I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about how the government spends money -- how it allocates its dollars (our dollars). I have been struck by the no-bid Cerner contract with the VA to move to electronic health records which is estimated to cost $16 billion. No typo. See: https://lnkd.in/e-bR3RW . So, here's my question: What can you get for $16 billion if we had other spending priorities? What disease could we cure for that amount? Could we have universal early childhood education for that amount? We have legislation with mandates that are unfunded; suppose we looked at some of those to fund? A recent NY Times piece noted the proliferation of child pornography on the web and the absence of sufficient resources allocated to stomping out this problem. The legislation exists; the dollars don't. Bottom line: How can a private company get a $16 billion no bid contract when we have so many other needs? Ask yourself: What can $16 billion buy? …see more