The Business of Government is Not Business
We demand government operate like Walmart. Walmart has 2.1 million employees. Government has 24.2 million. Then we’re shocked when it acts like a business and cuts tens of thousands of jobs.
Every election season, someone inevitably says it.
“Government should be run like a business.”
It sounds reasonable. Businesses are efficient. They’re “accountable.” They know how to cut costs and maximize returns. Why shouldn’t government operate the same way?
Then we get what we asked for. And we’re horrified.
When Government Acts Like Business
The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal includes massive cuts to domestic programs. Defense spending would increase by more than 40%, while nondefense spending would be slashed by 10%: a $73 billion cut affecting housing, social services, health care, and other domestic programs.1
Housing assistance would be reduced by $26.7 billion, a 43% cut affecting programs that serve approximately 2.3 million extremely low-income families.2 WIC, the nutrition program for pregnant women and young children, would see cuts that slash the monthly fruit and vegetable benefit from $26 for children to $10, and from $47-$52 to $13 for adults.3 The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, serving millions, would be eliminated entirely.4
People are aggrieved by this. They should be. These cuts put lives at risk.
But here’s the irony: this is exactly what businesses do. And we celebrate them for it.
The Double Standard
In 2025 and 2026, tech companies have laid off workers at an extraordinary clip. Amazon eliminated 30,184 employees across 2025 and 2026, Intel cut 27,058, and Microsoft laid off 15,347.5 At least 127,000 workers at US-based tech companies were laid off in 2025 alone.6
Nestlé announced it would cut 16,000 jobs. Meta laid off thousands across multiple divisions. Block cut 4,000 employees, 40% of its workforce, in a single move.7
These are businesses being run like businesses. Cutting costs. Maximizing efficiency. Reallocating resources toward AI and away from human labor.
No one calls this a scandal. It’s just business.
But when government does it, when it operates with the same ruthless efficiency we demand from the private sector, we call it cruel.
We can’t have it both ways.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let me show you what we’re actually comparing.
Walmart is the largest company in the United States by headcount. Globally, it employs 2.1 million people.8 In the US alone, that’s 1.6 million workers.
The federal government employs 4.3 million people when you include civilian workers, military personnel, and reserves.9 That’s twice the size of Walmart.
Add in state and local governments, and you’re at 19.9 million employees.10 Combined, the total government workforce in the United States is 24.2 million people.
That’s 11.5 times larger than Walmart.
When Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs, it’s restructuring. When government cuts programs serving 2.3 million families, it’s “efficiency.”
The scale isn’t even comparable. And the stakes are fundamentally different.
What Scale Actually Means
Walmart optimizes for shareholders. Government balances national security, public health, infrastructure, education, justice, environmental protection, and welfare programs simultaneously.
Walmart can exit unprofitable markets. Government has to serve everyone, everywhere, regardless of cost-effectiveness.
Walmart fires unprofitable customers. Government cannot refuse service to difficult populations, as much as they may try.
When businesses lay off 30,000 people, they’re applauded for being lean. When government proposes cutting programs that serve millions, we call it inhumane.
Both things can’t be true.
The Efficiency Trap
Businesses measure success by revenue per employee. Walmart generates roughly $305,000 in revenue per employee. Amazon generates $530,000. Tech companies like NVIDIA generate over $4 million per employee.11
Government has no equivalent metric.
You can’t measure the Department of Veterans Affairs by revenue per employee. You can’t evaluate the efficacy of WIC by profit margin. The Coast Guard doesn’t generate shareholder value.
The work of government is to provide services that markets won’t, to populations that markets ignore, in geographies that markets abandon.
That’s not inefficiency. That’s the mission.
And when you cut that mission in the name of running government like a business, you’re not optimizing. You’re abandoning people.
California and the Illusion of Comparison
Let’s make this concrete. I live in California.
California has a population of 39.4 million people.12 The federal government employs roughly 150,000 people in California.13 That’s a ratio of one federal employee for every 263 residents.
