If ObamaCare does nothing else, it will provide Americans with an object lesson in how the whole "government industrial complex" really works.
It should surprise no one that those with "connections" won the lucrative project of creating the Healthcare.gov web site. Today, more details emerge from the Examiner's Richard Pollock.
In fact, those who run CGI Federal -- awarded a $93 million contract -- were granted White House access. What's more, at least a couple of them were (surprise!) Obama financial supporters. And virtually all of them had worked for the federal government.
It would be silly to think that the private donations of a couple of CGI Federal executives "bought" the ObamaCare contract. But those donations did serve an important purpose -- showing that biggies in the company were "friendlies." And when it comes to government contracting, that can make a big difference.
In the real world, those making decisions like choosing which company to hire had better do it based on the company's technical expertise and its ability to deliver a good product cost-efficiently. Otherwise, the company will lose money and heads will roll.
In government, by contrast, every prejudice, however irrational -- doing business only with "friendlies", for example -- can be indulged. There is no "bottom line," and (especially now) the chief executive couldn't care less about safeguarding the money that's spent (it's only the taxpayers' after all!). Failure carries no penalty; even after a debacle like the web site, every administration official's job seems secure.
When Democrats try to glorify the benevolent work of government, remember this debacle. An overpaid gaggle of cronies have been hired, and paid, to produce an expensive web site that doesn't work. Nobody pays for the debacle, except the taxpayer who subsidized it in the first place.
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