LA Clippers’ Steve Ballmer: US government is making decisions with old data
Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer created a website called USAFacts.org to give a non-partisan look at how government money comes in and how it is spent.
Ballmer told the FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto, “What I found was not only was it hard to find that information, it was very hard also to find out what I’ll call ‘outcome data,’ how effective is government money at doing what it sets out to do.”
When Cavuto pointed out that some of the most recent data he found from the site was from 2014, Ballmer responded, “The answer is once government publishes, we publish and that’ll tell you some. A big part of the problem is people in government are making decisions with old data. I think that’s a real problem. I think that should be a real emphasis on government to be able to, like the rest of the world, use data to drive decision making,” Ballmer said on “Cavuto: Coast to Coast.”
According to Ballmer, lawmakers need to be transparent about what their goals are for the GOP tax reform plan.
“If you’re a legislator you have to ask, ‘What outcome are we trying to drive? Are we trying to make these things revenue neutral through growth?’ And if so, say it, and if so, we ought to be able to see it in the numbers in the next year or two.”
Ballmer then raised concerns about the potential deficit, telling Cavuto, “I am a balanced budget guy, that’s just where I am. I am a business person. I look at the history and frankly, while in general I’m non-partisan, on this issue of making sure that our budget doesn’t get worse, that we’re, you know, we run bigger deficits, I think it’s reasonable to have some concerns.”