LETTER: Let the private sector fix government incompetence

John Stossel writes that when the challenge is put forth, American ingenuity wins out with great success. Case in point: His Monday column on the flight to and from the manned space station. Government “experts” had the endeavor pegged at a cool $36 billion cost. Elon Musk’s private company SpaceX did it for less than $1 billion and was able to build reusable booster rockets.

This success story shows the ineffectiveness and waste whenever the government gets involved in planning, financing and completing projects. Consider today’s situation. Trillions of stimulus dollars are being doled out to alive and dead Americans thanks to our antiquated computer systems. If one private company can send and retrieve astronauts to the space station 220 miles above Earth, why can’t Congress call on American ingenuity to stop the yearly waste of billions?

In his 1961 inaugural address, John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” I implore President Donald Trump to put these words into action and request that every company in America — both large and small — “donate” employees skilled in all facets of business to every federal agency that receives money and processes payments dally. Successful Americans such as Bill Gates and Mark Cuban, men who built great companies from scratch, could be tasked to lead the endeavor.

There is no doubt in my mind that in the long run our nation will save billions of dollars currently being wasted and funneled into the hands of dead people, corrupt individuals and political lackeys.