Government (In)Efficiency

This month we're rolling-up government inefficiency at its finest with some of former Wisconsin Senator, William Proxmire's funniest Golden Fleeces - monthly awards he dished out every month for thirteen years while in the Senate to government funded initiatives he deemed as "wasteful, ridiculous or ironic uses of taxpayers' money":

$27,000 for “Why Prisoners Want to Escape”: A study conducted by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in the 1980s as to why prisoners want to escape from jail concluded this was because prisoners don't enjoy being incarcerated. How insightful! While researchers insisted the findings were more nuanced, the premise of the study was an obvious target for a Golden Fleece.

$3,000 to Study “Why Children Like Sesame Street”: The Department of Education funded a study in the 1980s into why children like to watch Sesame Street. Proxmire sarcastically observed that Big Bird’s appeal hardly required a federal investigation - you don't say!

$500,000 to Study “Whether Congressional Workers Are Nice to Constituents”: Proxmire mocked this half-million-dollar survey of how congressional offices treated the public, dismissing it as a “self-congratulatory waste.”

$6 Million to Study Swedish Massage Benefits: Proxmire criticized the Department of Health and Human Services for spending millions on research into the benefits of Swedish massage therapy. When awarding this Golden Fleece he accurately stated taxpayers didn't even receive a free back-rub in return.

$219,592 to Study the “Sex Life of Screwworms”: The Department of Agriculture funded this project on screwworm mating habits. Ironically, the research led to a groundbreaking technique that eradicated screwworm infestations in the U.S., saving the cattle industry billions of dollars and is one of the few times Proxmire had to retract a Golden Fleece.

Seneca Resources CFO Named to SIA's 2024 Global Power 150 Women in Staffing

Good-Enough Isn't Enough

Pat Gelsinger resigned from his position as CEO of Intel on December 1^st, 2024. After his company’s stock price plummeted 52% YTD, calling it a resignation is a political way of saying he was canned by his board. Pat hit the record books as the 119^th American public company CEO pushed out by their board in 2024, the largest amount in a single year on-record and 3x more than all of 2017. Add Joe Biden to make that an even 120. Pat deserved to get canned for captaining Intel’s fall from grace, but the S&P 500 was up 26% YTD through the final day of trading in November. Not exactly the performance you’d expect with a record number of public company executives cashing in their golden parachutes.

A (possibly THE) top theme in 2024 is the chasm between perception and so-called reality. GDP is up, stocks are WAY up, unemployment is low, but boards, investors, and consumers alike are not satisfied with the underlying decisions made by leaders throughout 2024.

I could not be prouder to be in the one economy in the world where complacency can and does lead to disruption. The American spirit of innovation is fueled by a refusal to accept today as “good-enough”. 2024 has been a great economic year by all global standards, but it hasn’t been good-enough, and we have a record number of new leaders to show for it. Here’s to America – stay hungry.