Editor's note
Mark Adams is a Hoosier craftsman who has built a school east of Franklin for craftsmen and women from all corners of the Earth. Here, without much publicity, he and likeminded persons meet to learn and extend knowledge about working with wood and other materials in traditional and contemporary styles. His story is simple and fascinating. Catch it on this weeks Who Gets What? podcast at mortonjohn.libsyn.com.

Later this month the Trump 2.0 administration takes office. A new feature of that administration is the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (Elon and Vivek) . One question is: What will this dynamic duo want to cut in the way of federal statistical programs?

The support for those programs is thin. Each question asked of households and businesses has its own small group of advocates. Together they are mighty, but they can be picked off one-by-one when separated, which is what may be expected.

As an example, consider a little known Census Bureau effort called the Household Pulse Survey. With Covid 19 five years ago came a desire by many to know how that disease was affecting the many diverse populations in our country. Census began reporting every two weeks, by state and for a small group of large metropolitan areas, the experiences of American households.

These reports were very experimental. They included facts as well as expectations. (Let’s not quibble about whether expectations are facts.) How many or what percent of households were not current on rent or mortgage payments? How many thought eviction or foreclosure in the next two months was very or somewhat likely? In Indiana, during 2024, that figure bounced between 15% and 42%.

How many drivers changed their behavior in the past seven days due to the cost of gas? That figure gyrated between 48% and 60% among Hoosiers between February and September of 2024.

My favorite: What percent of adult Hoosiers felt lonely sometimes, usually, or always? Pick a number from 39% to 46%.

This Pulse program seems ripe for picking. The Census Bureau anticipated its vulnerability and suspended it in mid-September 2024. Suspended, not forsaken, it will be woven into a Household Trends and Pulse Survey (HTOPS) set to appear this month.

When Elon and Vivek get rolling, they will have no problem finding programs and activities to “trim back” throughout the federal government. We can look forward to a few outstanding examples of massive, “outrageously wasteful,” bureaucratic activities. But little will change.

One way for an agency to avoid spending money is to let someone else spend it. To satisfy cost-cutters, an agency out-sources collection and tabulation of data since cost-cutters know the private sector can do everything for less than a public agency. That private entity is paid for its expenses, which include the overhead and expertise of the private firm.

_Question of fact sought by the agency: How many years were you in jail?

_Question of opinion asked by the contractor: How do you feel about that?

In this way a consulting firm can seek answers to questions that might embarrass a public agency. Universities are among the better beards used for this purpose.
Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers, and his views can be followed his podcast.

© 2025 Morton J. Marcus

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