Survey Pre-Test: Who in Government Has Power Over What?

Is #4 a trick question? Or is someone trying to peel off my tin foil hat and tell me that the Federal Reserve Board is a part of the federal government?

Just a couple of things that I found unclear from the instructions given:

I don’t get the question about whether various people/groups have more power to improve things or to make things worse. My libertarian gut instinct is to say that their primary power is to make things worse, and that we’d be better off if they all sat on their hands. But, since (from a libertarian perspective) most things are already screwed up, in many instances they could all make things better by first rolling back previous regulations and *then* sitting on their hands. So I couldn’t come up with a coherent answer for any of those.

I also found myself really fighting the urge to over-think Part 3. It’s hard to say that any of them have *no* power at all to affect those things, since theoretically if they *really* wanted to most of those branches could screw things up enough to negatively affect just about anything. Like, if the Federal Reserve really wanted to, it could wreck the economy badly enough to bring down the average life expectancy, but in the normal course of things they have essentially no power to affect life expectancy. So which of those are you looking for–the absolute limits of their power under the law, or their power in the normal course of things?

In the same question, the DoD and the EPA are somewhat confounded with the president–DoD and the EPA can, to a large extent, only get away with what the president will let them get away with. So, for example, the EPA could promulgate regulations that will have a negative effect on the economy in 2 or 20 years, but only if the president lets them. So in that case should one ascribe responsibility to the EPA (who actually did the act) or the president (who at minimum did not stop the act, and therefore in some sense has ultimate responsibility for it)?

On part 2, question 6, I think the phrase “strike down” is associated in common usage solely with the courts, especially the US Supreme Court. You might want to reword the question so people won’t unnecessarily exclude Congress and the President from their considerations.

I hate multi-page anything. Why make users click more than necessary?

I’m eager to see the results! The various branches and levels have little power over anything, except to make things worse. 🙂

1: “Education policy” is too broad. Do you mean K-12 education, higher education, both?

4: I can’t think of a correct answer. Monetary policy can be affected by Congressional budgets, presidential actions, Federal Reserve Board actions, and (via money supply) the Treasury Dept.

7: Technically, Congress decides (via the budget) how tax money is spent, but the executive branch can unilaterally alter it. For example, Congress could authorize a Federal Dept. of Economics and allocate a billion dollars to construction of a building. If the executive branch drags its feet, nothing will ever get spent.

8: Which elections? The federal government has much control over federal elections but almost none over village mayor elections. Since there are many more local elections than federal, I would answer state and local. However, federal elections draw many more voters, so one could reasonably conclude that federal power is greater.

Part 3: The degree of income inequality. What do you mean by that? Janitor wages vs. CEO compensation? Average income of working poor vs. upper 5%. Me vs. Bill Gates?

Overall, I dislike the word power in the questions. I prefer two words: control and influence. For example, Congress controls the budget but the President has tremendous influence on the budget. (So much so that in modern times the Presidents send proposed budgets to Congress.) I realize that your grid questions attempt to address my complaint, but even there the word power is used when affect or influence might be better.

On part four, I think that all the agencies mentioned have more power to make things worse than to improve things.

But I think that is a general feature of the human condition. For example, as a parent, I could, if I set my heart to it, make my children miserable. I try my best to make them happy, but I am only so good at it — and so many factors are out of my control.

What, no libertarian demarcation under political party/political beliefs?
What’s up with that?

When you ask the question about power do you mean power relative to the other parts of government you listed or relative to some absolute?

I don’t know if breaking down all of the agencies/departments is a good idea. There are too many that should also be included such as labor (osha davis/bacon) transportation (faa), justice (ada), agriculture, interior (land use), and education. Would it be better to lump all regulator agencies into one basket?

I agree with those who have said the numerical ratings section is unclear. If we’re indended to rate so that the line totals to 10, that’s very different from evaluating each one independently.

It’s certainly an interesting exercise in what we understand about governmental power and influence. I look forward to reading about your findings!