Today in History - does this sound familiar?

Today in History: President Reagan plans to cut 

nearly 100,000 Government jobs... 

Courtesy of Saturday Evening Post (and it's not even Saturday, go figure) - Ronald Reagan came to the White House with a commitment to reduce the size and expense of government. Today in 1981, he announced a plan to cut 96,000 government jobs in the next two years. 

He also commissioned the CEO of W.R. Grace & Company, J. Peter Grace, to increase efficiency and reduce waste in government. Under Mr. Grace’s direction, 160 corporate executives interviewed federal employees to find ways to cut costs and increase revenue. 

Critics pointed out the conflicts of interest that existed with business executives shaping federal agencies that regulated their own companies.

Grace’s people eventually claimed to have found ways to save billions. But only a quarter of their ideas could be implemented by the president alone. The rest required approval by Congress, which found there was more public support for government programs than they had suspected.

 

Try as he might, he didn't succeed. When Reagan left office, there were 90,000 more federal workers than when he began, and the national debt had tripled. Let's hope that outcome doesn't happen again...