The government continues to fail because a certain segment of Congress consistently works to hamstring and defund important regulatory arms of government. They

The government continues to fail because a certain segment of Congress consistently works to hamstring and defund important regulatory arms of government. They then point to the failure of government (which they caused) as evidence that more funding should be cut. It is the government's job to ensure that private companies don't sacrifice safety in the pursuit of short-term gains. Humans are extremely shortsighted by nature and the free market will always choose the short term over the long term without intervention.