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September 04, 2003

Bush's 700,000 Person Patronage Machine

Big government is growing, it's just avoiding the nicieties of unbiased hiring in favor of massive patronage.

Between 1999 and 2002, the "shadow workforce" of contractor employees expanded by 727,000 positions, even as the civil service got smaller, according to a report by the Brookings Institute being released:

as of the end of 2002, federal contracts were generating 5.17 million jobs, while grants supported another 2.86 million jobs, the highest figures since the end of the Cold War in 1990. At the same time, the number of civil servants continued to shrink—in 2002, federal agencies had 1.76 million civil servants on the payroll, 418,000 fewer than they did in 1990.

Forget Halliburton.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Bush is systematically building a patronage machine of government contractors dependent on his administration. Want to bet where his massive campaign contributions are coming from. You probably need look no further than all these companies being favored by fat government grants and contracts.

Conservatives don't want to shrink government. They just want it to be a wholely-owned subsidiary of GOP businesses.

Posted by Nathan at September 4, 2003 01:29 PM