries & benefits, travel expenses, office cost, etc.? These are likely in addition to the usual expenses of running those organizations. NIST also has a similar Manufacturing Extension Program. Since the NIST is part of the Department of Commerce, there is double action and cost.

In this operation, taxpayer funds are awarded as grants to various entrepreneurs for certain projects to be pursued. These projects must presumably pass the muster of the various government departments, all of which have pie-in-the-sky attitudes and no real understanding of what is necessary in order to promote industry development and job formation in the United States.

One may ask why I am concerned about a piddling $6.3 million government expense. However, consider that there is likely a thousand similar operations in our bloated government. We are then talking about $6+ billion dollars, which "ain't hay"

I again suggest that government should get out of such things and get on with their major responsibilities, such as "providing for the common defense (both militarily and economically)".