Strong America Now founder pushes waste reduction as deficit solution

DES MOINES – Eliminating government waste is the key to getting the federal deficit under control, a management expert said Tuesday.

Mike George, a Texas-born business consultant who founded Strong America Now, said he believes the national debt could be eliminated by 2017 if President Barack Obama or the winner of the 2012 presidential election would adopt his “Lean Six Sigma” method of eliminating waste and making government more cost effective. He said he believes up to $500 billion in savings could be achieved annually by getting rid of the 25 percent in government spending that is wasted.

George is bringing his bipartisan campaign to the state that leads off the 2012 presidential selection process in hopes of enlisting 50,000 Iowans to support his concept and insist that candidates hoping to be America's top leader do the same. He said no candidate could win the Iowa caucuses without first signing his group's pledge and agreeing to make waste management training a key component of their deficit-reduction efforts.

“It's got to start in the office of the president, there's no other way around it,” George said in an interview. “It can't start in Congress. There are too many vested interests there.”

George said he believes government spending could be brought under control without cutting any programs or raising taxes by systematically identifying and eliminating wasteful spending. He said the effort likely would mean a reduction in force because so much government spending is personnel costs associated with people doing tasks that likely are not needed to conduct an efficient, streamlined operation that focuses on the best way to achieve desired outcomes.

George - a retired consultant and physicist who did efficiency work for the military, wrote seven books on cost reduction and quality improvement, and holds several U.S. patents related to waste reduction – has organized a Deficit Free America Summit this Saturday in Des Moines that will attract more than 500 participants that includes at least four GOP presidential candidates.

Organizers say they expect Georgia business executive Herman Cain, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich – the only announced 2012 presidential candidate to sign the Strong America Now pledge – to attend the event at the Polk County Convention Center.

“Any Republican who doesn't sign (the pledge) probably can't win in Iowa,” George said, noting his group's members will only support presidential candidates who agree to use the waste reduction techniques.

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