If California were a company managing a customer base of 39.4 million people, it would need to deliver services at a scale 19 times larger than Walmart’s total global operations, but with only 6% of Walmart’s workforce.
That’s the operational reality of government. It’s not bloated. It’s structurally constrained by the scale of what it’s being asked to do.
The Fortune 500 Context
The entire Fortune 500 employs roughly 31 million people.14 The total government workforce in the United States is 24.2 million.
Government represents 78% of the Fortune 500’s combined workforce.
And unlike those companies, government can’t exit markets, refuse customers, or optimize for profit. It has to show up everywhere, for everyone, all the time.
When businesses cut jobs, they’re restructuring toward profitability. When government cuts programs, it’s abandoning the people it was designed to serve.
The Real Question
I’m not saying government is perfect. Far from it. There is waste. There is inefficiency. There are systems that need reform.
But the solution isn’t to make government more like Walmart.
Because when government acts like Walmart, when it cuts programs, eliminates services, and optimizes for “efficiency,” real people suffer.
Businesses laying off 20,000 to 30,000 people at a clip is just Tuesday. The Trump Administration’s proposal to cut housing assistance for 2.3 million families is a crisis.
We can’t demand that government operate like a business and then be shocked when it does exactly what businesses do: prioritize the bottom line over people.
The question isn’t whether government should be run like a business.
The question is whether we understand what government is actually for.
Businesses exist to generate profit. Government exists to provide stability, security, and services that markets cannot or will not deliver.
Scale matters. Mission matters. Context matters.
And the numbers make it clear: government and business aren’t even playing the same game.
About the author: Aaron is a writer, preacher, and community builder based in Los Angeles. He works in customer success by day and spends his free time thinking about intentionality, analog living, and the structures that shape our lives. This newsletter is where he thinks out loud.
CNN Politics, “White House seeks massive increase in defense spending and looks to slash housing, social services and health care,” April 3, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/politics/white-house-budget-proposal-defense-spending-trump
FactCheck.org, “Trump, Project 2025 and the Social Safety Net,” October 2, 2025. https://www.factcheck.org/2025/10/trump-project-2025-and-the-social-safety-net/
Food Research & Action Center, “Trump Administration’s FY 2026 Budget Proposal: A Gigantic Step Backward in the Fight Against Poverty,” June 20, 2025. https://frac.org/blog/22711
PBS NewsHour, “46 programs Trump wants to eliminate, according to his proposed budget,” June 5, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/46-programs-trump-wants-to-eliminate-according-to-his-proposed-budget
Visual Capitalist, “Ranked: Biggest Tech Layoffs by Company in 2025 and 2026 YTD,” March 2026. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-biggest-tech-layoffs-by-company-2025-2026-ytd/
Crunchbase News, “Tech Layoffs: US Companies With Job Cuts In 2024, 2025 and 2026,” April 1, 2026. https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/tech-layoffs/
Intellizence, “Top Companies that Announced Major Layoffs & Hiring Freezes-2025-26,” April 2026. https://intellizence.com/insights/layoff-downsizing/major-companies-that-announced-mass-layoffs/
Statista, “Company with most employees worldwide 2024,” July 4, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/264671/top-50-companies-based-on-number-of-employees/
North American Community Hub, “Number of Federal Employees of US in 2025,” May 2, 2025. https://nchstats.com/number-of-federal-employees-us/
U.S. Census Bureau, “Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll Summary Report: 2024,” May 1, 2025. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/econ/g25-aspep.html
OnDeck, “The Companies Generating the Most Revenue Per Employee,” November 25, 2025. https://www.ondeck.com/resources/revenue-per-employee-ranking
U.S. Census Bureau, “U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration,” January 27, 2026. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/population-growth-slows.html
Ringover, “The 50 Largest Employers in the U.S.,” September 20, 2024. https://www.ringover.com/blog/largest-employers-us
50Pros, “Fortune 500 Full List (2026),” 2025. https://www.50pros.com/fortune500