The private sector goal is to invest money where it will earn more money back. To make a profit. To get rich.

The government's goal is to invest money where it will return political power. Whether or not the investment actually pays for itself is utterly beside the point, and like many government-funded programs, nobody seems to mind if the end product loses money forever. Remember, to a "progressive" "profit" is a curse word, but it's the private profits that subsidize the government losses.

Only one of these investments actually grows an economy. This should be historically obvious by examining economies where most of the wealth moves in the private sector versus economies where most of the wealth is controlled by the State.

Hardship from streamlining government? Sure. A job that destroys net wealth, like some Federal Deputy Assistant Chicken Inspector, is still a job that puts food on someone's table. But there's a limit to how many people can be in the wagon when only a certain number are pulling it, and we're hitting that limit now, if we aren't already past it.

Make the environment safe for the private sector again, and see what happens.