The Price Of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis

by David Osborne, Peter Hutchinson

Government fiscal problems have reached crisis proportions and generated headlines all over the country. In Oregon, schools are forced to close early because money to operate them runs out. In New York City, firehouse closings cause celebrity-studded neighborhood protests. Twenty-two state governors, from both parties and all regions of the country, have proposed tax increases to make up for falling revenues, rising expenses, and falling federal support. In Washington, the federal government projects a half-trillion-dollar deficit. The fiscal crisis in government at every level is the most severe it's been since World War II.Where David Osborne's 1992 New York Times bestseller Reinventing Government was descriptive, showing readers a new model of government then emerging around the country, The Price of Government is prescriptive. It offers specific solutions, drawn from the authors' ten years of experience applying reinvention strategies, and shows how to apply them in the context of a permanent fiscal crisis. The authors describe how a budget process that starts with results, not spending programs, has been a springboard for transformation in governments at all levels. The Price of Government will interest everyone who is concerned with how our tax money is spent--and how to get the government we need to thrive and prosper.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jim Razinha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was assigned Chapter 2 (Setting the Price of Government) for a class and as I had this on my shelf at work, decided to read the entire book.

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): this book won't work in today's world, probably wouldn't have worked when written, and may not have ever been able to work.

There are elements to glean from this and try, but I don't know how authors with the experience and background in their bios were so naive to think their plan could work. [Nitpick] I almost stopped reading when they said the Base Closing Commissions were a "great success: They have saved taxpayers $2 to $3 billion a year..." - that wasn't true when they wrote the paragraph and 15 years later it still isn't... BRAC costed taxpayers, and the one just a year (2005) after publication was running $35 billion six years after implementation started...those "savings" haven't manifested yet. But I kept going.

Throughout this book, the authors would float a reasonably decent idea and then occlude it with a sad misunderstanding of reality. The section titles are standard government/business/economics fare - Smarter Budgeting, Smart Sizing, Smarter Spending, Smarter Management, and Smarter Leadership - all good, and bookworthy on their own. The filler does not show an understanding of the political divide in the US since 1981 (da doo ron Ron), seemingly permanently severed in 1994 (eye of Newt), and unpredictable to them in 2004, napalmed in 2016.

Find another book. This one is dated and so far off the mark that it's not even good as an object lesson. And no, I don't know what "other" book.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a straight forward book that breaks down the cost of keeping a government running efficiently.

Granted, this book is ambitious. Some of the ideas proposed either feel outdated or strictly theoretical. But the book does a good job of highlighting successes of the past, including in Washington and Oregon, and what changes states made to make those changes. It's a book that you can read without having to have a background in policy to understand potential short term ideas to impact public budgets.

[Matthew Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written 21 years ago, and I think it shows. There were a few interesting ideas, but I don’t think now looking back with hindsight it had much predictive power. There are better books with similar themes.

[Maureen Flatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic on public policy and spending by an Essex resident and Al Gore's Reinventing Government Guru. While we contemplate the struggles of states like California and Massachusetts to make ends meet and observe the often heated debate in Congress, Osborne's book reminds us that the status quo is not the only answer.

[M Christopher]

Overwritten and uses ten year old data. There appear to be some useful ideas here but I'm suspending until I finish "Dollars and Sense." A part-time citizen legislator can only be expected to spend so much time on governmental theory, after all...